Senator Schmitt in Judiciary Hearing: “There Can Be No Unity Between Good and Evil”

Schmitt Cites YouGov Poll Finding 25 Percent of “Very Liberal” Americans Believe Political Violence Can Be Justified

WASHINGTON — Today, during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) strongly denounced left-wing political violence in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s tragic assassination.

Watch Senator Schmitt’s full remarks HERE

Read Senator Schmitt’s remarks, as delivered (lightly edited for clarity):

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Before I get into the thrust of my comments and questions, Director, I want to thank you in our meetings prior to your confirmation and during your confirmation, we talked about your desire to get more agents out into the field, out of Washington, to take on violent crime.

You fulfilled that.

St. Louis received the largest permanent per-capita infusion of FBI agents anywhere in the country.

I know it’s not only an isolated event, but we certainly appreciate your honor and your commitment to doing that.

I know there’s a lot of great opportunities ahead to take on violent crime, which you’ve highlighted many of your successes in your introductory comments.

It’s obviously no secret that this hearing takes place in the wake of a horrific American tragedy — the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

For those of us who knew him — I know you did too — it’s still sort of difficult to put into words what a tragic loss that is — not just for his family, but for our country, for free speech, for the belief that we can have a free exchange of ideas.

And he was quite literally shot in the throat in an attempt to silence him and take his life.

And so, you have this task of this investigation. There’s been an arrest, but I think that we face an even larger crisis that law enforcement alone can’t tackle.

It’s a crisis that culminated in the assassination of Charlie.

But it doesn’t end there.

It’s every bit present right now. And the challenge is greater than I, quite frankly, would have imagined.

Seeing some of the comments that have taken place after the assassination, I think, is something we as a country we have to reckon with.

It’s something deeper, much deeper, than a rejection of law and order or the norms of civil society.

We’ve entered a very dangerous time, I think, in our country.

That should be clear to everyone — political violence is a sign of a deep and corrosive sickness in any society.

In America today, the problem is not political violence in the abstract. It is a specific kind of political violence which is overwhelmingly driven by a specific set of actors and groups.

None of this emerged out of thin air.

Over the past week, leaders from across the political spectrum have come out and forcefully condemned Charlie’s murder and political violence more broadly.

For that, we’re all very grateful. We should be grateful. There have been calls to unite and come together in the wake of Charlie’s murder, and I want to do that. I do.

Someday, I pray that we can be united as a country again and go forward together as one people, under one flag.

But we are not united.

Upstream from the dehumanization and demonizing, political violence and rhetoric tearing apart our country, there is a divide on how we view America and Americans.

Is America good? Is America evil? Is there something inherently special about Western civilization, or is this two-thousand-year project rotten to the core?

And if it is something worth fighting for, which I believe it is, how do we do it?

With words and ideas, like Charlie did? Or with firebombs and assassin’s bullets?

Political violence is always wrong. Period. Full stop.

It doesn’t matter which side, in the name of any ideology or cause. It’s wrong.

But in America today, political violence is not a problem that falls equally upon both sides.

We have to be honest about this.

We must reject an attempt to paint [political violence] as some kind of random phenomenon with no particular creed or ideology — a kind of spontaneous insanity which takes place outside of any broader social context and has no pattern at all.

That’s wrong.

Free speech yes. Political violence no. But we have to be honest about what’s happening.

Already, we’re hearing people talk about Charlie’s assassination in those terms. We’re told that we can’t possibly know what drove a killer to plan and carry out a murder of the most prominent conservative activist in America.

But that’s a lie. We do know. The facts are plain and clear and we have to speak truth in this moment, or there is no other side of the mountain.

The vast majority of Americans are against political violence. But there is a vocal, active minority that encourages and celebrates it.

And that minority is overwhelmingly on the left.

Just last week, a YouGov poll found that a quarter, a full 25 percent, of the people who describe themselves as very liberal say it can be justified for citizens to use violence to achieve political goals.

Less than 3 percent of very conservative Americans say the same. That’s too many — that is 3 percent too many.

But we are lying if we think that this is a both sides thing. It is not. We have to confront it. And you’re going to have the important job of rooting out these terrorists.

This is an ideology that runs very deep. The numbers are virtually identical to the ones I just noted when it comes to whether or not it’s okay to celebrate the deaths of people whom we disagree with.

And while large majorities in both parties were opposed to celebrating political violence, Democrats, overall, were nearly twice as likely as Republicans to believe that it is usually or always acceptable to celebrate the death of a public figure they oppose.

What in the hell is going on?

Earlier this year, a poll found that more than 55 percent of people on the left believed that it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Donald Trump.

These are not just at some abstractions on a page. These are our fellow citizens. How can we come together with people who believe these things?

We’ve all seen the flood of posts on social media over the past week — not just a fringe few, but thousands upon thousands of people gleefully celebrating a father of two young children getting gunned down in broad daylight.

I wish I wouldn’t have seen that video. I wish my kids would not have seen that video.

Bluesky, the left-wing alternative to X, was so overwhelmed with these posts that the platform was forced to issue a statement warning its users to stop glorifying the murder.

And it wasn’t just random social media trolls — it was journalists, elite college professors, and even politicians.

All but saying Charlie’s assassination was justified because of what he thought, because of what he said.

We saw the flood of hit pieces — the most powerful media outlets in the nation, dishonestly attacking and villainizing Charlie in the most vicious possible terms.

How can you ask us to unite under that? There can be no unity between good and evil.

Somebody has to win this thing. And as a country, we have to absolutely reject it.

And don’t tell me it’s both sides. It didn’t happen in a vacuum.

Over the past decade, we’ve seen an explosion of political violence. Not just one-off lone wolf attacks, but organized, systemic political violence at a mass scale.

It is not organic.

It is the offspring of a dark and clandestine system funded in part with our own tax dollars, with a large network of foundations, NGOs, activist organizations and front groups.

This system lurks behind every radical leftist movement in our nation today.

The George Soros empire has financed a vast ecosystem of radicals all working together — dropping off bricks at riots — to unleash a tidal wave of violent anarchists on our streets and prop it up with an army of researchers and experts and journalists and propagandists who downplay political violence.

And I would point out we’ve heard years of the left — their loudest voices — calling anyone on the right an extremist MAGA Republican, a fascist, a Nazi, an existential threat to democracy.

Check yourself. And don’t give me this both sides bullsh*t!

Mr. Director, I want you to tell me if each one of the following perpetrators, or alleged perpetrators, were acting from the left-wing or right-wing of political violence:

The man who killed who tried to kill Republican congressmen at the congressional baseball practice, nearly killing House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Left-wing or right- wing violence?”

Director Patel: “Sir, I believe It was a left-wing ideology.”

Senator Schmitt: “Burn down cities during the Summer of Love in the George Floyd riots — left-wing violence or right-wing violence?”

Director Patel: “Sir, I’ll rely on you on these.”

Senator Schmitt: “Okay, left-wing. The Waukesha Christmas parade massacre, left wing or right-wing violence? Left- wing.

The Lee Zeldin stabbing attempt, left-wing or right-wing? Left-wing.

The Covenant school shooting in Nashville, left-wing or right-wing? Left-wing.

The Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt on President Trump, left-wing or right-wing? Left-wing.

The Trump International West Palm Beach assassination attempt. Left-wing.

The Abundant Life Christian school shooting. Left wing.

The United Healthcare Group’s CEO murder. Left wing.

Teslas burned, keyed, damaged, firebombed. Left-wing.

The murders at the Israeli embassy. Left-wing.

The ICE facilities firebombed. Left-wing.

The Minnesota Catholic school shooting. Left-wing.

The anti-white North Carolina stabbing. Left-wing.

The attempted Utah state firebombing. Left-wing.

And now, of course, the culmination of this vile trend, a left-wing assassination of Charlie Kirk.

So, don’t give me this is about both sides. If we want to get to unity, let’s be honest.

Free speech yes. Political violence no.

But let’s be honest.”

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