President Donald Trump said Monday he would have ordered U.S. flags lowered for Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman after her June killing if Gov. Tim Walz had asked him to do so, shifting responsibility for the decision to the governor.
Speaking with reporters at the White House, Trump said, “Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that,” and added, “I wouldn’t have thought of that. But I would have if somebody had asked me.” The comments came as the president faced scrutiny over differing responses to Hortman’s death and the assassination last week of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Trump directed flags to be flown at half-staff until Sept. 14 after Kirk’s killing. He did not seek the same nationwide gesture following Hortman’s assassination, which occurred earlier in June. The issue has drawn attention because Hortman was a Democratic lawmaker and Kirk was a conservative activist.
In June, after Hortman and her husband were killed, Trump posted on Truth Social denouncing the attacks and saying “such horrific violence will not be tolerated.” He also publicly disparaged Walz at the time, saying, “I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling him,” and asking rhetorically, “Why would I call him? … I could be nice and call, but why waste time?”
Teddy Tschann, a spokesperson for Walz, responded in June that “Gov. Walz wishes that President Trump would be a President for all Americans, but this tragedy isn’t about Trump or Walz. It’s about the Hortman family, the Hoffman family, and the State of Minnesota, and the Governor remains focused on helping all three heal.” A spokesman for Walz’s office did not immediately reply to a new request for comment on Monday. A White House spokesperson pointed reporters to Trump’s earlier Truth Social post on the Minnesota shootings.
Critics have seized on the different actions as evidence of disparate treatment in presidential responses to deaths of public figures, noting the contrast between the immediate proclamation lowering flags for Kirk and the absence of a similar proclamation after Hortman’s killing. Supporters of the president have argued that such decisions can follow requests from state officials or other circumstances that shape presidential responses.
Hortman’s death prompted statewide mourning and a memorial at the Minnesota State Capitol. The debate over the federal flag response has added a political dimension to the aftermath, underscoring tensions between the White House and the Minnesota governor that predate the shootings.
The exchanges Monday did not resolve questions about standard practice for presidential flag orders or whether Walz had sought such a request. The White House’s reference to Trump’s Truth Social statement and Walz’s office’s prior focus on supporting families signaled continued partisan differences over the incident and its political ramifications.