Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly said Monday that the Justice Department is considering possible charges after an Office Depot employee refused to print flyers advertising a vigil for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“We’re looking at that,” Bondi told Fox News host Sean Hannity during a Monday night appearance.
Kirk was assassinated last Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University. Authorities have arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson in connection with the shooting, though officials have released few details about a possible motive. Utah’s governor alleged that Robinson was left-leaning and “not a fan” of Kirk, but declined to elaborate.
Bondi’s comments came as she and Hannity discussed the limits of free speech in the wake of Kirk’s death.
The attorney general pointed to a viral incident in Michigan in which an Office Depot employee refused a customer’s request to print vigil flyers. The company announced Friday that “the associate involved is no longer with the organization.”
Bondi suggested that the worker’s refusal could carry legal consequences. “I think yesterday or today, Sean, a school board member right here in Virginia had to resign because she said horrible things about Charlie Kirk and that he deserved to die. That’s horrific. It’s free speech, but you shouldn’t be employed anywhere if you’re gonna say that,” she said.
“And employers, you, have to have an obligation to get rid of people. You need to look at people who are saying horrible things. And they shouldn’t be working with you. Businesses cannot discriminate. If you wanna go in and print posters with Charlie’s pictures on them for a vigil, you have to let them do that,” Bondi continued.
The attorney general went further, warning that discrimination in this case could be met with prosecution. “We can prosecute you for that. I have Harmeet Dhillon right now in our civil rights unit looking at that immediately, that Office Depot had done that. We’re looking it up.”
It remains unclear whether Bondi was referring to possible charges against the company itself, the former employee, or both. Still, her remarks underscored the seriousness with which the Justice Department is treating the incident.
The controversy has come to symbolize a broader debate about how conservatives are treated in public life. For many on the right, the refusal to print flyers memorializing Kirk — who was murdered while exercising his own freedom of speech — is evidence of a climate where hostility toward conservatives has become normalized.
Bondi’s intervention reflects that sentiment. By putting the weight of the Justice Department behind the case, she signaled that discrimination against conservatives, whether in the workplace or the marketplace, will not be ignored.
As she noted, the firing of the Michigan employee does not resolve the larger issue. “Businesses cannot discriminate,” Bondi said firmly. “If you wanna go in and print posters with Charlie’s pictures on them for a vigil, you have to let them do that.”
With Robinson in custody and the investigation into Kirk’s murder ongoing, Bondi’s comments indicate the administration is determined to confront not only the crime itself but also what conservatives see as a culture of contempt that made it possible.
[READ MORE: Trump Secures TikTok Deal With China Amid Oracle Buyout Buzz]
