Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) argued on Friday that the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week is “not a license for the abuse of power” and that Congress should instead be working to unite the country.

Ocasio-Cortez said on the House floor that Kirk’s assassination was a “horrific and vile attack” and said that condemning the “depravity” of his “brutal” murder in Utah last Wednesday is a “straightforward matter, one that is especially important to help stabilize an increasingly unsafe and volatile political environment where everyday people feel more at risk.” 

“We can deeply disagree and come together as a country to denounce the horror of this killing, and it is not a license for the abuse of power and whitewashing of American history,” the progressive Democrat said. “Today’s resolution only underscores the majority’s recklessness by choosing to author this condemnation and honoring on a purely partisan basis, instead of uniting Congress in this tragedy with one of the many bipartisan options to condemn political violence and Kirk’s murder, as we did with the late Melissa Hortman.” 

Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks came two days after ABC pulled late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel off the air on Wednesday indefinitely following his rhetoric Kirk’s assassination. 

Nexstar Media Group, which owns The Hill, along with Sinclair, said its local affiliate stations would stop airing the late-night show over Kimmel’s comments about Kirk. 

The decision by ABC was welcomed by President Trump and other administration officials, but was slammed by Democrats. Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill also called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr to resign. 

“It is equally important that Congress does unite to reject the government’s attempt to weaponize this moment into an all-out assault on free speech across the country, all in the name of Charlie Kirk,” Ocasio-Cortez continued Friday. “President Trump and the FCC are now cynically threatening to shut down ABC and any outlets who give airtime to the administration’s political critics.”  

“This is a disgusting attack on the American people and the very first amendment rights that define us as a country. It is also the ABC Corporation’s responsibility to refuse to embolden and participate in this corruption and escalation of censorship,” the New York Democrat said. “We continue to pray for Mr. Kirk’s family and loved ones in the wake of this terrible act, I am thinking especially of his children and his wife, whose grief cannot be measured.” 

On Friday, the House adopted a resolution to honor the life and legacy of Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA, and condemn the political violence. The final vote was 310-58. 

A total of 95 Democrats supported the resolution, introduced by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Thirty-eight Democrats voted “present,” and another 58 voted “no.” Ocasio-Cortez voted against the measure. 

The resolution eulogizes Kirk as a “courageous American patriot” who “boldly lived out his faith with conviction, courage, and compassion.”

Shortly after Kirk’s killing, Ocasio-Cortez called the shooting “horrific” and called on Congress to take action on gun violence legislation.

“Are we going to do something, or are we going to argue over rhetoric? That is my question about this,” she said last week. “We have to pass gun safety legislation and stop this.”

During her speech on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez hammered the late activist over his previous remarks about the Civil Rights Act. 

“Today, we should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was, a man who believed that the Civil Rights Act that granted Black Americans the right to vote was a mistake, who, after the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, claimed that, quote, some amazing patriot, unquote, should bail out his brutal assailant,” she said on Friday, referring to the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).