Columbia News

U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, will lead a hearing on politically motivated violence on October 28, 2025. The session is titled "Politically Violent Attacks: A Threat to Our Constitutional Order" and aims to address concerns about political violence in the United States.

The hearing comes after several high-profile incidents, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk and an attack involving explosives set outside a speech by Michael Knowles in 2023. In addition, violent riots occurred in various U.S. cities in 2020.

Senator Schmitt stated, “The tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk shook the nation to its core, and it was the latest in a long list of examples of left-wing political violence. Many of these attacks come while Americans are exercising constitutionally protected core political speech. In 2023, Antifa activists set explosives outside a speech by Michael Knowles. And in 2020, violent riots broke out in cities across America. The rise of political violence on the left is deeply disturbing and antithetical to American values, disturbs the free exercise of our constitutional rights, and is a threat to our constitutional order. Yet, instead of calling out the obvious, the powers that be continue to deny the reality that political violence comes predominantly from one side of the aisle. As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, I look forward to getting the American people the answers they deserve about the realities of left-wing political violence.”

Michael Knowles, who was involved in one such incident cited by Schmitt and will testify at this hearing, commented: “This recent uptick in left-wing violence is the culmination of years—really decades—of consistent assaults on their opponents. A ‘free marketplace of ideas’ simply cannot exist when ideological bandits keep shooting up the marketplace. I’m grateful to Senator Schmitt for convening this important hearing to discuss how Congress can reassert order and hold to account the left-wing ideologues undermining our public square.”

The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time.