CNN’s Van Jones reveals Charlie Kirk reached out day before his assassination for respectful conversation

“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 issue agreeably," Kirk wrote to Jones in a direct message on X.

Jones said that two of the political commentators were "beefing hard" in the week before Kirk was assassinated, and he was moved by the message sent by Kirk. "Charlie Kirk and I were not friends. At all,” Jones said, reflecting on the message from Kirk. He said that the message had "shocked" him.

“In the past week and a half, just watching people talk about civil wars and censorship and all this stuff coming out of his death, I just thought it was important to let people know—Don’t put that on Charlie Kirk,” Jones continued. “The last day of his life, he was reaching out to have not more censorship, [but] more conversation, more dialogue, with somebody who, honestly, was one of his adversaries—me.”

Jones then added that he hoped sharing the message from Kirk would help those on both sides with the tensions over Kirk's assassination. Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University on September 10, and his memorial service is slated for September 21 in Glendale, Arizona, at the State Farm Stadium. Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder in the case, and he is being held in jail without bond and faces the death penalty in Utah.