🔰Sen. Amy Klobuchar remembers slain Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman: Full interview

Joining me now is Democratic Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar. Senator Klobuchar, welcome back to Meet the Press and my deepest condolences to you for the loss of your friends and colleagues. Thank you, Kristen. And you know, it is really not about any of us. It is this incredible woman that we lost, Melissa Portman. We think about her family today, Father's Day today. They not only lost their mom, her two kids, they also lost their dad and her beloved husband, Mark. This is a woman, I just wish everyone in the world, political world, knew this woman like we know her in Minnesota, loved by Democrats and Republicans. Started out, we started out together in politics, moms with young kids. And somehow she was able to balance getting to know every doorknock, every house in her district while raising two children, Girl Scout leader. She was, she taught Sunday school and maybe all that juggling made it easier for her as she worked her way up in the legislature and became this extraordinary speaker of the House, ushering in everything from preschool lunch to working with the governor and other leaders to do some landmark legislation on paid family leave to this year working with her Republican counterpart when we pretty much had a tied legislature to get the budget done. That's Melissa Portman, my friend. And when you think about political violence and the statistics of political violence, you've got to realize the people who are behind it and a true public servant that we lost. Well, we are grateful to you for being here to help us pay tribute to Speaker Emerita Portman. I know you were at a dinner with her. You were with her just hours before this assassination against her life. And I imagine you must still be in shock. What can you tell us about that? And do you have an update on the condition of state Senator John Hoffman and his wife? They were also shot there in the hospital. Exactly. So he's another extraordinary person got into politics because his daughter has spina bifida, couldn't get insurance coverage and went from school board to the state legislature. Also really well respected. And what I know about them is that they are hanging in there. His wife was out of surgery first and she's actually texted some of our mutual friends and he may face some additional surgeries. But he is also in stable condition right now from what I know. So they they had multiple, multiple gun wounds and were able to the first responders were there. The police were there, got them to the hospital and then had the presence of mind to go over to Leader Hortman's house. And that's where they found this perpetrator, this man who seemed to have no limits in terms of the murderous acts that he committed. I will say one more thing. And that is that at that dinner, it was a big political dinner. Everyone was rejoicing, happy. The sessions behind them. And that was the last time so many of us saw Melissa and Mark. And the next morning, 5 a.m., the governor, Governor Walz, calls me and tells me that we believe that she's no longer with us. I can only imagine your your shock and your devastation. I do want to talk about this manhunt that is underway. And because it's still active, we do want to show our viewers who we're talking about here. The suspect, according to authorities, allegedly impersonating a police officer. That's how they got into these homes. He's been identified by authorities. A Vance Belter. We're showing images of him right now on your screen. He worked for a private security company. What is the very latest on the search for this suspect, Senator? Well, for a while, they believed that he was in one certain area and he may have been there for a while. So they had thousands of homes in a shelter in place situation. Now they are continuing to look. And so the FBI is asking for the public's health help with a fifty thousand dollar award. You've got many images of them. To me, the most chilling image is the one where he is apparently wearing some kind of mask. It's a doorbell camera like so many people have. But it's the doorbell right before he killed our friends. And so that was that image. And then later they saw him with the cowboy hat, you know, out and about. And so he is somewhere they are looking for him everywhere. He is smart. He was able to, you know, imposter, a police officer, soup up a car. So it seemed like a police car. And so people that I know law enforcement has been very clear about this, that people should not approach him, that they should immediately call the tip lines and report because we believe he's somewhere in the vicinity and that they are going to find him. But right now, everyone on edge here because we know that this man will kill at a second. We also know that he is clearly off balance, that from the manifesto on some of his writings, some of the things that he has said recently, that he is someone that no one should mess with except for law enforcement. Senator, I want to move on to the motive very quickly. You say you believe he's still in the vicinity. So authorities believe he's still in Minnesota, correct? He may be. They've also put alert out in South Dakota. You know, when I mean vicinity, I mean in the Midwest. OK, look, all of the victims you talk about this manifesto, Democratic lawmakers, their spouses, in terms of this manifesto, authorities say other potential targets included names of prominent pro-choice individuals, Planned Parenthood location clinics. What are you learning about the motive for his attack? Clearly this is politically motivated. Our delegation in Minnesota from the most conservative Republican to the most liberal Democrat. We all joined together, Senator Emmer and I and others, and said we condemn this political violence. It was politically motivated and there clearly was some through line with abortion because of the groups that were on the list and other things that I've heard were in this manifesto. So that was one of his motivations. But again, they're also checking out, did he have interaction somehow with these two legislators? Is there more to this? And I think for us right now, it's allowing law enforcement to do their jobs instead of speculating on every angle of where he might have gone. They obviously have information we don't have. And so what we've been trying to do as political leaders is make really clear we will have plenty of time to analyze what happened here. But right now it is trying to report any sighting of this person and to be very careful and to listen to what law enforcement says, because the advice has changed for obvious reasons over time. And that is what we've got to do right now. Senator, we're almost out of time, but I have a couple more questions for you. Senator Tina Smith reportedly on that list. Were you on that list, Senator? The manifesto list who he was targeting? Yeah. So I just know that they have added security without my request. So I think they're concerned about everyone. I don't have confirmation of that. There's also the manifesto and there's the list. I think people have to understand that this guy is a murderous, murderous man. He will know no limits whether you're on the list, whether you're not. He may change what he's focused on. And that's what we're most concerned about right now is, is it the next person, not a political person, but a person he just encounters. So while I am concerned about all our political leaders, political organizations, my thoughts today are with the families upholding the memory of Melissa Hortman, praying for the recovery of Senator Hoffman, and then, of course, finding this man. And that's our number one goal today. And I understand that, Senator, I have to ask, though, are you scared for your own personal safety? No, I'm not. But I have had threats before, as several of our colleagues have had. And I think one of the things is we don't talk about this stuff much because you don't want to see copycats that copy exactly what they've done or gets people going. And so I believe that our local law enforcement and the Capitol Police and the like will protect us. But again, my concern is that this guy is going to come up against just an innocent, try to take their car, try to go into their house right now, because a lot of the political leaders in our state have received extra protection, but not the innocents out there. I know that you're telling us you have received extra protection as well, which is incredibly significant. Senator Klobuchar, our thoughts are with you and your entire community. And again, our deepest condolences. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much. We thank you for watching. And remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.