Attorney General Pam Bondi said that people saying that Charlie Kirk’s assassination was okay are not engaging in free speech. President Donald Trump backed Bondi’s remarks when asked by the press.
“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech,” the Attorney General told podcast host Katie Miller on Monday. “It’s not free speech when you come out and say it’s okay what happened to Charlie. We’re seeing people online posting hate speech, they should be shut down, they should be stopped from doing this, and they should know there are consequences.”
Bondi has been criticized by Kirk’s supporters, who point out that the conservative commentator previously argued against the government targeting people for speech. “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech,” he wrote on X last year. “And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.”
Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech.
And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment.
Keep America free.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 3, 2024
Tuesday, Bondi attempted to clarify her remarks in an X post, writing, “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment.”
Trump backed Bondi’s statement when asked by the press. “We’ll probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly. It’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart. Maybe they’ll come after ABC,” he told reporters. “Maybe they’ll have to go after you.”
Following Kirk’s assassination last week, Trump said that the problem with extreme political rhetoric was among left-wing Americans. “If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right, like some people like to share the right, the problem we have is on the left,” Trump told reporters. “And when you look at the agitator, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that’s the left. That’s not the right.”
Vice President JD Vance added to the administration’s aggressive stance towards Americans who have criticized or mocked Kirk following his death. “There is no unity with people who scream at children over their parents’ politics. There is no unity with someone who lies about what Charlie Kirk said in order to excuse his murder,” he said. “There is no unity with someone who harasses an innocent family the day after the father of that family lost a dear friend. There is no unity with the people who celebrate Charlie Kirk’s assassination.”
Secretary of War Hegseth said he is aware that some troops and Pentagon employees are celebrating or mocking Kirk and is planning to take action. “We are tracking all these very closely — and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable,” he wrote on X.
Assistant to the Secretary of War Sean Parnell posted, “We WILL NOT tolerate those who celebrate or mock the assassination of a fellow American at the Department of War.” He continued. “It’s a violation of the oath, it’s conduct unbecoming, it’s a betrayal of the Americans they’ve sworn to protect & dangerously incompatible with military service.”
