Governor’s grief: Walz talks Hortman relationship, conspiracy theories
Gov. Walz on grieving the Hortmans
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sat down for an exclusive interview with FOX 9, the first since the deadly Minnesota lawmaker shootings. FOX 9's Corin Hoggard has the full report.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The assassinations of Melissa and Mark Hortman still weigh heavily on the mind of Gov. Tim Walz.
Governor in grief
‘Pushing it off’:
It’s been a month since a gunman allegedly planned to kill a series of DFL lawmakers.
The governor sat down with FOX 9 to talk about the emotional weight of it all, how it impacts his political future, and the conspiracy theories.
"I'm being very Minnesotan about it where I'm just, you know, pushing it off and pushing it off, and I said it, but it comes at a time you don't expect," said Gov. Walz.
Grief isn’t linear for the governor.
It hit him a few hours after Melissa and Mark Hortman’s murders as he told everyone they were dead.
"Our state lost a great leader, and I lost the dearest of friends," he announced on June 14, about five hours after he got the call.
Grief struck again at their funeral services two weeks later as he delivered a eulogy.
"A moment when each of us can commit to engaging in politics and life the way Mark and Melissa did," he said on June 28.
He told us that was the hardest five-minute speech he’s ever given.
"It was so much harder than the Chicago speech [when he accepted the vice presidential nomination]," he said. "So much harder than Philadelphia [when Kamala Harris introduced him as her running mate.]"
Gov. Walz exclusive: Hortman assassination, political future
Gov. Tim Walz sat down with FOX9 for his first TV interview since the assassinations of Melissa and Mark Hortman. He says he pushed through grief, but it hits when he doesn't expect it.
Honoring Hortmans
Continued connection:
He plans to keep his connection to the Hortmans by staying engaged with their adult children, Colin and Sophie.
He’ll always remember Speaker Hortman and the role she played in helping him pass seven budgets, but he hopes to forget the alleged assassin as soon as the justice system writes its last chapter.
Conspiracies and criticism
EXCLUSIVE: Gov. Tim Walz on the Hortmans, conspiracy theories [FULL INTERVIEW}
Gov. Tim Walz sat down with FOX9 for his first TV interview since the assassinations of Melissa and Mark Hortman. He says he pushed through grief, but it hits when he doesn't expect it. He dismissed some conspiracy theories about the accused gunman and addressed criticism of his sometimes heated remarks aimed at President Trump. He also discussed his plans and how the Hortman murders might impact them.
‘Delusion’:
But for now, the Department of Justice's release of a letter from the accused shooter to the FBI has Walz knocking down conspiracy theories.
No, he didn’t hire the man to kill Minnesota’s U.S. Senators, he says.
He didn’t even know the guy, even though he did reappoint him to the Workforce Development Board.
"I never, to the best of my (memory), was anywhere around him, certainly don't know him or talk to him," Walz said.
Federal prosecutors called the letter and its accusations a "delusion."
The governor has also heard criticism of his escalating rhetoric aimed at President Trump.
"Maybe it's time for us to be a little meaner," Walz said to a crowd in South Carolina on May 31. "When it's [an] adult like Donald Trump, you bully the **** out of him."
Critics warn that even rhetorical heat creates the potential to inspire violence.
"Do we have to watch some of that? Yeah," Walz told us. "Donald Trump brings out the worst in people, and he brings out the worst in me because I have certainly never been accused of that with anybody else."
He says his anger is directed only at the president and his approach to politics, including ignoring the Hortmans and the Hoffmans after the shooting.
"When this state is grieving and this nation saw what happened here, Donald Trump used it as an opportunity to attack me," Walz said.
One regret
Missing Melissa:
But the pain he really feels is grief, and the loss of a political partner and a chance at something even more meaningful.
"I wish we would have gone out — and we did, we had them to our house, we did those things — but I wish it would have been," Walz said, his voice trailing off momentarily. "I would like to have been Melissa Hortman's friend when neither one of us are in elected office, and you could just be friends without that. I think that's the piece that I regret."
Future plans
Murders a factor:
The governor told us a few things are still up in the air: a potential special session after the federal budget cuts, a possible presidential run, and he says the Hortmans’ murders are a factor in his decision about whether to run for governor again next year.