Sen. Mike Lee called to resign for "disgusting" posts about Minnesota shooting
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Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) speaks on Capitol Hill in January. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Utah Sen. Mike Lee is facing outrage and calls for his resignation over social media posts that baselessly claim the man charged with targeting Minnesota lawmakers in shootings during the weekend has ties to the political left.
The big picture: Prominent right-wing figures, including Elon Musk, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, spread now-debunked claims that leftist politics motivated the shooting spree that left one Minnesota state representative dead and another wounded.
- The lawmakers' spouses also were shot, one fatally.
Driving the news: Lee on Sunday morning wrote two posts on X featuring an FBI-released surveillance camera image of Vance Luther Boelter, whose car contained a hit list targeting many Democratic Minnesota officials such as Gov. Tim Walz and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
- One of Lee's posts read, "This is what happens (w)hen Marxists don't get their way."
- "Nightmare on Waltz Street," the next stated, in an apparently-misspelled reference to Walz, who ran for vice president last year.
- Lee called Marxism a "deadly mental illness" in a Saturday post about the shootings.
Catch up quick: Walz and the previous governor had appointed Boelter to a civilian economic board, leading to a blitz of rightwing speculation this weekend that Boelter, who was arrested late Sunday, had Democratic ties.
Reality check: Boelter's friends say he held deeply conservative religious and political views, the AP reported.
- Boelter's roommate told CBS that Boelter was a President Trump supporter and "would be offended if people called him a Democrat."
Lee's office did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
The intrigue: Lee "pinned" the post alleging Boelter's Marxism to the top of his @BasedMikeLee account on X and kept it there even after reports of Boelter's conservative politics surfaced.
The latest: Politicians, commentators and celebrities took to social media to voice their outrage over what The Atlantic editor Norm Ornstein called "disgusting" misinformation.
What they're saying: "I've condemned what Mike Lee did here at home, and I will speak to him about this. … This is not a laughing matter," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) told MSNBC.
- "Grow the hell up," former RNC chair Michael Steele posted on X.
- "He must resign or the Senate must expel him. It's that simple," the Elevate Utah PAC wrote on Bluesky.
- "@BasedMikeLee won't even let the bodies get cold before making fun of democrat assassinations," the popular Utah-based tech reviewer Zack Nelson posted on X.
Go deeper: Lee's posts about Minnesota shootings reflect online MAGA persona