FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican plans to launch a hearing to put political violence from the left under the microscope.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., plans to announce an upcoming hearing, dubbed "Politically Violent Attacks: A Threat to Our Constitutional Order," to examine the origins of political violence and extremism that he argued stemmed largely from the Democratic side of the political spectrum.
Schmitt, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, plans to hold the hearing on Oct. 28 and will examine the cross section of the First Amendment and political violence, specifically in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
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"The tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk shook the nation to its core, and it was the latest in a long list of examples of left-wing political violence," Schmitt said. "Many of these attacks come while Americans are exercising constitutionally protected core political speech."
Kirk's death prompted a brief moment of reprieve from the typically volatile back-and-forth on Capitol Hill, with many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle calling for a toning down of political rhetoric.
However, as the government shutdown has continued, lawmakers are once again trading barbs as frustrations mount.
The recent "No Kings" rallies across the country renewed discussions among congressional Republicans about political violence among the left, which followed a recent roundtable held at the White House where President Donald Trump hosted independent journalists to share their experiences covering Antifa, a radical left-wing group that Trump recently designated a domestic terrorist organization.
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So far, the only confirmed witness for the hearing is conservative commentator and podcast host Michael Knowles, a friend of Kirk's who recently headlined a Turning Point USA rally at the University of Minnesota.
Knowles himself is no stranger to protests turning violent. He hosted a speaking event focused on transgender ideology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2023 where protesters threw smoke bombs and a firework, which led to a police officer being injured.
During a recent speech at Harvard where he addressed the incident, Knowles said, "The left simply commits more violence."
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Knowles lauded Schmitt for holding the hearing in a statement to Fox News Digital, and said that it would serve as an important moment "to discuss how Congress can reassert order and hold to account the left-wing ideologues undermining our public square."
"This recent uptick in left-wing violence is the culmination of years - really decades - of consistent assaults on their opponents," he said. "A 'free marketplace of ideas' simply cannot exist when ideological bandits keep shooting up the marketplace."
Schmitt referenced both Kirk's assassination and the University of Pittsburgh incident, along with protests that sprang up around the country following the death of George Floyd.
"The rise of political violence on the left is deeply disturbing and antithetical to American values, disturbs the free exercise of our constitutional rights and is a threat to our constitutional order," he said.
"Yet, instead of calling out the obvious, the powers that be continue to deny the reality that political violence comes predominantly from one side of the aisle," he said. "As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, I look forward to getting the American people the answers they deserve about the realities of left-wing political violence."
