CNN analyst Van Jones says received a DM from Charlie Kirk one day before the conservative activist and influencer was shot and killed – and the day after they were feuding on social media.
Jones published the message from Kirk alongside a caution against violence. He explained Kirk’s message, sent on X on September 9, came after the pair “had been sparring publicly over the killing of a Ukrainian refugee and its relationship to race.”
Kirk had commented that “the gruesome killing of a White woman by a Black man was motivated solely by anti-White hatred,” something Jones rejected. “I denounced those comments on CNN as unfounded. He went on TV and denounced MY denunciation. Then he unleashed a firehose of tweets, challenging my argument,” Jones explained.
Jones added that he received “an online torrent of racist death threats against me, the likes of which I have rarely seen” following Kirk’s replies.
Then Kirk sent a DM.
“Hey, Van, I mean it, I’d love to have you on my show to have a respectful conversation about crime and race,” he wrote. “I would be a gentleman as I know you would be as well. We can disagree about the issues agreeably.”
Jones did not have a chance to reply before Kirk was killed September 10.
“Today’s attack on Charlie Kirk is absolutely horrifying and heartbreaking. He fought with words not weapons,” he wrote that day. “There is no place for political violence in our society and those responsible must be swiftly brought to justice. My prayers are with Charlie’s loved ones, the traumatized students at Utah Valley University and all who have been impacted by this senseless act.”
Elsewhere, Jones insisted political violence in all forms is “wrong.” He explained: “Political murder is wrong, period. I was born in 1968 — into a country being torn apart by riots and assassinations. I don’t want to go back to that. None of us should.”
“In fact: Kirk’s murder gives us all reason to come back to the table for dialogue. There is a rising tide of political violence that has already swept away his life and many others’ lives, from both the Left and the Right,” Jones continued.
“Violence like this should compel people in both parties to turn down the heat, seek common ground and look for off-ramps from the vitriol — as Kirk was doing with me, the day before he died.”
