Kirk’s Killing Spurs Call for Probe of Violent Left-Wing Groups Amid Caveats for Free Speech

In the wake of last week’s assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, Republican congressmen are proposing an investigation into left-wing organizations that they say have contributed to the efforts of violent radicals.

But amid the outrage, a general consensus has emerged that Congress must be careful not to abridge freedom of speech.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, has proposed a new select committee on what he calls “the money, influence, and power behind the radical Left’s assault on America and the rule of law.” The proposal was framed, in part, as a response to Kirk’s slaying.

“Enough is enough. We must follow the money to identify the perpetrators of the coordinated anti-American assaults being carried out against us and take all steps under the law necessary to stop them,” writes Roy in his letter, now co-signed by more than 30 other Republicans. 

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., a supporter of the proposal, told The Daily Signal that members of Congress need to “make sure there’s not concerted effort by several groups that are undermining our country,” and investigate the funding of political radicals.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., asked by The Daily Signal on Tuesday whether he supports Roy’s proposal, said bluntly: “I haven’t looked at it yet.”

Roy’s push to investigate left-wing organizations comes at a time of debate within the Republican Party over the nature of speech and its connection to violence, as Republicans pledge to address the deeper causes of political violence.

After Kirk’s killing, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on a podcast, “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything—and that’s across the aisle.”

She added that, “It’s not free speech when you come out and you say it’s OK what happened to Charlie.”

“You can’t have that hate speech in the world in which we live,” she explained. “There is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society.”

She also said on Fox News that “we can prosecute” businesses, for example, that refuse to print posters of Charlie Kirk. “I have Harmeet Dhillon right now in our [Civil Rights Division] looking at that,” she said. An Office Depot store in Portage, Mich., fired an employee last week for refusing to print flyers for a vigil for Kirk and calling them “propaganda,” The New York Post reported.

Bondi’s remarks spurred online backlash from many conservatives, such as The Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh, who wrote on the social media platform X that hate speech “is not even a valid or coherent concept,” and that “there is no law against saying hateful things, and there shouldn’t be.”

Walsh wrote in a separate post that “Conservatives have fought for decades for the right to refuse service to anyone.”

Bondi later qualified her remarks, writing on X: “Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment.”

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., expressed his displeasure with talk of “hate speech,” telling The Daily Signal that Bondi “got appropriately dragged for a lot of those outlandish statements.”

 “Free Speech allows people to say terrible, obnoxious things, and that’s part of what makes America so special,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said. 

However, Fetterman also cautioned his peers against being disrespectful of Kirk.

“I have chosen to condemn it in the strongest terms and give people the amount of space they deserve to grieve and how traumatizing this has been for our nation,” he said.

“Every time is not an opportunity to push your values or your views … . We’ve all seen that terrible video, and now maybe it’s a time to just put a pin on having to push an opinion.”

Roy also made clear amid the online discussion on speech that he does not support its regulation, writing on X that “‘Hate’ speech—as even a concept—is a tool of leftists and tyrants … certainly not conservatives.” 

A number of other Republicans similarly told The Daily Signal that they do not view regulating speech as the correct response to Kirk’s assassination.

“Yeah, I think we have to be very careful about crossing that line,” Burchett said when asked whether investigating left-wing organizations came with a danger of suppressing free expression.

Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., who has not signed onto Roy’s letter, but supports its general goals, similarly told The Daily Signal that Congress should investigate left-wing organizations, but be wary of overstepping its bounds.

“I think that we’re going to have to be careful. That’s why I’m saying I need more information about what is exactly being advocated for,” she said.

The Wyoming lawmaker added that “the idea of investigating this and investigating how this young man might have been radicalized, investigating Antifa, investigating the riots that you’re seeing in places like Los Angeles, places like that, I think it’s absolutely legitimate for us to consider it, but always we have to keep in mind freedom of speech, freedom to peaceably assemble, freedom to petition your government for redress.”

She added: “But the First Amendment also doesn’t make us turn a blind eye when there is clearly something that is happening in the progressive ranks that is putting people at risk.”

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