Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Friday stood firm during a heated discussion on CNN about her comments on Charlie Kirk, the late right-wing activist fatally shot last week, whom she called a “hateful man” during a town hall in Minnesota last weekend.
“The Source” host Kaitlan Collins asked Omar why she used those terms along with reposting a social media video that called Kirk a “reprehensible” Dr. Frankenstein-like figure, whose own “monster” — his unwavering defense of gun rights — had contributed to his death.
Omar replied, “Because there were a lot of things in the video that I did agree with.”
“Obviously, we share videos, won’t have to agree with every single word — but I do believe that he was a reprehensible, hateful man,” she continued Friday. “Like, that is my view of the words that he has said about every single identity that I belong to.”
Kirk made numerous racist, misogynistic and xenophobic comments over the course of his public life. He not only said certain Black women “do not have the brain processing power” to be taken seriously, but that the “conquest values” of Muslims are a danger to the U.S.
Omar is a Black Muslim, born in Somalia.
“He didn’t believe that we should have equal access to anything,” she told Collins. “He also just didn’t even believe I could be smart enough, I could have thoughts that could be equal to a white man. Where are we missing … who this man was, and the things he said?”
Omar then asked Collins directly, “Do you not find that reprehensible, Kaitlin?”
Collins said she doesn’t “subscribe to that” rhetoric, prompting Omar to ask if she agreed with Kirk’s remarks about the “brain processing power” of Black people. When Collins said she doesn’t, Omar once again asked her interviewer if she finds his words “reprehensible.”
Collins said she doesn’t “justify” them, but that people found Omar’s criticism “jarring.”
Omar responded, “What I find jarring is that there’s so many people willing to excuse the most reprehensible things that he said, that they agree with that, that they’re willing to have monuments for him, that they want to create a day to honor him, and that they want to produce resolutions in the House of Congress, honoring his life and legacy.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) on Wednesday pushed for a censure resolution that accused Omar of having “smeared” Kirk and urged Congress to strip her of her citizenship. It was tabled after four Republicans joined all Democrats in a vote of 214 to 213 against it.
Omar wrote on social media after Kirk died that her “heart breaks for his wife and children” and that she doesn’t wish violence “on anyone.” The political divide has only grown wider, however, with condolences seemingly drowned out by right-wing anger.
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The shooting also prompted one Republican lawmaker to file legislation in Kirk’s honor, as Omar noted. Sen. Shane Jett (R-Okla.) filed two bills Wednesday that would require public universities in Oklahoma to build statues of Kirk and commemorate him with a holiday.
Omar argued Friday that there’s a difference between grief and retribution against critics.
“It is one thing to care about his life, because obviously so many people loved him, including his children and wife,” she said. “But I am not going to sit here and be judged for not wanting to honor any legacy this man has left behind, that should be left in the dustbin of history.”