“I think too often in the #Senate we talk to each other through one another & I wanted him to hear it from me directly,” she said.

#TinaSmith said it was “hard for me to characterize exactly what he said. He didn’t say a lot, frankly,” but added that #MikeLee “seemed a little surprised to be confronted.”

Lee angered #Democrats when he pinned blame on them after #MelissaHortman, a Democrat & fmr Speaker of the #Minnesota House, & her husband were killed over the weekend at their home.

She emerged a minute later talking to Lee in an adjacent hallway. The 2 spoke for a couple of minutes before the #Minnesota #Democrat emerged.

“Let me gather myself,” #TinaSmith said as she left, declining to comment initially.

She eventually told reporters she wanted #MikeLee to hear from her directly “about how painful that was & how brutal that was to see that on what was just a horrible, brutal weekend.”

#PoliticalViolence #MelissaHortman #ethics

The police have not announced any arrests.
The suspect left behind a “manifesto” & a list of potential next targets that included #TimWalz, acc/to ABC News.

The list, whose existence was confirmed by law enforcement earlier on Saturday, contained the names of many top #Minnesota #Democrats, including Walz, Rep. #IlhanOmar, Sen. #TinaSmith, & AG #KeithEllison, law enforcement sources told ABC.

#MelissaHortman #JohnHoffman #criminal #law #PoliticalViolence #Minnesota
https://abcnews.go.com/US/2-minnesota-lawmakers-shot-targeted-incident-officials/story?id=122840751