Trump threatens reporter: “Maybe they’ll have to go after you”

The president threatened an ABC News reporter who asked him about free speech, hinting that he might ask U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to go after him.

in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, Pam Bondi promised that the U.S. Justice Department would target “hate speech” attributed, according to Trump and his allies, to the far left.

Bondi’s statements provoked an outcry, with many fearing they would threaten freedom of expression. It was in this context that Donald Trump threatened a journalist who questioned him about these concerns, which were shared even in his own political camp.

Asked about free speech from the White House lawn, Trump threatened Jonathan Karl, chief Washington correspondent for ABC News.

“A lot of your allies say that hate speech is free speech,” the ABC News reporter challenged Trump, echoing criticism of the administration on this point and recalling Charlie Kirk’s own assertion that even hate speech should be protected “by the First Amendment”.

referring to Pam Bondi, Trump replied to the reporter, “She’d probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly. It’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart.”

Boasting that ABC had paid him “$16 million,” Trump added, “So maybe, they’ll have to go after you.”

In 2024, Charlie Kirk said in a post on X: “Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.”

Recall that, during a recent podcast, Pam Bondi had stated that Department of Justice “would absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”

The comments immediately drew criticism from a variety of people, including some MAGA Republicans, worried about a possible rollback of free speech.

Bondi went on to clarify to Axios that the DOJ would not prosecute or investigate mere hate speech unless it constituted unlawful incitement to violence.