Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticized the Trump administration for leveraging the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk to undermine First Amendment rights.

On Wednesday, Carlson aired a special episode of The Tucker Carlson Show titled ‘America After Kirk,’ which included discussions with both conservative and liberal guests about the influencer’s enduring impact.

During the show, Carlson emphasized that Kirk was a ‘defender of free speech’ and expressed his hope that Kirk’s tragic death would not be exploited to introduce hate speech laws in the U.S.

If that does happen, Carlson said, ‘there is never a more justified moment for civil disobedience than that, ever. And there never will be.’

‘Because if they can tell you what to say, they’re telling you what to think,’ he said. ‘There is nothing they can’t do to you because they don’t consider you human.’

‘A human being with a soul has the right to say what he believes, not to hurt other people, but to express his views,’ the podcaster declared.

He did not mention President Donald Trump specifically in his remarks, but went after Attorney General Pam Bondi for controversial remarks she made on Monday. 

The attorney general had said at the time that the Department of Justice ‘will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.’

But Kirk would have ‘objected’ to such comments, Carlson said, suggesting Bondi ‘didn’t think it through and was not attempting to desecrate the memory of the person she was purporting to celebrate.’

‘This is the Attorney General of the United Stats, the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, telling you that there is this other category called “hate speech,”‘ Carlson noted.

‘And of course, the implication is that’s a crime. There’s no sentence that Charlie Kirk would have objected to more than that,’ he continued, calling a society with hate crime laws ‘the opposite of what he worked to build.’ 

Carlson’s remarks came on Wednesday came as executives at ABC announced they were suspending late night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show ‘indefinitely’ over remarks he made about Kirk’s alleged assassin.

During his monologue on Monday, the 57-year-old comedian falsely claimed Tyler Robinson, 22, was a conservative.

He said that the United States ‘hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.’

However, investigators have laid out how the alleged gunman became radicalized with far-left ideologies and was dating his transgender roommate.

Kimmel then went on to criticize President Trump’s statement about Kirk’s death.

‘This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?’

The comedian also tore into FBI Director Kash Patel, accusing him of mishandling the investigation into the shooting at Utah Valley University.

‘Like a kid who didn’t read the book, BS’ing his way through an oral report.’

By Tuesday night, Kimmel doubled down, ridiculing Vice President JD Vance, who had guest-hosted Kirk’s podcast in the aftermath of the murder. 

‘Trump is fanning the flames,’ Kimmel said, ‘by attacking people on the left. 

‘Which is it – are they a bunch of sissy pickleball players because they’re too scared to be hit by tennis balls, or a well-organized deadly team of commandos? Because they can’t be both of those things,’ he said.

Kimmel’s relentless commentary triggered outrage, with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brandon Carr announcing that he was considering an investigation into Kimmel and ABC.

‘When you look at the conduct that has taken place by Jimmy Kimmel, it appears to be some of the sickest conduct possible,’ Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson hours before Kimmel’s ouster was revealed.

One of the largest local television operators in the country, Nexstar Communications Group, announced it would no longer air Jimmy Kimmel Live! on its 23 ABC-affiliated stations. 

‘Kimmel’s comments about Kirk’s death are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse,’ said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division.

ABC executives ultimately took emergency action, announcing that Kimmel’s show would be ‘preempted indefinitely.’

Staff of the Jimmy Kimmel Show! were then seen packing up their gear from the Los Angeles studio.

Following the news of the cancelation, Carr told Fox News that the talk show host was simply ‘suffering the consequences’ of his actions.

He accused the networks of subsidizing late night talk shows, and said that the FCC expects them ‘to broadly serve the public interests.’  

President Trump then echoed that sentiment on Thursday as he suggested networks may lose their broadcasting license if their on-air talent is critical of him.

‘They’re giving me all this bad press and they’re getting a license,’ Trump said. ‘I would think maybe their license should be taken away.’

‘When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that’s all they do – that license, they’re not allowed to do that,’ he continued, calling the broadcast network ‘an arm of the Democrat Party.’

Broadcast television stations affiliated with networks like ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox must receive a license from the FCC to operate because their content is transmitted over the air and is technically free for viewers.

This differs from cable networks, in which subscribers pay fee to distributors to watch. 

Trump admitted in his remarks Thursday that the decision to revoke broadcast licenses would ultimately have to be made by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, whom he called ‘outstanding’ and a ‘patriot.’

‘He loves our country and he’s a tough guy,’ Trump said of his FCC chair. ‘So we’ll have to see.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.