Trump says he wasn’t ‘asked’ to lower flag for assassinated Minnesota lawmaker
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President Donald Trump signed a proclamation ordering that flags across the country be lowered to half-staff within an hour of announcing Mr Charlie Kirk’s assassination on social media. The conservative activist was gunned down on Sept 10 as he was speaking to students and visitors at Utah Valley University.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Erica L. Green
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said on Sept 15 that he would have ordered American flags at half-staff to honour Ms Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota state representative who was gunned down along with her husband in their home this summer, if he had been “asked” by the Democratic governor of her state.
Mr Trump, in response to a question about whether the honour should have been extended in the light of the tributes the White House has paid to Mr Charlie Kirk, the assassinated conservative activist,
“Well, if the governor had asked me to do that, I would have done that, but the governor of Minnesota didn’t ask me,” Mr Trump said, not identifying by name governor Tim Walz, who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee in the last election.
In the days after the assassination in Minnesota, Mr Trump said he saw no reason to speak to Mr Walz. On Sept 15, Mr Walz’s office issued a statement in response to the President’s remarks earlier from the Oval Office.
“Governor Walz wishes that President Trump would be a President for all Americans,” it read.
Mr Trump has been casting blame entirely on the liberals who oppose him for political violence that has struck both Democrats and Republicans in recent years, as he continues to paint Mr Kirk’s assassination last week as the work of the “radical left”.
Asked on Sept 15 why he continued to cast the violence as only being from one side, Mr Trump doubled down.
“I didn’t say it’s on one side,” he said. “But I say the radical left causes tremendous violence, and they seem to do it in a bigger way.”
Law enforcement agencies say Mr Kirk’s killer acted alone, but the White House has seized on his assassination to plan a broad crackdown on liberal groups
Mr Kirk, who was shot and killed during a public appearance in Utah on Sept 10, was an ardent supporter of Mr Trump and a close friend of members of his family and administration.
Mr Trump signed a proclamation ordering that flags across the country be lowered to half-staff within an hour of announcing Mr Kirk’s death on social media.
Mr Trump and members of his Cabinet have escalated attacks on their political opponents, and the president also claimed during his Oval Office remarks on Sept 15 that the shooter had been “radicalised” by the left, even though a motive is still unknown.
After Ms Hortman’s assassination in June, Mr Trump said that calling Mr Walz would be “a waste of time”.
“I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling him,” Mr Trump said at the time. “Why would I call him? I could call and say, ‘Hi, how you doing?’ Uh, the guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess. I could be nice and call, but why waste time?”
On Sept 15, he suggested that it was Mr Walz who should have called him for condolences.
On the lowering of flags after Ms Hortman’s assassination, he said: “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 often times you have to say ‘no’ because it would be a lot of lowering. The flag would never be up. Had the governor of Minnesota asked me to do that, I would have done that gladly.” NYTimes
