Jen Psaki mocks ‘thoughts and prayers’ after trans shooter kills Catholic schoolchildren in Minnesota

On Wednesday, authorities confirmed that at least two children were killed and more than a dozen others wounded when a trans gunman opened fire during Mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. Police later identified the suspected shooter, found dead at the scene, as Robert “Robin” Westman. Court records show Westman legally changed his name from Robert to Robin in 2019, noting in filings that he identified as female despite being born male.

During a live segment on MSNBC, Psaki slammed Republican officials and members of the Trump administration for offering prayers to the families of the victims.

The MSNBC host’s remarks struck a harsh tone against the longstanding American tradition of offering prayers to victims and families in the wake of tragedies. In Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, prayers for the dead are meant to ask that their souls be received into heaven.

Critics also noted Psaki’s shifting record on prayer. While she derided “thoughts and prayers” in recent years, Psaki herself had previously used the phrase repeatedly on X. In June 2017, following the congressional baseball shooting that injured Rep. Steve Scalise, she wrote: “Thoughts and prayers with @SteveScalise and officers shot.” After the death of Sen. John McCain in 2018, Psaki tweeted, “Thoughts and prayers to his family.” As recently as February 2023, she joked, “Thoughts and prayers to the staffers trying to move Joe Biden out of one of his favorite places.”

The contrast between Psaki’s earlier calls for prayer and her Wednesday post sparked backlash online, with critics accusing her of hypocrisy and politicizing a tragedy in which children were gunned down inside their church school.

Additionally, in response to the tragedy, Psaki turned to X to attack Trump’s recent moves to address violent crime in Washington, DC Psaki wrote: “When kids are getting shot in their pews at a catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have National Guard put mulch down around DC, maybe rethink your strategy.”

Her comments appeared to reference Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard troops and place the Metropolitan Police Department under federal oversight as part of a sweeping DC crime crackdown.