Obama calls Kirk murder 'horrific,' says a president should 'pull people together'

Former President Barack Obama says he finds the murder of Charlie Kirk "horrific" and "a tragedy" and stressed that Americans must be able to disagree, push back against ideas they don't ascribe to, while respecting the right of others to hold those opinions.

In remarks during a conversation with journalist Steve Scully at the Jefferson Educational Society in Pennsylvania Tuesday night, Obama also acknowledged that the shooting of Democratic Minnesota state legislators Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman were also a tragedy.

"Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, what happened to Charlie Kirk was horrific and a tragedy," he said. "What happened ... to the state legislators in Minnesota, that is horrific. It is a tragedy. And there are no ifs, ands or buts about it, the central premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resort to violence. And when it happens to some but even if you think they're, quote, unquote, 'on the other side of the argument,' that's a threat to all of us. And we have to be clear and forthright in condemning them."

He continued: "And so, look, obviously I didn't know Charlie Kirk. I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong, but that doesn't negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family."

Obama also praised Utah GOP Gov. Spencer Cox's handling of the aftermath of Kirk's murder.

"I've been very impressed with Governor Cox in Utah and how he's approached some of these issues. I suspect Governor Cox and I disagree on a whole bunch of stuff. He is a Republican, self-professed conservative Republican, but in his response to this tragedy, as well as his history of how he engages with people who are political adversaries, he has shown, I think, that it is possible for us to disagree while abiding by a basic code of how we should engage in public debate."

Obama also suggested that what he sees as the Trump administration's desire to target political enemies is part of a larger issue, and stressed that when he served as president, he "wasn't putting the weight of the United States government behind extremist views."

"And so, when I hear not just our current president, but his aides, who have a history of calling political opponents 'vermin', enemies who need to be 'targeted,' that speaks to a broader problem that we have right now and something that we're going to have to grapple with, all of us. Whether we're Democrats, Republicans, Independents, we have to recognize that on both sides, undoubtedly, there are people who are extremists and who say things that are contrary to what I believe are America's core values," he said.

"But I will say that those extreme views were not in my White House. I wasn't embracing them. I wasn't empowering them. I wasn't putting the weight of the United States government behind extremist views. And that…when we have the weight of the United States government behind extremist views, we've got a problem," said Obama."

He said that the role of president is to unify -- rather than stoke -- division, saying, "But my view was that part of the role of the presidency is to constantly remind us of the ties that bind us together."

"And I'm not alone in that belief," he continued. "I think George W. Bush believed that. I believe that people who I ran against -- I know John McCain believed it. I know Mitt Romney believed it. What I'm describing. Is not a Democratic value or Republican value. It is an American value. And I think at moments like this, when tensions are high, then part of the job of the president is to pull people together."