Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat, defended some of her past comments during a Friday appearance on The Breakfast Club radio show, rejecting accusations that Democrats’ language contributed to political violence following the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University (UVU) on Wednesday.

The congresswoman distinguished between what she characterized as rhetorical criticism and direct calls for political violence, specifically defending her previous use of terms like “wannabe Hitler” to describe President Donald Trump.

The White House sharply condemned Crockett’s comments, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson telling Newsweek in an email: “Jasmine Crockett is the queen of divisive rhetoric and it’s despicable that she would try and point fingers at President Trump for the assassination of his dear friend, Charlie Kirk.”

Newsweek reached out to Crockett’s office via email on Saturday for comment.

Why It Matters

Kirk’s assassination marks the latest in a disturbing pattern of political violence that has gripped the United States over the past 15 months.

This latest tragic case includes the June assassination of a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota, the May attack on two Israeli embassy employees, and the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.

The timing is particularly significant given the two assassination attempts against Trump during the 2024 campaign—the July shooting by Thomas Matthew Crooks and the alleged September attempt by Ryan Routh, who has pleaded not guilty.

These incidents have intensified national debates about the relationship between inflammatory political rhetoric and real-world violence, with both major parties hurling accusations about whose language bears greater responsibility for the current heightened political climate.

What To Know

During the radio interview with The Breakfast Club, Crockett, an outspoken critic of the president, firmly rejected any connection between her past rhetoric and any current political violence, stating, “I’ve literally never said anything to invoke violence.”

The Texas lawmaker later drew a sharp distinction between metaphorical political criticism and what she described as Trump’s more explicit language, referencing a past comment he made about hypothetically shooting someone in the middle of New York City.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” Trump said at a presidential campaign stop at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, in 2016.

The controversy centers on whether harsh political labels, such as calling opponents “fascist,” “Hitler,” or “socialist,” contribute to an environment where violence becomes more likely. Crockett said that such name-calling, while harsh, does not constitute promoting violence.

“Me disagreeing with you, me calling you, wannabe Hitler, all of those things are not necessarily saying, go out and hurt somebody,” she said Friday.

Co-host Charlamagne tha God offered a more nuanced perspective, acknowledging that both political parties engage in potentially inflammatory rhetoric.

“I think we all incite—whether we think we do or not. And what I mean by that is I’ve definitely called that regime fascist,” he said, suggesting that the problem extends beyond partisan boundaries.

Crockett pointed to what she described as a “culture of violence” promoted by Trump and his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) supporters, arguing that there’s a fundamental difference between harsh political criticism and explicit calls for physical action.

She cited recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement operations as examples of government-sanctioned aggressive tactics, describing unprecedented images of agents “dragging people and kicking them and taking them down to the ground and busting windows out.”

The congresswoman’s current comments echo her previous statements from a July MSNBC interview, where she used the “wannabe Hitler” characterization while discussing the Trump administration’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein-related files.

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett speaks during The Color of Conversation during 2025 Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival at Martha&#03… | Arturo Holmes/Getty Images/Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

What People Are Saying

Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat, said on Friday: “We’ve got to talk about what it means when you’re running for president or you’re running for one of these higher offices and you go out there and you talk about beating people out, you go out there and you say things like, I could shoot somebody in the middle of the street in New York and still win—we’ve got to talk about, like, that is next level.”

She added: “Me disagreeing with you, me calling you, you know, wannabe Hitler, all of those things are not necessarily saying, go out and hurt somebody. But when you’re literally telling people at rallies, yeah, beat him up and that kind of stuff, you are promoting a culture of violence, so we need to talk about what it looks like when you don’t promote a culture of violence.

Charlamagne tha God said on Friday: “The funny part is, it’s not funny, but both sides of the aisle do it. They’ll get on y’all for, you know saying that, ‘hey, we called them wannabe Hitler,’ blah, blah blah. But they called Democrats fascists.”

Crockett responded to Charlamagne’s comment by saying: “They call us socialists, they call us all things, but I don’t think that that actually evokes an environment of violence. I think literally saying things about like, oh, these people don’t deserve to live or the images of what we’re seeing right now as ICE is going into communities and dragging people and kicking them and taking them down to the ground and busting windows out, like that is the, we have never seen these types of images of ICE.”

What Happens Next?

Police arrested 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson on Friday in connection with Kirk’s death, recovering bullet casings inscribed with anti-fascist messages and a firearm near the scene.

Political tensions are likely to remain elevated as the nation grapples with the aftermath of Kirk’s death and the broader pattern of political violence.

Watch The Full Interview Below: