Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) confronted Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on Monday evening after his controversial online posts about the political assassination and attempted murder of Minnesota state lawmakers.

Lee downplayed and joked about what authorities say were politically motivated shootings over the weekend by Vance Boelter, who was charged Monday with a half-dozen federal crimes, including murder and stalking. He allegedly killed Democratic Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and shot Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, who remain hospitalized.

Recommended Stories

• How the Senate GOP tax plan differs from the House bill
• Senate GOP releases tax plan with smaller child tax credit boost
• Tim Kaine to force Senate vote on Trump authority to attack Iran

Lee posted Sunday, “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.” The message was accompanied by an alleged picture of Boelter donning a mask that police say he used to carry out the shootings. In a subsequent post, Lee appeared to try to criticize Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, and tie the violence to the far Left.

“Nightmare on Waltz Street,” Lee posted, along with more pictures of Boelter.

Lee repeatedly declined to comment to the Washington Examiner on Monday evening about the posts or his conversation with Smith.

“I’m not doing any hallway interviews today,” Lee said at the Capitol.

Smith pulled Lee from a Republicans-only closed-door meeting earlier Monday to speak with him about the posts, as captured in a picture by the Washington Examiner. Smith later recounted that she told Lee it was “brutal and cruel,” according to CNN.

“He should think about the implications of what he’s saying and doing,” she said. “It just further fuels this hatred and misinformation.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) offered additional criticism.

“I have condemned what Mike Lee did here at home, and I will speak to him about this when I return,” she said Monday on MSNBC. “And what I’m going to tell him is: This isn’t funny, what happened here.”

“This is not a laughing matter,” Klobuchar added. “And certainly, what we’re seeing is an increase in violence, and this evil man who did this — this is not a joke.”

Lee is active on his personal X account, where the posts were made, and is no stranger to making statements on the platform that draw scrutiny. Still, it is rare for posts to rise to the level of controversy that they prompt a senator to confront a colleague personally.

US ATTORNEY ANNOUNCES FEDERAL CHARGES AGAINST MINNESOTA SHOOTINGS SUSPECT

Ed Shelleby, Smith’s deputy chief of staff, lambasted the conservative senator and his top staffers in a Monday email to Lee’s office, writing in part that Lee “exploited the murder of a lifetime public servant and her husband to post some sick burns about Democrats.”

“Is this how your team measures success?” reads the email, which was obtained by Semafor. “Using the office of US Senator to post not just one but a series of jokes about an assassination—is that a successful day of work on Team Lee? Did you come into the office Monday and feel proud of the work you did over the weekend?”

David Sivak contributed to this report.