At a Sept. 15, 2025, White House briefing, President Donald Trump was pressed on why flags had been lowered to half-staff for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated final week, however not for Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who was killed in June.

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CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes requested, “Given all of the moving ways that this White House has paid tribute to Charlie Kirk, do you think it would have been fitting to lower the flags to half-staff when Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota House speaker, was gunned down by an assassin as well?”

Trump’s reply sparked anger and frustration on-line. He requested, “I’m not familiar. The who?”

Who was Rep. Melissa Hortman?

Representative and former House Speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and their golden retriever had been shot and killed of their residence on June 14, 2025, by a person pretending to be a police officer. He additionally injured Minnesota state Senator John Hoffman and his spouse.

At the time, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz referred to as it “a politically motivated assassination.” He ordered the state to decrease flags to half-mast out of respect for the Democratic Representative. When requested if he had contacted Walz after the taking pictures, Trump referred to as it a waste of time and mentioned he wouldn’t attain out to him.

“I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out, I’m not calling him. Why would I call him? I could call him, say, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ The guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess,” Trump mentioned. “So I could be nice and call him but why waste time?”

Trump claimed that Walz had not requested him to decrease flags after Hortman’s loss of life. 

“Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that,” Trump mentioned. “I wouldn’t have thought of that, but I would’ve if somebody had asked me. People make requests for the lowering of the flag, and oftentimes, you have to say no because it would be a lot of lowering. The flag would never be up.”

How Donald Trump reacted to Charlie Kirk’s assassination

In comparability to Hortman’s assassination, Trump has posted and spoken out repeatedly about Kirk’s loss of life. He criticized the “radical left” for Kirk‘s death, despite the shooter’s household being registered Republicans. He himself was unaffiliated with a political occasion, in response to the New York Times.

At a 9/11 commemoration held on the Pentagon, Trump mentioned, “Before we begin, let me express the horror and grief so many Americans at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk have felt. Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty and an inspiration to millions and millions of people.”

Additionally, Trump introduced that he can be posthumously awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk.

The president’s differing reactions to the 2 high-profile killings didn’t go unnoticed on social media.

“Imagine if any Democrat were to ask ‘who was Charlie Kirk?’” wrote commenter Ed Krassentstein on X. “RIP Melissa Hortman You will not be forgotten even though Trump wants you to be.”

“Why is Melissa Hortman’s life worth less than Charlie Kirk’s?” wrote strategist @TheMaineWonk.

Lawyer Aaron Regunberg, in the meantime, wrote, “When Melissa Hortman was assassinated in June by a rightwing killer, sitting GOP senators made jokes. When Charlie Kirk was killed today (by an as yet unknown killer), Democrats unanimously condemned it, while the right actively stokes retaliation against the entire left.”

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