Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said conservative leader Charlie Kirk texted her one day before he was assassinated, though Noem added she didn’t see the message until after the shooting.
Kirk, the Turning Point USA CEO, was shot and killed at a rally in Utah last week.
Speaking on the “Pod Force One” podcast Wednesday, Noem told the host, the New York Post’s Miranda Devine, that Kirk had texted her about cracking down on state and local officials who defied the Trump administration on immigration.
The secretary, who expressed “it’s hard to talk about” Kirk, said she didn’t see the conservative’s message until after he was murdered at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
“The last message he had texted me was the day before he passed away, and it said, ‘We have to hold these mayors and local officials accountable for what they’re doing,'” Noem told Devine.
“I think he was watching across this country as people were continuing to be victimized by illegal criminal activity, and he wanted someone to be held accountable.”
Noem said she was traveling and “in meetings in a different time zone” and initially missed Kirk’s message.
“I will always feel bad that I didn’t respond because I would have said, ‘Absolutely, I’m on it,’ which I am, but I think he knew that,” Noem said.
Noem, who spoke with Devine while in Chicago for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, said she had met Kirk through the late prominent Republican donor Foster Friess, who promoted discussion between people with different opinions.
“I think that what’s happened in this country is people quit talking to each other, and then nobody listens anymore,” she said. “We get so busy being right and shouting at each other that we don’t listen and hear.”
“That’s why I was so impressed with Charlie. He went into places that disagreed with him, had no problem having conversations with people that didn’t think like he did. And we all got smarter and better and more knowledgeable because he did that.”
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