Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) criticized the late Charlie Kirk in a media appearance with progressive Mehdi Hasan on Thursday.
Omar said, among other things, that Kirk downplayed slavery and claimed that “guns save lives” following a school shooting.
Her comments come hours after an assassin pierced Kirk’s neck with a bullet, killing him in broad daylight with hundreds of bystanders watching. The killer has not been caught yet.
“Right, [he] had no regard,” Omar replied to Hasan, who said Kirk called George Floyd a “scumbag.”
“Downplayed slavery and what black people have gone through in this country by saying Juneteenth should never exist,” she added.
She then referenced how many have promoted Kirk’s willingness to talk with anyone and be civil in those debates.
“There are a lot of people out there talking about him just wanting to have a civil debate. … There is nothing more effed up than to completely pretend that his words and actions have not been recorded,” she added.
Omar had one of the more muted reactions to the news of Kirk’s shooting, declining to offer any initial sympathy for him on Wednesday. “Political violence is absolutely unacceptable and indefensible. Unconscionable acts of violence should have no place in our country. Let’s pray for no more lives being lost to gun violence,” she posted on X.
After facing criticism for her reaction, Omar later said during her interview with Hasan that she felt empathy for his wife and children. “While I disagreed with Charlie Kirk vehemently about his rhetoric, my heart breaks for his wife and children,” she posted on X.
Very few Democrats have chosen to criticize Kirk following his death, after many online chose to meme or mock aspects of the political commentator’s death. Some political observers have used his past Second Amendment statements against him.
DEMOCRATS MUM ON GUN CONTROL BUT CONDEMN POLITICAL VIOLENCE AFTER CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION
“I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational,” Kirk once said.
Both sides of the political aisle have honored the conservative commentator. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has even proposed erecting a statue of Kirk in the Capitol.