Hiding Behind Kirk, Team Trump Launches ‘Biggest Assault on the First Amendment’ in Modern US History
“This is the time where every American must stand proudly for free speech and our freedoms,” said Rep. Ro Khanna.
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on February 26, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Sep 16, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
US President Donald Trump and his administration have been signaling that they are planning to use the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk as a justification to launch a broad campaign targeting their political opponents.
Trump adviser Stephen Miller on Monday singled out left-wing organizations that he baselessly alleged were promoting violence in the United States and he said that the full weight of the federal government would soon come down on them.
“We are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people,” said Miller.
Shortly after this, Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared on the podcast hosted by Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, and vowed that the Justice Department would “go after” people who engage in “hate speech” against conservatives.
“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society,” Bondi said. “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
While many prominent conservatives denounced Bondi’s remarks and reiterated that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, Trump himself appeared to give her views his endorsement.
When asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl about Bondi’s comments on Tuesday, the president signaled that he would favor prosecuting journalists on “hate speech” charges.
“We’ll probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly,” Trump said in response to Karl’s question. “You have a lot of hate in your heart.”
Trump then pointed to the $16 million defamation settlement he agreed to with Disney after ABC News host George Stephanopoulos said on air last year that Trump had been found liable for raping journalist E. Jean Carroll, when in fact the jury had technically only found Trump liable for sexually abusing her.
”ABC paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech,” Trump said. “Your company paid me $16 million for a former a hate speech, right? So maybe they’ll have to go after you.”
These development have caused widespread alarm among some Democratic politicians.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) posted a video on social media in which he warned that Trump and his administration were engaging in “the biggest assault on the First Amendment in our country’s modern history.”
He then pointed to statements made by Vice President JD Vance, Stephen Miller, and Bondi, and he encouraged his supporters to be willing to confront dangers to American liberty.
“This is the time where every American must stand proudly for free speech and our freedoms,” he said.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), after posting the video of Trump threatening to “go after” ABC News’ Karl, argued that Trump’s actions made it impossible for him to vote in favor of continuing to fund the federal government.
“How can we fund this?” he asked. “I am being asked this week to fund a government that locks up a reporter Trump doesn’t like. This isn’t a close call folks.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who has become the target of a censure resolution by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) amid false claims that she did not condemn the Kirk assassination, hit back at Republicans for being hypocrites on free speech.
“Nancy Mace is trying to censure me over comments I never said,” she said. “Her [resolution] does not contain a single quote from me because she couldn’t find any. Unlike her, I have routinely condemned political violence, no matter the political ideology. This is all an attempt to push a false story so she can fundraise and boost her run for governor.”
Tom Boggioni
September 16, 2025
RAW STORY
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi attends a House Appropriations Justice Subcommittee hearing on U.S. President Donald Trump's budget request for the Department of Justice, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Less than 24 hours after Attorney General Pam Bondi attempted to make the case that the First Amendment has a carve-out that makes “hate speech” subject to prosecution, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor took a not-too-veiled shot at the Donald Trump appointee.
According to a report from Politico, with the next Supreme Court term just around the corner at the beginning of October, Sotomayor took the stage Tuesday morning for questions on a panel hosted by New York Law School.
Late Monday, Bondi told podcaster Katie Miller, the wife of extreme rightwing Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller, “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie [Kirk], in our society."
She added, "We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech — and that’s across the aisle.”
As Politico’s Erica Orden wrote, the Yale Law School-trained Sotomayor never mentioned Bondi by name, but it was clear who she was talking about.
“Every time I listen to a lawyer-trained representative saying we should criminalize free speech in some way, I think to myself, that law school failed,” Sotomayor pointed out.
Bondi is a graduate of Stetson University College of Law in Deland, Florida, which is housed in a historic 1920s resort hotel.
Stomayor later added, “Think about all the things that you see in the world that are wrong, starting with two world wars — two wars and regional conflicts. But think of everything that’s happening in the United States, and you have to pause and say, we adults have really messed this up.
'It’s a crime!' Pam Bondi's hate speech remark gets pushback even from MAGA senator
Nicole Charky-Chami
September 16, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump listens as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during an event to sign a memorandum to send federal resources to Memphis, Tennessee, for a surge against local crime, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 15, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Attorney General Pam Bondi's statements over prosecuting hate speech in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing have prompted some conservatives, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), to respond and defend Constitutional protections on Tuesday.
It's also prompted Bondi to walk back her initial statements. Bondi appeared on the Katie Miller podcast on Monday, saying the Department of Justice will “absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
Cruz said Tuesday that her comments were "misconstrued."
“The First Amendment absolutely protects speech,” Cruz said at Politico's AI & Tech Summit on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. “It absolutely protects hate speech. It protects vile speech. It protects horrible speech. What does that mean? It means you cannot be prosecuted for speech, even if it is evil and bigoted and wrong.”
“We have seen, as you noted, across the country, people on the left — not everybody, but far too many people — celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder,” Cruz said. “We’ve seen teachers in high schools and elementary schools posting online, celebrating. We’ve seen university professors posting. In my view, they should absolutely face the consequences for celebrating murder.”
Cruz praised Kirk, sharing that he had a friendship with the right-wing influencer.
Bondi posted on social media Tuesday, clarifying that "hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment."
"It’s a crime," she wrote, continuing to double down on her attack of the "radical left."
"For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over," Bondi said.
In another interview later Monday with Fox News' Sean Hannity, she called on employers to fire their employees who have said "horrible things" or criticized Kirk's past rhetoric, NBC News reports.
"It’s free speech, but you shouldn’t be employed anywhere if you’re going to say that. And employers, you have an obligation to get rid of people. You need to look at people who are saying horrible things, and they shouldn’t be working with you," she said.
Some MAGA supporters have called for Bondi to resign.
Several people have been targeted for comments they shared in the aftermath of Kirk's assassination, including educators and journalists.
Nicole Charky-Chami
September 16, 2025
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump listens as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during an event to sign a memorandum to send federal resources to Memphis, Tennessee, for a surge against local crime, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 15, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Attorney General Pam Bondi's statements over prosecuting hate speech in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing have prompted some conservatives, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), to respond and defend Constitutional protections on Tuesday.
It's also prompted Bondi to walk back her initial statements. Bondi appeared on the Katie Miller podcast on Monday, saying the Department of Justice will “absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
Cruz said Tuesday that her comments were "misconstrued."
“The First Amendment absolutely protects speech,” Cruz said at Politico's AI & Tech Summit on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. “It absolutely protects hate speech. It protects vile speech. It protects horrible speech. What does that mean? It means you cannot be prosecuted for speech, even if it is evil and bigoted and wrong.”
“We have seen, as you noted, across the country, people on the left — not everybody, but far too many people — celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder,” Cruz said. “We’ve seen teachers in high schools and elementary schools posting online, celebrating. We’ve seen university professors posting. In my view, they should absolutely face the consequences for celebrating murder.”
Cruz praised Kirk, sharing that he had a friendship with the right-wing influencer.
Bondi posted on social media Tuesday, clarifying that "hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment."
"It’s a crime," she wrote, continuing to double down on her attack of the "radical left."
"For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over," Bondi said.
In another interview later Monday with Fox News' Sean Hannity, she called on employers to fire their employees who have said "horrible things" or criticized Kirk's past rhetoric, NBC News reports.
"It’s free speech, but you shouldn’t be employed anywhere if you’re going to say that. And employers, you have an obligation to get rid of people. You need to look at people who are saying horrible things, and they shouldn’t be working with you," she said.
Some MAGA supporters have called for Bondi to resign.
Several people have been targeted for comments they shared in the aftermath of Kirk's assassination, including educators and journalists.
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