Suspect in assassination of Minnesota lawmaker said it had nothing to do with Trump, abortion

Suspect Vance Boelter in the Minnesota assassination of a lawmaker and her husband reportedly hinted at what his motive was when he was interviewed in jail and said that the killing and shooting of Minnesota lawmakers did not have to do with President Donald Trump or his pro-life stance.

During an interview with the New York Post, Boelter, 57, said from his cell, "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."

There has been some reporting suggesting that his attack on Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman had to do with his views on abortion, but he said differently in the interview. 

"I am pro-life personally [sic] but it wasn’t those,” he said, using the jail's 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 [sic] it get out."

The outlet's communication with Boelter included two separate video interactions, both about 20 minutes in length. These are his first public comments since he was taken into custody by police and was charged with the murder of the Hortmans.

Boelter is also alleged to have shot state Sen. John Hoffman as well as his wife, Yvette, both of whom are reovering from their injuries. Boelter also reportedly had a long list of names of different lawmakers who he intended to target. He also had written a letter addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel claiming that he had been instructed in secret military operations by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz perform the killings so that Walz could run for Sen. Amy Klobuchar's seat in the Senate.

Boelter further told reporters in the interview, “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?”

"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," Boelter added, saying that much of it had to do with "things that were going on in Minnesota.

“I also made sure when I was arrested that they secured that letter — I made the request that they secure that letter before it gets destroyed — because I was concerned somebody would destroy it,” Boelter added.