Senate Democrats target "despicable" social media posts

• Minnesota's two Democratic senators — Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith — sought out Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) for a private conversation after Lee's now-deleted posts about the shootings prompted outrage and calls for his resignation.
• And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer publicly condemned a Wednesday post from the Senate GOP's X account, calling it"despicable, dangerous and deadly."
• The post quoted President Trump as saying, "I was the hunted — and now I'm the hunter" in response to a question about Iran.

Driving the news: Multiple sources tell us that a number of Senate Democrats reached out to Republican colleagues, pressing them to have the post taken down.

• But the post remains up on X.
• "THIS is what we're talking about when we say that the President's political rhetoric is so hot people are being killed," Schumer posted in response.

The other side: Republicans called the Democratic response, particularly to the Senate GOP account's post, "fake outrage."

• "Democrats are soft on Iran, so of course they wouldn't think of hunting Iran's nuclear weapons program," a Senate GOP spokesman told Axios.
• Longtime Trump ally Laura Loomer told Axios on Friday that Democrats "dish it but can't take it," adding they "haven't figured out that people don't like social media censorship."