White House adviser Stephen Miller vowed to channel “righteous anger” to go after “left-wing organizations” following the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, lashed out at a “vast domestic terror movement” that he claimed promotes violence as he appeared on a posthumous episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which was hosted by Kirk’s friend, Vice President JD Vance.
The political motives of the suspect held in custody over Kirk’s death are unclear, but many on the right have used the influencer’s death to criticize activists and politicians on the left.
On the show, Vance claimed that the “incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism” was “part of the reason why Charlie was killed by an assassin’s bullet.”
The majority of threats and political violence in recent years have come from the right in the U.S., according to a study from the National Institute of Justice Journal.
Asked by Vance to “walk me through” the Trump administration’s thinking on a crackdown on political violence in the aftermath of Kirk’s death, Miller alluded to his last communication with Kirk about the need for “an organized strategy to go after the left-wing organizations that are promoting violence in this country.”
Miller also talked about using “a focused anger, righteous anger directed for a just cause.”
He added, “We are going to channel all of the anger that we have over the organized campaign that led to this assassination to uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks.”
Miller then continued by saying, “With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people. It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name.”
The livestream of the two-hour program was broadcast in the White House press briefing room and featured a series of appearances by White House and administration officials who knew Kirk.
The 31-year-old was shot in the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem.
The suspect in Kirk’s killing has been identified as a 22-year-old from Washington, Utah.
Prosecutors are drawing up formal charges that could be filed as early as Tuesday.