Attorney General Pam Bondi has prompted a backlash from conservatives after signaling the Justice Department would prosecute “hate speech” in the wake of the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Her comments come as the Trump Administration has promised to crack down on the “radical left” following the killing of the 31-year-old activist, and encouraged Americans to report anyone celebrating his murder to their employers.
“There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech. And there’s no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie [Kirk],” Bondi said on a podcast hosted by conservative commentator Katie Miller. “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
Bondi’s comments sparked an outpouring of criticism from conservatives and prominent MAGA supporters, who argue that “hate speech” is protected by the First Amendment.
Matt Walsh, a commentator associated with the far-right Daily Wire, said there should be “social consequences for people who openly celebrate the murder of an innocent man. But there obviously shouldn’t be any legal repercussions for ‘hate speech,’ which is not even a valid or coherent concept.” He continued, “There is no law against saying hateful things, and there shouldn’t be.”
Fox News political analyst Brit Hume said: “Someone needs to explain to Ms. Bondi that so-called ‘hate speech,’ repulsive though it may be, is protected by the
First Amendment. She should know this.”
Conservative talk show radio host Erick Erickson posted to X that Bondi was “a moron.”
“No ma’am. That is not the law,” he said in response to a clip from the podcast.
Conservatives are also pointing out that Kirk himself had posted that he did not believe that hate speech existed “legally” in America, and that “all” speech was protected by the First Amendment.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), there is not legal definition of hate speech, although it generally is defined as speech with intention to “vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, religion, skin color sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, or national origin.”
Bondi appeared to walk back her comments somewhat on Tuesday morning, reframing them to suggest that she would only target speech that turned into threats of violence.
“Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime,” she wrote. “For far too long, we’ve watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over.”
The ALA says that in order for hate speech to be considered a crime, the speech “incites imminent criminal activity or consists of specific threats of violence targeted against a person or group.”
The debate on free speech comes as President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have criticized European nations for their policies on free speech. During a speech at the Munich Security Conference in February, Vance accused European Union “commissars” of suppressing free speech and thus retreating from their nations’ “most fundamental values.”
“I heard his speech, and he talked about freedom of speech,” Trump said of Vance’s February speech. “And I think it’s true in Europe; it’s losing. They’re losing their wonderful right of freedom of speech.”
On Tuesday, when Trump was asked by a reporter about Bondi’s “hate speech” comments, however, he threw his full support behind the Attorney General.
“[We’ll] probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly, it’s hate. You have a lotta hate in your heart,” he told the reporter.
When hosting Kirk’s online show on Monday to pay tribute to his friend, Vance stopped short of calling for people to be prosecuted for their speech, but said people should call out those “celebrating” Kirk’s murder. “Hell, call their employer,” Vance said.
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