Biden pays respects at Minnesota Capitol for slain Democratic lawmaker
Former President Biden visited the Minnesota Capitol to pay his respects to former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, who were killed in their homes during a 'politically motivated' attack earlier this month.
Biden, a devout Catholic, made the sign of the cross and knelt to honor the victims of the attack. The couple laid in the rotunda for public viewing, making Hortman the first woman to lie in the rotunda of the state capitol.
Biden and former Vice President Harris will attend the private funeral this Saturday, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
On June 14, Vance Boelter is accused of killing Hortman and her husband and shooting Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife Yvette, leading to the largest manhunt in Minnesota history.
He also reportedly had a list of 45 other elected officials and traveled to the homes of multiple lawmakers on his list to 'stalk' them.
This sparked outrage and fear among lawmakers who worry about the country's political divide.
Hoffman is still recovering from his injuries, and Biden visited the state lawmaker at the hospital for about 40 minutes on Friday, a spokesperson told NewsNation.
After the attacks, members from both sides of the aisle condemned the violent episode.
'Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America,' President Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
'Let me be clear: Political violence has no place in our nation. Elected officials must be safe to do their job on behalf of the people. The hate and division that dominate our political discourse must end,' Harris posted on the social media platform X.
Updated at 8:33 p.m. EDT
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
Slain Minnesota state House member, husband mourned at funeral
Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed June 14 in their home in Brooklyn Park. Photo courtesy of Minnesota House of Representatives June 28 (UPI) -- About 1,500 people on Saturday attended the funeral of slain former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in Minneapolis. The Catholic service was private but it was livestreamed on the Minnesota Department of Public Safety's YouTube page. KMSP-TV reported an estimated 1,500 people attended the service at Basilica of St. Mary, including former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Gov. Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen, who sat next to each other in the front row. Walz was a pallbearer and gave an eulogy. "Melissa Hortman will be remembered as the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history -- and I'll always remember her as a close friend, a mentor and the most talented legislator I've ever known," Walz said. "For seven years, I've had the privilege of signing her bills into law. And I know that millions of Minnesotans will get to live better lives because she and Mark chose public service." Walz described their enduring relationship of 30 years. "There's a part of the story that belongs only to those of us fortunate enough to know the people behind that legacy," Walz said. "It takes place at CR's Billiards, where Mark loved to shoot pool on Monday nights. It takes place in the garden, where Melissa fussed over her lilies like they were wayward members of the caucus. It takes place in the kitchen, where Mark fed his sourdough starter and Melissa mixed margaritas and baked cakes, and Gilbert begged for scraps, and the sound of laughter filled the air." Robin Ann Williams, a close friend of the couple, also gave an eulogy. She explained how Mark Hortman was supportive of his wife. "Mark was also happy to stay at home ... He was always proud of Melissa, and vice versa, and they were never jealous of each other," Williams said. She remembered the families' last dinner together one week before their deaths on June 14. "We are buried in sorrow right now, but I do believe that we will experience joy again. And Mark and Melissa would not want it any other way," she said. Father Dan Griffith said the Hortmans' home in Brooklyn Park became known as "Hortman Hotel" where everyone was welcome. During his homily, Griffifth described Minnesota as "the Ground Zero place, sadly, for racial injustice, the killing of George Floyd just miles from our church today. And now we are the Ground Zero place for political violence and extremism." They leave behind two children. The couple and their dog, Gilbert, laid in state in the Minnesota Capitol Rotunda. More than 7,000 paid their respects on Friday, according to the Minnesota Department of Safety. The funeral included a flyover by a State Patrol helicopter and bells toiled at the Basilica. Vance Boelter, 57, is accused of killing the Hortmans and their dog. About 90 minutes before the Hortmans died, Boelter allegedly also shot Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. He was arrested near his Sibley County home the next day.
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
What's in latest version of Trump's tax bill now before Senate
Here's the latest on what's in the bill. There could be changes as lawmakers negotiate. Tax cuts are the priority Republicans say the bill is crucial because without it, there would be a massive tax increase, totaling some $3.8 trillion, after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. Advertisement Those existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill. It temporarily would add new ones that Trump campaigned on: no taxes on tips, overtime pay or some automotive loans, along with a bigger $6,000 deduction in the Senate draft for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200 under the Senate proposal, or $2,500 in the House's version. Families at lower income levels would not see the full amount, if any. A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years. Advertisement There are scores of business-related tax cuts. The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, which would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version. Middle-income taxpayers would see a tax break of $500 to $1,500, the CBO said. Money for deportations, a border wall and the Golden Dome The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to full his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year. The homeland security secretary would have a new $10 billion fund for grants for states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions. The attorney general would have $3.5 billion for a similar fund, known as Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide, or BIDEN, referring to former Democratic President Joe Biden. To help pay for it all, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections. For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security. How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid and other programs To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans are seeking to cut back some long-running government programs: Medicaid, food stamps, green energy incentives and others. It's essentially unraveling the accomplishments of the past two Democratic presidents, Biden and Barack Obama. Advertisement Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements. There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services. Some 80 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts. All told, the CBO estimates that under the House-passed bill, at least 10.9 million more people would go without health coverage and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps. The Senate proposes a $25 billion Rural Hospital Transformation Fund to help offset those reductions. It's a new addition, intended to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that the proposed Medicaid provider tax cuts would hurt rural hospitals. Both the House and Senate bills propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles. They also would phase out or terminate various the production and investment tax credits companies use to stand up wind, solar and other renewable energy projects. In total, cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs would be expected to produce at least $1.5 trillion in savings. Advertisement Trump savings accounts and so, so much more A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities. The House and Senate both have a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought 'National Garden of American Heroes.' There's a new excise tax on university endowments, restrictions on the development of artificial intelligence and blocks on transgender surgeries. A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated. One provision bars money to family planning providers, namely Planned Parenthood, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee. Billions go for the Artemis moon mission and for exploration to Mars. What's the final cost? Altogether, keeping the existing tax breaks and adding the new ones is expected to cost $3.8 trillion over the decade, the CBO says in its analysis of the House bill. An analysis of the Senate draft is pending. The CBO estimates the House-passed package would add $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficits over the decade. Or not, depending on how one does the math. Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already 'current policy.' Senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach. Under the Senate GOP view, the cost of tax provisions would be $441 billion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats and others say this is 'magic math' that obscures the costs of the GOP tax breaks. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget puts the Senate tally at $4.2 trillion over the decade.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Can Thomas Massie survive Trump's swamp machine?
The knives are out for Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). Trump's $500 million political machine has Kentucky's 4th District in its crosshairs, and the establishment media is already writing the congressman's obituary. But they're missing the real story here. This isn't about one maverick politician bucking the system. This is about the soul of the Republican Party, and whether it still has one. Massie stands alone. While his colleagues genuflect before Trump's Truth Social tantrums, Massie asks the hard questions. When the president bypasses Congress to strike Iran, Massie calls it unconstitutional. When Trump demands Republicans rubber-stamp another bloated spending bill, Massie votes no. When the party leadership demands lockstep loyalty, Massie chooses principle. For this, he's branded a 'grandstander' and 'Little Boy' by a man who turned the presidency into performance art. What makes Massie unique in the age of MAGA isn't just that he dissents; it's that he can't be bought. While most Republicans perform ritual acts of submission to stay in Trump's favor, Massie reads the Constitution. In Washington, that's practically a revolutionary act. Massie represents what MAGA was supposed to be before it got hijacked: a rebellion against the permanent ruling class, not a rebranding of it. While Trump's movement descended into ego worship and grievance theater, Massie stayed where it began — principled, skeptical and unwilling to bow to power, no matter who holds it. The movement that promised to drain Washington ended up building a new palace. It said 'America First,' but delivered 'Trump First.' Through all this, Massie stayed exactly where he was: demanding spending cuts, opposing executive overreach and defending the Constitution even when his own party tried to bulldoze it. Every MAGA promise has been shattered by its loudest apostles. Fiscal restraint? Trump exploded the deficit. Constitutional order? He ruled by tweet and tantrum. Endless wars? He launched unauthorized strikes. Dismantling the swamp? He just gave it a new uniform. Massie didn't move. He voted against every bloated stimulus package. He fought against illegal wars — not just when Democrats launched them, but when Trump did it, too. He defended congressional authority when his own party told him to shut up and fall in line. That's not rebellion for show — it is actual courage. Of course, the MAGA faithful will call him a traitor. That's the tell. They don't oppose the establishment; they have just built a new one. And Massie, by refusing to play along, exposes the absurdity of their game. Trump's pollsters wave around numbers like talismans. They predict a pro-Trump challenger will sweep the district. But Massie knows his district. He has fought off three primary challenges since 2012. His voters value independence over obedience, and he gives them that, in spades. The Republican Party faces a choice. It can become Trump's private army, where one stray thought earns you a superPAC hit-job, or it can remember what it once stood for: Small government, constitutional order and leaders who know the limits of power. Massie is the road not taken. He endorsed the 2024 presidential bid of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when Trump was in the basement. He voted against war fever when it was politically convenient to stay silent. His offense isn't ideological drift; it's consistency. And in a party now built on sycophancy, many view that as unforgivable. The irony is delicious. Trump, the man who ran against the swamp, now uses the swamp's playbook, word for word. Endless money, poll-tested puppets and political punishment for disobedience. The populist hero has become everything he claimed to hate. Massie's libertarian, constitutional streak isn't a glitch. In a party now driven by clicks and blind devotion, he's the outlier who still believes in self-government. When Trump calls for bombing another country on a whim, Massie's the one reminding us we're a republic, not a monarchy. This is what real anti-establishment politics looks like: not all-caps rage posts, not loyalty parades, but stubborn, often unpopular principle. Trump built a machine to generate outrage. Massie just shows up and votes the way he always has. If Massie falls, the Republican Party won't just lose a congressional seat; it will forfeit the last trace of the ideals it once pretended to believe in. Who will vote against the next trillion-dollar spending spree? Who will stand up to the next foreign war fever dream? Who will remind the executive branch — Republican or Democrat — that it is not above the law? Trump may have the war chest, but Massie has something far more dangerous to the machine: credibility and conviction. While others orbit Trump's moods, Massie orbits the founding documents. While others contort themselves to fit the day's narrative, he hasn't bent once in over a decade. This isn't just a primary. It's a referendum on whether the Republican Party still has room for Republicans. Not sycophants. Not performers. But actual public servants, men and women who care more about liberty than likes, more about separation of powers than social media relevance, more about the country than any cult of personality. Thomas Massie is the last Republican who remembers what the job is actually for. If he falls, what's left isn't a party. It'll be an echo chamber dressed up as a political movement. John Mac Ghlionn is a writer and researcher who explores culture, society and the impact of technology on daily life.
