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Charlie Kirk Pleads the Fifth When Asked His Age by Jan. 6 Committee

The deposition of conservative activist Charlie Kirk with the January 6 committee on May 24 was a rather brief one, official documents revealed, as the Turning Point USA founder pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid responding to a range of questions from his age to his education level.

On Wednesday, the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters on January 6, 2021 released the transcript of its interview with Kirk, who, under oath, was questioned about his role in the riots and in casting doubt on the 2020 presidential election.

Kirk—like many others interviewed by the Jan. 6 committee—invoked his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to avoid responding to the panel's questions about his age, his highest level of education and his role in founding Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and its affiliate Turning Point Action (TPA), a conservative youth activist organization which the New York Times reported to be funded by conservative megadonors.

In response to all but one of the more than 70 questions the committee asked Kirk during the interview on May 24, the activist responded: "I am invoking my Fifth Amendment right."

The committee asked the conservative activist about his whereabouts on January 6, 2021 and whether he knew before news of the riots broke out that "something like that" could happen on the day. He took the Fifth.

A few days before the attack on the Capitol, Kirk wrote in a now-deleted tweet that TPA would be sending more than 80 buses of Trump supporters to Washington, D. C., to "fight for the president."

"The historic event will likely be one of the largest and most consequential in American history," Kirk tweeted. "The team at @TrumpStudents & Turning Point Action are honored to help make this happen, sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president.

The Department of Homeland Security is now barring states and volunteer groups that receive government funds from helping undocumented immigrants, according to a Washington Post analysis of updated guidelines and interviews with Federal Emergency Management Agency employees.

Some members of the national volunteer disaster group network also questioned whether the new requirements are constitutional and point out that they seem to violate some local and state laws that prevent asking about a person’s immigration status.

By accepting the federal grants and awards, the new documents state, volunteer organizations that help after disasters must agree to not “operate any program that benefits illegal immigrants or incentivizes illegal immigration.”

That could put groups that provide food, housing, mental health support and other assistance in disaster-stricken states in the position of having to verify aid recipients legal status before providing assistance, experts said.

They are also barred from “harboring, concealing, or shielding from detection illegal aliens;” have to agree to “provide access to detainees, such as when an immigration officer seeks to interview a person who might be a removable alien;” and not leak or publicize an enforcement operation.

Several members raised concerns that federal contracts cannot make nonprofits violate local laws that protect people’s privacy. The bulk of disaster-volunteer groups that work with the federal government are also faith-based organizations, which some groups said could create constitutional concerns.

"First, the federal government has never attempted to tell the nonprofit sector who we can and cannot serve. Further, as a faith-based organization we have the right to determine who we serve.”

WWJD?