CNN commentator Van Jones revealed this week that Charlie Kirk reached out to him just one day before his assassination, inviting him to a civil debate on crime and race.
Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, was murdered on September 10 by a rooftop sniper during a campus event at Utah Valley University. His funeral will take place Sunday and is expected to draw tens of thousands, including President Donald Trump.
Jones said he discovered the private message only after Kirk’s death. In the message, Kirk told him, “Hey, Van, I mean it. I’d love to have you on my show to have a respectful conversation about crime and race. I would be a gentleman, as I know you would be as well. We can disagree about the issues agreeably.”
Jones shared the note in an interview with Anderson Cooper, calling it a sign of Kirk’s final commitment to civil discourse.
“We were beefing. We were going at it online, on air, and then after he was murdered my team called and said, ‘Van, he was trying to reach you,’” Jones said.
He added that while political tensions in America are at a breaking point, Kirk was still calling for dialogue, the Conservative Brief reported.
“This guy is reaching out to his mortal enemy saying we need to be gentlemen, sit down together and disagree agreeably. And the next day, he’s killed.”
Jones stressed that he and Kirk were not friends, but that the message deserved to be remembered. “We were not friends at all. But you praise the good when it’s time to memorialize somebody. He was not for censorship. He was not for civil war. He was not for violence. He was for dialog, open debate and dialog, even with me.”
Asked if he would have accepted Kirk’s invitation, Jones said he may have looked for another venue but was open to serious debate.
In an opinion piece for CNN.com, Jones argued that Kirk’s message gave Americans a choice: “more violence, more outrage, more censorship, or a different way.” He said Kirk’s words showed a path forward through civil discourse.
The revelation also adds a layer of complexity to the feud between Jones and Kirk. Their clash began after the August 22 murder of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee killed in Charlotte, North Carolina. The suspect, Decarlos Brown, reportedly said, “I got that white girl.”
Kirk called the attack racially motivated. Jones pushed back, leading to a heated back-and-forth on air and online.
Jones later claimed Kirk’s criticism triggered waves of racist death threats against him. Conservative commentator Natalie Jean Beisner blasted Jones for this claim, calling it dishonest. “It’s psychotic to lie about Charlie this way,” she wrote on X.
Despite the tension, Kirk’s last message sought to turn the fight into dialogue rather than hostility. Jones said the note proved Kirk’s intentions.
“Charlie Kirk’s last message to me was pointing a way out,” Jones said. “Civil discourse, civil dialog, debate. Let’s disagree agreeably.”
