Congressional lawmakers are expected to receive security briefings this week after a gunman on Saturday fatally shot a Minnesota state representative and her husband and seriously injured a state senator and his wife in what have been described as politically motivated attacks.
The Senate is scheduled to hold a briefing Tuesday with the chamber’s sergeant at arms, Jennifer Hemingway, and U.S. Capitol Police at the behest of Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., CBS News reported Monday.
Members of the House, who are on recess this week, are to be briefed virtually Tuesday by House Sergeant at Arms William McFarland, sources told CBS News. The briefing was organized by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who said Saturday that he asked the sergeant at arms and Capitol Police to “ensure the safety of our Minnesota delegation and members of Congress across the country.”
The security briefings will come days after a gunman killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, at their home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, early Saturday, and critically wounded state Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, at their Champlin home about 9 miles away.
The suspected gunman, Vance Boelter, was arrested Sunday night after a nationwide manhunt.
Boelter, who is facing two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder, reportedly had a list of Democrats from Minnesota to target, including such members of Congress as Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, and Reps. Ilhan Omar and Kelly Morrison, who joined the House in January after serving in the state Legislature. Eleven lawmakers from Wisconsin, all Democrats, were reportedly on Boelter’s list.
There has been a string of violent political incidents, including two assassination attempts against Donald Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign and the arrest of a man suspected of planning to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022.
Other acts of political violence include an arson attack in April on the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and the shooting deaths of two staff members of Israel’s U.S. Embassy, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, 26, after they attended an event last month at the Capital Jewish Museum.
And Saturday’s attack came eight years to the day after Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., was seriously wounded when a gunman opened fire at a GOP baseball team practice in Alexandria, Virginia.
Former Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who retired last month, told CBS News at the time that threats facing members of Congress have accelerated over the past several years, and remain alarmingly high.
A threat assessment by Capitol Police said such threats climbed for the second straight year in 2024, with more than 9,400 concerning statements and direct threats investigated against members of Congress, their families, and their staffs. The figure has more than doubled from 2017, when less than 4,000 cases were evaluated.
Manger told CBS News that the heightened threat assessment is “really a reflection of our political landscape today.” He outlined that threats come in from across the country, and Capitol Police has nationwide jurisdiction to address the threats.
“We are sending investigators, agents all over this country to investigate these cases, we make many arrests, we are able to resolve some of these threats in other ways, as well,” Manger said. “But that’s a huge responsibility.”
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