Introduction
Introduction Statistics Contact Development Disclaimer Help
.-') _ .-') _
( OO ) ) ( OO ) )
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,'
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | )
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--'
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
‘Let’s look at this as adults’: Republicans divided over going
after the left following Kirk’s assassination
By Annie Grayer, CNN
Updated:
4:06 PM EDT, Wed September 17, 2025
Source: CNN
President and his closest allies are considering plans to crack down on
left-wing groups following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, but not
all Republicans are sold on going down that road of retribution.
Channeling his base’s anger in the wake of Kirk’s death, Trump has
been a leading voice in placing the blame for recent political violence
on liberal organizations and is crafting a plan with his advisers that
uses the federal government to target them.
A group of more than 30 House Republicans are simultaneously urging
Speaker Mike Johnson to form a new committee that would investigate
violence perpetrated by left-wing groups. The group wants subpoena
power to put muscle behind a push for financial records. But some
Republicans are concerned that launching an investigation targeting
left-wing groups could set a precedent of investigating political
opponents that Democrats could seize on, should they reclaim the
majority next year.
“Let’s look at this as adults and try to reduce the violence in
every case,” GOP Rep. August Pfluger of Texas said of the prospect of
an effort tailored to investigating the left.
Establishing such a committee would add serious congressional weight to
a push that so far has been a nebulous effort by the president and his
allies to pin the unprecedented rise in political violence narrowly on
the left.
A committee probe would examine acts of violence and work to determine
whether any left-wing group provided funding associated with it,
according to conversations with multiple lawmakers supportive of the
effort.
The work, they said, could stretch back to the Black Lives Matter
protests in 2020, and would also try to dig into the finances of
billionaire George Soros, who has donated significantly to left-leaning
causes, and is the frequent target for antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Trump that violent protesters in 2020 were being funded by “some very
stupid rich people” but there is no basis for the claims that
Democrats, Soros or another wealthy mystery patron is funding Antifa or
violent protesters in general.
The potential probe would also examine non-government organizations
like the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil-rights nonprofit with a
long history of using the legal system to defend vulnerable groups.
“I’m glad that we’re interested finally and following the
money,” GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, one of the supporters of the
effort told CNN.
But Johnson, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and House Oversight Chair
James Comer have yet to respond to a letter calling on them to
jumpstart the effort, a source familiar with the discussions told CNN.
Johnson, who on Tuesday declined to criticize Trump’s charged
rhetoric about Democrats, said he had not had “a chance to process it
yet” when asked for his thoughts on the idea of a select committee.
CNN has reached out to Johnson for additional comment.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said the decision to establish a special
committee to investigate left-wing groups is ultimately up to the
speaker, but he emphasized that he understood where the push is coming
from. “This is a left-wing problem,” he claimed.
Such a probe would elicit a level of finger-pointing that is unlikely
to sit well with all in the conference, especially those who worry that
pinning the blame of violent political rhetoric squarely on one side
would only add fuel to the fire.
The reluctance of a number of Republicans to investigate the left-wing
could pose a headache for Johnson, who is facing pressure to forcefully
respond to Kirk’s assassination while also looking to turn down the
rhetoric amid an increasingly divisive and dangerous political climate.
GOP Rep. Cliff Bentz of Oregon, a lawyer, encouraged his Republican
colleagues to not get ahead of the facts of the case in Kirk’s
assassination.
“I’m more interested in finding out what the facts were and then
determining what type of investigation to do. So, until I have those
facts, I’m not going to take a position one way or the other. I
don’t like to jump into conclusions,” he told CNN.
And GOP Rep. Troy Nehls argued that this type of investigation could be
conducted through committees that already exist, where both parties are
already represented. “I mean, I think we got enough committees
don’t you think? There’s a committee for this, committee for
that,” he said.
The House Judiciary Committee, of which Nehls is a member, is planning
a field hearing in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a Ukrainian refugee
was . GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who leads the panel’s oversight
subcommittee, meanwhile, told CNN that he wants his subcommittee to
independently investigate the rise in violence surrounding political
rhetoric.
Instead of putting resources behind an investigation that would
exclusively target the left-wing, GOP Rep. Zach Nunn of Iowa said
Republicans should instead form a select committee to address violence
coming out of gangs associated with central and southern America.
“Let’s start there,” Nunn said.
The quiet pushback on how to call out political violence underscores
the broader divisions among Republicans over how to respond to Kirk’s
assassination. Still, voices of prominence in their party have drawn
national attention.
Trump said Monday he’d consider naming far-left anti-fascism group
Antifa as domestic terrorists. Vice President JD Vance blamed Kirk’s
death on “a growing and powerful minority on the far left,” in his
concluding remarks while hosting “The Charlie Kirk Show” on Monday.
And White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said the White
House will be going after leftist “terror” networks who organize
doxxing campaigns after the killing of Kirk.
And some in the party have demurred when asked about violent rhetoric
on right-wing social media platforms and high-profile attacks on
Democrats, like the killing of Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman
and violent bludgeoning of Paul Pelosi, husband of the speaker emerita.
Asked about another high-profile event – the January 6, 2021, attack
on the US Capitol – GOP Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming said: “This
is the Democrats, the leftists and the progressives.”
Hageman, who is serving on the new Republican-led investigation into
the January 6 attack, said the violence that occurred that day cannot
be compared to Kirk’s killing.
“It has nothing to do with this,” Hageman said of January 6.
<- back to index
You are viewing proxied material from codevoid.de. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.