BURSTRep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) said Sunday that he believed that the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk “can be an occasion for soul searching as a country.”
“I think we all recognize that political divisions have been deepening in this country, that political violence is on the rise and with so much anger right now and fear this cycle could well escalate, but I don't think it has to be that way,” Kiley said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I think this can be an occasion for soul searching as a country, where we ask ourselves, ‘How can we pursue a different vision of politics? How can we all play a part in forming a better American community?’” he added.
Kirk was talking at an Utah Valley University event Wednesday when he was shot and killed. Following a manhunt featuring local, state and federal law enforcement, officials identified the alleged suspect as Tyler Robinson, 22, of Utah.
“At this moment, the nation is still in shock over the barbaric murder of a man beloved by millions. The depth of this tragedy is hard to process: a life cut short at age 31, a wife left without a husband, two young children without a father,” Kiley said in a post on the social platform X Thursday.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) also said Sunday that “just believing differently than some other American is not illegal.”
“I’m a conservative Republican. I have Democratic friends that think very differently, vote very differently, but they’re still my friend on it. So, just having that ideology, just believing differently than some other American is not illegal, that’s America,” Lankford told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
“We don’t all agree as next door neighbors on different things, but it is very different to try to plan, strategize, to be able to carry out an act of violence on it,” he added.