Senators Confronted Over Social Media Posts Fueling Misinformation After Deadly Shooting

Minnesota Senator Tina Smith directly confronted Senator Mike Lee on Monday, criticizing his social media posts for advancing conspiracy theories about the shooter who killed her friend, House Speaker Melissa Hortman. Lee's posts blamed Hortman, a Democrat, for her own death and accused the state's governor, Tim Walz, of being responsible. Smith called Lee's posts "brutal and cruel" and urged him to consider the implications of his words, which she said further fuel hatred and misinformation.

Lee's posts were among many threads of false or speculative claims swirling online after the shootings. Right-wing social media accounts with millions of followers manufactured false conspiracy theories about the suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, falsely portraying him as a radical left-wing assassin and attempting to paint him as a political ally of Governor Walz. Elected officials like Lee and others often share in the rumoring, lending legitimacy to these claims. Boelter, a 57-year-old evangelical Christian Trump supporter, was captured on Sunday after allegedly killing Hortman and her husband and wounding a state senator and his wife.

Key Takeaways:

• 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter was captured after allegedly killing House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounding a state senator and his wife.
• Boelter was described as an evangelical Christian Trump supporter by his friends and was registered as a Republican in Oklahoma in 2004.
• His alleged hit list included abortion providers and pro-choice advocates, and his recorded sermons expose his extremist views.
• Right-wing social media accounts with millions of followers manufactured false conspiracy theories about Boelter, falsely portraying him as a radical left-wing assassin and attempting to paint him as a political ally of Governor Tim Walz.
• Elected officials like Senator Mike Lee and others often share in the rumoring, lending legitimacy to these claims.
• Lee's posts were criticized as "brutal and cruel" by Senator Tina Smith, who said they further fuel hatred and misinformation.
• Local Republican officials have largely not contributed to the rumors, in some cases pushing back on the narratives.

Statistics:

• 200 million followers: the number of followers of Elon Musk, who amplified the false narrative to his followers.
• 1.5 million followers: the number of followers of right-wing social media personality Mike Cernovich, who escalated the lie by suggesting Governor Walz ordered the assassination.
• 700,000 followers: the number of followers of right-wing X user Viva Frei, who posted a thread casting doubt on Boelter being a Trump supporter.
• 2 million views: the number of views of a post falsely claiming that the man in a picture at a protest was Boelter.

Sources:

• CNN
• Reuters
• X (social media platform)
• Local media outlets (not specified)