Jonathan Karl Says Charlie Kirk Murder Was ‘Not Political’

The  Federalist 

Less than three minutes into ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Host Jonathan Karl mischaracterized Charlie Kirk’s assassination by claiming it was “not a political act.”  Then, practically in the same breath, he contradicted himself, saying the shooting has “been senselessly celebrated” by those “who didn’t like what Kirk stood for and thought it was somehow, therefore, justified.” Karl further minimizes the Kirk assassination by calling those people a “small minority.”

“Whatever you think of his political views, and there are many who are deeply offended by things he said, Charlie Kirk was an unwavering advocate for free speech,” Karl said, underscoring the political nature of the assassination.

When we remove the answers and leave just the questions, you can see Karl’s style is to say some nice things to soften the whoppers. He notes that Kirk did not try to silence his critics. Nice. But to claim Kirk’s murder was anything other than political is a dishonest attempt to get the public to move on from an event that strengthens the right’s resolve.

Here are all the questions from ABC’s This Week.   

(Introduction)

Jonathan Karl: Overnight, a stunning development in Washington. A message from President Trump attacking his own attorney general and pressuring her to more aggressively prosecute his political rivals.

“THIS WEEK” starts right now.

(Video Clip)

President Trump nominates one of his former defense lawyers to take over one of the most important U.S. attorney’s offices in the country, and he lashes out at his critics, prompting a national debate over freedom of speech. Trump suggests regulators pull networks off the airwaves over critical coverage.

ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel Live! over comments about Charlie Kirk following threats from the chairman of the FCC.

Prompting a widespread backlash.

 This morning, Sen. Chris Murphy responds to the administration’s latest threats. Chris Christie and Stephen A. Smith. And our roundtable on the political fallout.

Vaccine confusion. RFK Jr.’s advisory committee changes its recommendation for multiple vaccines, drawing bipartisan concern.

I’ll speak to former CDC Director Dr. Richard Besser.

Good morning. Welcome to THIS WEEK.

Later today, family, friends, and supporters of Charlie Kirk will gather in Glendale, Arizona, for his memorial. The 31-year-old activist’s murder shocked the nation, and it was condemned by sensible and compassionate people in and out of politics and across the political spectrum.

It has also been senselessly celebrated by some, a small minority, who didn’t like what Kirk stood for and thought it was somehow, therefore, justified. Celebrating or excusing violence is abhorrent. The murder of Charlie Kirk was not a political act. It was a gruesome crime. His alleged killer now faces the death penalty. 

Our thoughts this morning are with the Kirk family, especially his two young children, who will now grow up without their father.

Whatever you think of his political views, and there are many who are deeply offended by things he said, Charlie Kirk was an unwavering advocate for free speech. On a personal note, he was always willing to engage with me and answer my questions. He welcomed debate with those he disagreed with. He did not try to silence his critics. He listened to them and tried to change their minds.

Free Speech

As Charlie Kirk’s body is laid to rest, that core principle is under attack in America. The very latest, a new policy at the Pentagon that would require reporters to pledge that they won’t gather or use information, even unclassified information, that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release and will revoke the press passes of reporters who do not obey. That’s a policy you might expect to see in China, Russia, or North Korea, but not in the United States. And the move at the Pentagon follows a series of steps by the federal government to silence voices seen as critical of President Trump.

(Video clip)

President Trump began the week by suing The New York Times for defamation, alleging articles in a book by reporters were, quote, “specifically designed to try and damage his business, personal and political reputation.” That lawsuit was thrown out on Friday by a federal judge who called the complaint, quote, “improper and impermissible,” and said the president’s lawsuit attempted to use the courts “to rage against an adversary.”

While President Trump was suing The New York Times, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department would crack down on what she called hate speech.

(Video Clip)

That comment drew backlash, including from some of Donald Trump’s most high-profile allies.

(Video Clip)

On Tuesday, I asked the president about the attorney general’s comments.

(To President Donald Trump) What do you make of Pam Bondi saying she’s going to go after hate speech? Is that — I mean a lot of people — a lot of your allies say hate speech is free speech.

Would that be appropriate?

And on Wednesday, it was the chairman of the FCC that threatened to use the power of the government to silence the president’s critics.

[FCC] Chairman Brendan Carr was referring to Jimmy Kimmel and these comments he made after the murder of Charlie Kirk. 

Shortly after Carr’s threat, two of the largest owners of local stations across the country, Nexstar and Sinclair, said they would stop airing Jimmy Kimmel Live. This as Nexstar is in the middle of a merger deal with another media company. A deal that requires Carr’s FCC approval to move forward.

Disney ABC then announced it would indefinitely suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” sparking an intense debate over free speech. Carr, however, suggested the FCC would continue to put pressure on television stations.

President Trump praised Disney’s decision and targeted NBC late-night host Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers as the next that should go, writing on social media, “do it NBC.” And Trump suggested the FCC revoke licenses from broadcasters that are critical of him.

The FCC’s actions drew bipartisan criticism.

(Video exchange between Trump and Jonathan Karl)

Some legal experts doubt Carr has the right to strip licenses based on political content, but not President Trump.

Who determines that?

And in another effort to go after his critics this week, the president forced out the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, after his office failed to find incriminating evidence of mortgage fraud against New York Attorney General Letitia James. James has long been in Trump’s crosshairs after she successfully prosecuted the Trump Organization for fraud. After U.S. Attorney Siebert failed to prosecute James, Trump told me he wanted Siebert out. Hours later, he submitted his resignation.

Interview: Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

And overnight, an extraordinary statement from President Trump. It appeared to be a direct message to his attorney general, Pam Bondi, but it was posted on Truth Social for the world to see, pressuring her to prosecute his political enemies. The president wrote, in part, “Pam, I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that essentially same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. We can’t delay any longer. It’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice. They indicted me five times over nothing. Justice must be served now.”

And I am joined now by Democratic senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy.

Senator Murphy, let’s start right there with those words towards Pam Bondi. The president mentioned some of his enemies, including James Comey, the former FBI director, and Letitia James. It sounds like he is directly ordering his attorney general to prosecute his enemies. director, Letitia James. It sounds like he is directly ordering his attorney general to prosecute his enemies.

OK, we’ll get to the speech aspect of this in a second. But first, what we saw from him overnight with this statement about — to Pam Bondi, and what we saw Friday with the firing — he said it was a firing of the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who investigated Letitia James on this allegation of mortgage fraud, and who found no evidence to move forward with a criminal charge.

The president believes that he — well, he knows — he was targeted for multiple criminal prosecutions, spent most of his time, after he left office, fending those off. And now, he wants to get retribution against those who he believes, he insists, went after him falsely.

Let me ask you, you introduced a bill called the No Political Enemies Act. And you say it creates a specific, legal defense for those targeted for political reason — political reasons. Doesn’t the — doesn’t the First Amendment cover that? Is that — is it necessary to have another piece of legislation?

I mean, we have a First Amendment. It is the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

You’ve probably seen that a lot of people on X, and social media, are recirculating something that you said back in 2018, arguing that what you said now shows you to be hypocritical in what you’re saying now. Let me — let me just read from this tweet from yours, and it was still a tweet back then. “Private companies deciding not to let their companies be used to spread hate and lies is not the same as government censorship. If it feels the same, then we need to ask why a small handful of companies have so much control over the content Americans see.”

So, you know, a lot of the president’s allies will point to a decision like the one made by ABC Disney regarding Jimmy Kimmel in saying, look, this is a private company making a decision that a private company has a right to do.

So, I want to turn to another subject in the brief time we have left. There was a poll out, I think about the Democratic Party, there was a poll out earlier this month from Gallup that asked views of socialism and capitalism. And I want to take a look at this part of that poll. It showed that 66 percent of Democrats have a favorable view of socialism. Independents, 38 percent. Just 38 percent. Republicans, 14 percent.

Is that — is that the future of the — of the — of the Democratic Party is a more favorable view of socialism?

Up next, we go to Glendale, Arizona, where supporters are lining up to pay their respects to Charlie Kirk. We’re back in just two minutes.

Live Report From Charlie Kirk Memorial

Jonathan Karl: That’s a look at the long lines outside of State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, this morning where Vice President Vance, President Trump, and many others will be attending the memorial service for Charlie Kirk.

Let’s go to ABC’s Matt Rivers in Arizona on the heightened security at the event and what to expect later today. Matt?

Matt Rivers:  We’re just outside the venue here in Glendale, Arizona, where this memorial is set to take place at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time. You can see it’s very early in the morning, and yet there’s already hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people lining up to get into the venue. Organizers saying it’s going to take a long time to get in because of the added security elements that have been put in place.

This is the kind of security levels that we see for Super Bowls. I’m talking thousands of law enforcement officers that are going to be here today to make sure that this goes smoothly. And, of course, tensions ratcheted up a little bit over the weekend after authorities arrested a man pretending to be law enforcement outside of the venue. He was armed, according to police. So that gives people the sense of the sort of threats that we’re facing here at this point.

It’s just adding to what’s been a very tense time in the country, obviously, since Kirk’s killing. The threat of violence very much on people’s minds including on the minds of Secret Service because we know President Donald trump and J.D. Vance, the vice president, will be here today among a long list of speakers including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump, Jr. Big names within the conservative politics world. No question about that there.

Kirk, of course, a controversial figure in the country, but people who will be showing up here today, many of them really view him as almost a political martyr of sorts in their continued political movement and their fight in this country, Jon. A very, very big event here in Glendale and a massive security presence to boot.

Jonathan Karl: Our thanks to Matt.