House Democrat Repeatedly Whiffs on Charlie Kirk’s Name While Scolding Kash Patel

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) repeatedly misspoke and referred to slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk as “Charlie King” during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.

“Politicizing the murder of Charlie King to go after free speech is not a legacy, I believe, Charlie King would have wanted,” Nadler told FBI Director Kash Patel.

His comment came a moment after he asked Patel if he was aware the Trump administration was using Kirk’s death “as an excuse to crackdown on liberty and freedom of speech.” Patel said he could only speak for the FBI and was not aware of such efforts.

Interestingly enough, before his flub, Nadler had said Kirk’s name correctly several times. Patel did not call Nadler on the “King” gaffe, as the 78-year-old Democrat swiftly moved onto another topic following his comment.

Patel was speaking to members of the house, one day after he testified in front of the Senate. The FBI boss, who was appointed earlier this year by President Donald Trump, got into a verbal sparring match with Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) at one point on Tuesday, over the congressman’s questions about fired FBI agents.

Schiff, for several minutes, attempted to pin Patel down on whether he terminated any FBI employees “in whole or in part” for investigating the president. Patel said “absolutely not,” and then blasted Schiff for trying to set “a trap” with his “yes-or-no” questions.

Patel, a night earlier, had went on Fox News and told Sean Hannity the FBI had text messages from Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s alleged killer, that showed he planned on shooting Kirk. Those text messages were released on Tuesday, in which Robinson said he was driven to murder because of Kirk’s “hatred.”

You can watch Nadler’s flub above, and his comments leading up to it, via ABC News.