Pam Bondi Sparks MAGA Fury Over Free Speech Remarks

Attorney General Pam Bondi has sparked backlash from MAGA over her remarks on free speech following the death of Charlie Kirk. Bondi appeared on The Katie Miller Podcast, where she said: “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech.”

Newsweek has reached out to the DOJ outside of regular working hours via an online contact form for comment.

Why It Matters

Kirk, 31, was shot and killed as he spoke during a campus event at Utah Valley University on September 10. The right-wing activist was the co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth movement. His assassination comes amid fears of increasing political violence in the United States and highlights divisions gripping the country.

There has been an outpouring of grief for Kirk from his supporters, as well as President Donald Trump and his administration, plus high-profile Democrats and celebrities.

However, there have been some social media posts and videos celebrating his killing, while others have criticized Kirk and his beliefs, which has in turn triggered a backlash. This is something that the Trump administration has responded to swiftly, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that the United States has begun revoking the visas of individuals found celebrating Kirk’s death. Vice President JD Vance has encouraged people to report those who may be celebrating his murder to their employer.

What To Know

Bondi spoke about the assassination of Kirk with Miller, who served as communications director for former Vice President Mike Pence. Miller is married to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and launched her eponymous podcast in August.

“It’s a lot of work to show up to a college campus,” Miller said. “For so long, colleges allowed, when a conservative would go on campus, they’d go with all this police and security. These universities are complicit in allowing conservatives to be harassed on campus, and what happens when you allow a university to harass conservatives, and don’t expel and don’t take an action, is what happened last week.”

To this, Bondi responded, “It is,” before adding: “And on a broader level, the antisemitism, what’s been happening at college campuses around this country is disgusting, it’s despicable, and we’ve been fighting that. We’ve been fighting these universities left and right, and we’re not going to stop.”

Bondi’s remarks appeared to be referencing pro-Palestinian protests at U.S. universities in response to the Israel-Hamas war, something the Trump administration has cracked down on.

Bondi then says: “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.”

Her remarks have seen swift backlash online, from MAGA and conservatives who disagree with her comments on free speech and said Kirk had also disagreed with this view.

Author Hans Mahncke responded to the clip on X and shared a post of Kirk’s from May of 2024, where he wrote: “Hate speech does not exist in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.”

Miller asked Bondi if “she sees more law enforcement going after these groups who are using hate speech, and putting cuffs on people, so we show them that some action is better than no action.”

To this, Bondi replied: “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything. And that’s across the aisle.”

Bondi then references an attack on the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, his whose home was set ablaze in April. Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, was arrested on suspicion of setting fire to the property.

“That’s what happened in this world, and we are gonna fight every step of the way to show that you will face the most severe consequences if you come after someone and you target someone for their political views, or for any reason at all,” Bondi said.

Her remarks come after comments from the president regarding the far-left anti-fascism group, Antifa. Trump said that he would consider naming them domestic terrorists, and said, “I’m not so sure about that,” after a reporter said: “They still have a First Amendment right, though, they’re still out there protesting.”

What People Are Saying

Hans Mahncke, the author of Swiftboating America, in a post on X viewed over 120,000 times: “Charlie Kirk literally died defending the principle that Pam Bondi is trashing. Just unreal.”

@MattWalshBlog, in a post on X viewed 100,000 times: “This is really outrageous and infuriating. We’re already having a lot of success fighting back against the leftists celebrating Charlie’s death. We don’t need Pam Bondi swooping in to throw the entire conversation off the rails by completely missing our point. And having a ‘hate speech’ crackdown in the name of Charlie Kirk — a man who absolutely rejected ‘hate speech’ laws — is especially grotesque.”

Actor Rob Schneider on X: “Pam Bondi is WRONG on this one. If FREE SPEECH means anything it’s the freedom to say things that OTHER people may LOATHE! Outside of the incitement to violence, FREE SPEECH IS ALL SPEECH! You are either for ALL of it or NONE of it!”

Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, in a post on X: “The murder of Charlie Kirk could have united Americans to confront political violence. Instead, Trump and his anti-democratic radicals look to be readying a campaign to destroy dissent.”

What’s Next

On Friday, police arrested 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson in connection with Kirk’s death.

Tensions are likely to remain high, as the nation continues to grapple with the aftermath of Kirk’s death as well as the broader issue of political violence.