People who are celebrating the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk are proof that free speech in the United States is under attack, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Newsmax on Thursday.

"That they killed my friend is unbelievable," Lutnick said on "Rob Schmitt Tonight," adding that the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is a "horrific day for me," as he lost 658 friends, his brother Gary, and his best friend, Doug, in the World Trade Center attack.

"And now, my friend Charlie," Lutnick said. "It's just horrible, and the world is just wrong."

Americans must reject violence as a response to disagreement, he added.

"People should be able to have discourse, to have opinions, to speak to each other without the threat of being killed," he said.

The secretary also criticized the reaction to Kirk's killing from some quarters, including social media.

"You look online and they have all these interviews with young people saying, yeah, yeah, you should have died," he said. "Where is their moral character? Where is the foundation of what's right and wrong that you should say such a thing?"

Lutnick praised Kirk's intellect and commitment to debate.

"Charlie was a great speaker. He was a great debater. He was a great talker," he said. "He really understood things, and he wanted to engage in your conversation and take it to you based on your conversation. Why would people celebrate his death? That is just so wrong."

Lutnick blamed parts of the media for fueling censorship and for making excuses for Kirk's death.

"They don't want people like Charlie Kirk to say whatever they want and they make excuses when somebody shoots him — almost as if he was in some way justified," he said.

Lutnick further told Schmitt there are direct parallels between the reactions to Kirk's death and scenes from 9/11.

"Just like if you think back in 9/11, think of the crowds that celebrated that," Lutnick said. "These were people who had no moral standing, no moral fiber, and they're just fundamentally wrong for what we love about America."

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