Attorney General Pam Bondi is receiving pushback on social media from both liberals and conservatives after she suggested that "hate speech" could be prosecuted under the law during a podcast interview on Monday.
The attorney general took to X on Tuesday to clarify her position, noting that hate speech would only be prosecuted when the language used crosses the line of calling for violence.
"Hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It's a crime," Bondi wrote. "For far too long, we've watched the radical left normalize threats, call for assassinations, and cheer on political violence. That era is over."
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While speaking to Katie Miller, the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, on her podcast Monday, Bondi stated that the federal government will "target" those who leverage hate speech against others following the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
"There's free speech and then there's hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society," Bondi said. "We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech."
Bondi was criticized on social media by individuals from both ends of the political spectrum, whose primary argument was that there is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment.
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Conservative broadcaster Erick Erickson slammed Bondi as a "moron" and bluntly told the attorney general, "No ma'am. That is not the law."
Fox News' Brit Hume also took a stance against Bondi's comments, noting that while hate speech may be repulsive, it is protected by the First Amendment.
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Conservative commentator Maggie Moda said that Bondi sounded like "every constitutionally illiterate liberal you've debated over the past ten years," and said Kirk "wouldn't have wanted this."
Former Trump administration advisor Steve Cortes echoed a similar opinion to Moda, arguing that Kirk "rightly despised" the notion of hate speech laws and called for Bondi to be fired.
"A 'hate speech' crackdown in the name of Charlie Kirk?" he questioned.
On the other end of the political spectrum, liberal commentator and founder of "The Young Turks," Cenk Uygur, applauded conservatives for "staying principled" and pushing back on Bondi's comments on hate speech.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald said it was a "noxious claim" and the "foundation of left-liberal censorship."
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday, co-host Willie Geist read out several posts criticizing Bondi and also flagged one by Kirk in 2024, where he wrote, "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."
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.
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