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EXCLUSIVE: A moderate House Democrat said he believes both Republicans and his own party have fallen short in their responses to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
“I’m disappointed. I wish that there was more effort as a group, Democrats and Republicans, to express condolences for his family and for him, and to express the real sadness that it engenders,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital in an interview.
He warned later, “Punch, counter-punch is the natural reaction of most human beings. But we can’t just keep on doing this. It’s very destructive, and it’s a road to ruin.”
Suozzi said he believed leaders, in particular, on both sides of the aisle needed to do more.
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“I don’t think there’s been enough of an effort to try and bring us together,” he said.
The New York lawmaker was one of a handful of Democrats who attended a memorial vigil in Kirk’s honor called by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., at the U.S. Capitol on Monday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters that he did not attend because he “had a meeting.”
But Suozzi said he spoke with several House Democrats who said they simply were not aware it was happening.
“I’m not casting blame on anybody, Democrats or Republicans. I don’t know the facts as far as what kind of outreach was made,” Suozzi said.
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“I do know that I spoke to several members, you know, [Democrats] that I know that attend the bipartisan prayer breakfast, for example. And they said, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know about it.'”
Both Jeffries and Johnson have made calls for unity in the wake of Kirk’s killing last week, and lawmakers have expressed bipartisan condemnation of political violence.
But partisan tensions have erupted since then, with Republicans blaming Democrats for their anti-GOP rhetoric and for fomenting the political tension that led to Kirk’s death.
Democrats, in turn, have accused Republicans of similarly inflaming tensions both before and after the assassination.
In the House, scrutiny has been centered on Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., after an interview with progressive news outlet Zeteo, where conservatives have accused her of disparaging Kirk’s legacy days after his death.
“There are a lot of people who are out there talking about him just wanting to have a civil debate,” Omar said. “There is nothing more effed up, you know, like, than to completely pretend that, you know, his words and actions have not been recorded and in existence for the last decade or so.”
The Minnesota progressive also called Kirk’s death “mortifying” and expressed condolences for his wife and young children.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is now moving to force a vote to censure Omar for her comments, a move Suozzi called “very unhelpful.”
When asked about Omar’s remarks, Suozzi did not mention her directly but said, “I just don’t think that this is the time to be trying to incite more anger for people.”
If he was able to give remarks at Kirk’s vigil, for example, Suozzi said, “I would say I didn’t really know Charlie Kirk or much about him before this incident. But like everybody, I’ve been seeing all the media reports since his assassination, and I saw a couple different times people would ask, ‘What, what would you want to be remembered for?’ And he said, ‘I want to be remembered for having the courage to live my faith.’”
“One of the most difficult concepts that Jesus ever had was to love your enemies,” Suozzi said. “And that’s what we need to be doing right now.”
Suozzi also blamed the current social media environment for fueling divisions.
“We have to understand that there are very strong forces working against us right now. Social media is, you know, being corrupted, I think, not only by our foreign adversaries, but also by people trying to get political or financial gain,” he said.
“I think that we have to be very conscious of the fact that there are people that use our freedom of speech and use our social media … that are just lying and putting up doctored videos and explosive commentary to get us … to hate each other.”
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