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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, on Wednesday condemned political acts of violence in the wake of the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, although the governor argued that President Donald Trump often ignites political violence.
Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed during an event on the campus of Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. He was transported to a hospital in critical condition before he was later pronounced dead.
“I want to express my sympathy to Charlie Kirk’s family and to Charlie Kirk,” Pritsker told reporters. “I don’t know whether it’s political violence because I don’t know who did it … But I will say that political violence unfortunately has been ratcheting up in this country, and we saw the shootings, the killings in Minnesota — we’ve seen other political violence occur in other states.”
VIGILS HELD ACROSS US AFTER ASSASSINATION OF CHARLIE KIRK: ‘WE MUST HEAL’
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker condemned political violence in the wake of the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, but, in the same breath, argued that President Trump’s “rhetoric often forments it.” (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“And I would just say, it’s got to stop, and I think there are people who are fomenting it in this country,” he continued. “I think the president’s rhetoric often foments it. We’ve seen the January 6th rioters who clearly have tripped a new era of political violence and the president, what did he do? He pardoned them. I mean what kind of signal does that send to people who want to perpetrate political violence? Not a good one.”
The governor referenced an incident in June in which Vance Boelter was charged with murdering former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, her husband, Mark, and their dog at their home in Minneapolis.
Boelter was also charged with shooting Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat,…
