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Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., turned the tables on CNN on Monday when host Kate Bolduan accused President Donald Trump of refusing to bring down the political temperature after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Burchett told CNN to “look within” if it was wondering how to tone down the political rhetoric after Kirk’s death. The lawmaker’s comments appeared to offend Bolduan.
“Well ma’am, I’m not attacking you, I’m just letting you know that you all need to look within at CNN if you want to continue down this path,” Burchett told Bolduan, who smirked and shook her head at the accusation.
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Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., clashed with CNN host Kate Bolduan on Monday over who is responsible for heated political rhetoric in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. (Kent Nishimura/Getty; Kevin Mazur/Getty)
Bolduan began by asserting that both conservatives and liberals share responsibility to lower the intensity of their political rhetoric and urged Trump to do the same.
She played a clip of the president blaming left-wing political rhetoric for Kirk’s murder and suggested he was fanning the flames.
Trump, who has survived two assassination attempts, denied that violent political rhetoric is a problem on the right.
“The problem we have is on the left,” he told reporters over the weekend.
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Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told CNN to look at how it pushes intense political rhetoric in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination. (Screenshot/CNN)
“It should be expected to start from a President of the United States to move forward and bring that temperature down. If he is not going to, what do you do with it? What do you do about it?” the host asked Burchett.
The lawmaker replied by pointing out her network is responsible for intense political rhetoric.
“Well, what do you all do with it? You keep putting it out. If you all truly wanted this to change in the media, at CNN and other places, your editorial board would say, ‘We‘re not going to, we‘re not going to put this stuff out.’ But yet you continue to put it out and that continues to stir the base,” he said.
Bolduan rejected Burchett’s point.
“No, no, no, no, I’m creating a conversation, and I take pride in the fact that we do bring the temperature down on this program, and I’m definitely redoubling efforts to do that now by playing the words of the president in order to bring about conversation with an elected member of Congress,” Bolduan said.
“That‘s not trying to stir, that‘s trying to have conversation, and that‘s trying to ask you what you thought about it, rather than have you come back and attack me about it,” she added.
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Memorials honoring Charlie Kirk have been held across the country and overseas, including in Berlin. Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10, 2025. ( Ilkin Eskipehlivan /Anadolu via Getty Images)
“If you all truly had some objective reporting, instead of constantly attacking conservatives and Republicans, then there would be a change, I think,” Burchett said. “But there‘s not going to be a change. You all don‘t want to change down deep. Maybe you do, ma‘am, but I dare say that the vast majority of your colleagues do not.”
Bolduan accused Burchett of making generalizations about her and her network.
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CNN did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.