Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington emailTulsi Gabbard, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, compared the killing of Charlie Kirk to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in her remarks at a memorial service for the right-wing activist Sunday. In her address at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, Gabbard celebrated Kirk’s passion for debate and belief in free speech, before comparing his assassination at Utah Valley University last week to the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. “Charlie was killed on September 10th,” Gabbard said. “On September 11th we observed the 24th anniversary of the Islamist terror attack on our country, 24 years ago. Now these events have something in common.”open image in gallery(AP)“They were both carried out by those who hold on to ideologies that cannot stand up to scrutiny and challenge, so they feel that their only recourse is to commit an act of violence to silence those who oppose them. And to intimidate and to terrorize others into silence. This is the definition of terrorism.”“We cannot allow ourselves to be terrorised into silence. We need to live Charlie Kirk’s example, the example that he set, that is captured by the words of Revered Martin Luther King: ‘Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.’”She added: “This was more than a quote from an icon in our past to Charlie, he lived this, every day. And he inspired countless people around the world to do the same.”Speaking about a small number of protestors who gathered in Washington D.C., Gabbard accused them of wanting to “be God”. She said: “Those who are full of anger and hopelessness and hate right now, some of them protesting outside this hall today – unfortunately they do not have the spiritual happiness that Charlie experienced. They’re empty, and this is where their anger is coming from. It is their rejection of God, their desire to be God and therefore they have made God their enemy.”open image in galleryA memorial for Charlie Kirk in Orem, Utah (AP)Gabbard’s speech contained passages similar to those she has used before. Speaking two weeks ago about MSNBC host and former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Gabbard accused her of harboring a “hatred of God” in the wake of the deadly Minneapolis Catholic school shooting.In that address, she also deployed the same Martin Luther King quote, and also accused Psaki of wanting to be God. Tyler Robinson, the main suspect in Kirk’s killing, is facing his first court appearance Tuesday, but a motive for the shooting is still unclear.Utah Governor Spencer Cox said Sunday that Robinson had been radicalized in the “dark” corners of the internet, was left-leaning, and “not cooperating” with law enforcement, though friends and family are helping the investigation.The governor confirmed reports that Robinson has a transgender partner who is being “very cooperative” with police and “had no idea this was happening.” Authorities have not said whether that was relevant as they investigate the motive.Officials have previously said bullet casings tied to the shooting were reportedly inscribed with references to video games and obscure memes, as well as phrases including “Hey, fascist! Catch!” and “Bella Ciao,” an apparent reference to a song with roots in Italian antifascism during World War II that has become popular with gamers.
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Tulsi Gabbard compares Charlie Kirk’s killing to 9/11 at Kennedy Center memorial
