Accused assassin claims shootings of Minnesota lawmakers unrelated to views on Trump, abortion

The man charged with the murders of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, said in a recent jailhouse interview with the New York Post that the killings had nothing to do with his views on abortion or President Donald Trump.

“You are fishing and I can’t talk about my case…I’ll say it didn’t involve either the Trump stuff or pro life,” Boelter wrote to the Post from the Sherburne County jail in Elk River, which houses federal detainees.

Boelter has yet to enter a plea in the state or federal cases brought against him in the June 14 shootings.

Boelter also stands accused of shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their Champlin home earlier that same morning.

“I am pro-life personaly but it wasn’t those,” the 57-year-old wrote to the Post, using the jail’s internal messaging system. “I will just say there is a lot of information that will come out in future that people will look at and judge for themselves that goes back 24 months before the 14th. If the gov ever let’s it get out.”

Boelter has not yet responded to a written interview request sent to the jail by the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Boelter’s comments to the Post echoed some of his words during recent federal court appearances.

In a brief appearance in St. Paul federal court on July 3, Boelter said he looked forward to further proceedings so the “truth” could emerge about the shootings.

“Your Honor, I’m looking forward to court,” Boelter told Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko. “I’m looking forward to the truth and the facts about the 14th ... especially what happened before the 14th.”

During his appearance, Boelter waived his right to detention and preliminary hearings.

“If by waiving those things … where the truth can come out, I understand and think that will be good,” Boelter said. “I think Minnesotans want to know.”

Outside of brief court appearances, Boelter’s first extensive public comments since his June 15 arrest came through written correspondence with the Post as well as two 20-minute video visits on Friday.

Boelter took issue with reporting on the contents of a handwritten letter addressed to the FBI and left in a Buick deserted near Boelter’s home in Green Isle, Minn.

Boelter told the Post important elements of the letter have been kept from the public.

“Can I ask what you heard as an outside person about the note that the alleged person — I’ll say alleged person — left in that car, did you hear anything about that?” Boelter said to the Post in one of the video calls. “Certain details of that letter were leaked out that probably painted one kind of a picture, but a lot more important details that were in that letter were not leaked out.”

He did not expand on which details were left out, only saying it had to do with “things that were going on in Minnesota.”

Two sources familiar with the contents of the letter told the Minnesota Star Tribune last month that Boelter wrote that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instructed him to kill U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar so Walz could run for the U.S. Senate. Boelter also alleged he had been trained by the U.S. military off the books. There were mentions of other Minnesota politicians, but the letter was described as rambling, incoherent, confusing and hard to read.

Hennepin County Attorney spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping has said investigators “have seen no evidence that the allegations regarding Governor Walz are based in fact.”

Walz was among the dozens of politicians and abortion providers named in the hit list found in the abandoned Buick, along with flyers for the “No Kings” anti-Trump rallies scheduled to begin just hours after the shootings.

Boelter told the Post he did support Trump, but he refused to speak about his feelings toward Walz.

Boelter also cited a Bible verse about God’s instruction to love your neighbor.

“I forgot which verse it was…but I’ve always followed that,” Boelter told the Post. “You can maybe ask…if somebody believes that, and they love God and that they love their neighbor…allegedly, how could they be involved in a situation where some people are no longer here that were here before?”

“I’ll let you chew on that one,” he said.

Jeff Day and Sarah Nelson of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.