Reporter Grills Leavitt On Trump’s ‘Hate’ Comments Versus Erika Kirk’s Forgiveness: ‘How Does That Square?’

PBS News White House Correspondent Liz Landers asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday if President Donald Trump’s comments during Charlie Kirk’s memorial contradicted the sentiments of his widow, who forgave Kirk’s assassin.

“I just wanted to follow up quickly on something that the president had said yesterday. So we heard from Erika Kirk. She said she forgives the man who shot and killed her husband,” Landers began, adding:

And then right after that, we heard from the president who said, “I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them.” How does that square with bringing down the temperature of political violence in this country? And then if I could, I had a follow-up on Venezuela, too.

“Look, the President is authentically himself. I think that’s why millions of Americans across the country love him and support him, including Erica Kirk, who you saw so beautifully was on stage with the President in an unthinkable moment, in the midst of an unthinkable tragedy, and was leaning on the President for support during that time. And he was there to give it to her, as well as the Vice President and many other top-ranking Cabinet officials,” Leavitt replied before moving on.

Erick Kirk was widely praised for her Sunday speech. “That young man, that young man…” Kirk said before quoting from the Bible. “On the cross, our savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’

“That man, that young man, I forgive him,” she continued, adding, “I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and is what Charlie would do,” she said a moment later. “The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know, from the Gospel, is love and always love.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.