US attorney general faces rightwing backlash over vow to target 'hate speech'

The US attorney general's pledge that the Trump administration will “absolutely target” people who use “hate speech” in the wake of the killing of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk has prompted criticism from across the political spectrum, including from prominent conservatives.

- Eric Berger

Pam Bondi said on a podcast hosted by Katie Miller, the wife of the rightwing White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, that there is “free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie, in our society”.

Legal experts and conservative pundits have condemned the comments because there is no “hate speech” exception in the first amendment right to speech. As such, targeting people for their charged rhetoric would be unconstitutional.