Two months after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin addressed the somber anniversary, linking the killing to a wider trend of Democrats catering to their far-left factions.
During a policy event hosted by Breitbart News’ Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle, Zeldin, who was a close friend of Kirk, reflected on the past two months following Kirk’s death.
“What occurred on September 10th should never take place in this country,” Zeldin stated. “This resembles actions typical of a third-world country, where individuals are targeted for defending the First Amendment and freedom of speech, promoting debate, and they face deadly consequences simply for their views or for fostering open dialogue.”
Zeldin mentioned the significance of his discussion with Boyle, occurring almost “two months” after Kirk’s murder at Utah Valley University, highlighting their real-time communication as events unfolded.
He also pointed out Jay Jones, Virginia’s newly elected attorney general, who faced immense criticism from Republicans after 2022 text messages surfaced, in which he expressed violent fantasies about killing Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert and referenced the deaths of Gilbert’s children.
Regardless of these revelations, Democratic officials, including Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, chose to continue supporting Jones amid a closely contested race.
Zeldin connected Jones’ comments to Kirk’s murder directly. “This isn’t just a rumor… This is something Jay Jones actually said previously,” he remarked, criticizing Democrats who continued to back Jones despite Kirk’s assassination just weeks earlier.
Zeldin also criticized the Democratic nomination of Zoran Mamdani for mayor of New York. “It’s the responsibility of the New York Democratic Party to decide whether to nominate Mr. Mamdani. They had other choices, but they opted for him,” Zeldin remarked.
Kirk had long expressed concern about the growing influence of Islamic extremism and socialist ideology in American politics, particularly in cities like New York. Prior to his assassination, he repeatedly warned against what he termed “Islam as a fundamental political ideology aimed at subjugating us,” calling Mamdani’s campaign “one of the greatest threats to our country.”
Breitbart News previously noted that Mamdani, who campaigned with Muslim clerics associated with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, did not strongly denounce extremist groups like Hamas or dismiss slogans such as “globalizing the intifada.”
Zeldin asserted that Democratic leaders, including Chuck Schumer during the recent government shutdown standoff, are not challenging the party’s activist base but are instead “feeding” it and allowing it to dictate the party’s direction. He cautioned that this faction is effectively “hijacking and consuming their party.”
