Van Jones reveals surprising message Charlie Kirk sent to him a day before death

WASHINGTON, DC: CNN analyst Van Jones revealed Saturday that the day before conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at an outdoor college debate event, Kirk had reached out to him directly.

Jones said Kirk’s last message carried a powerful reminder about how political disagreements could be managed through dialogue instead of hostility.

Van Jones recalls sparring with Charlie Kirk over crime and race

Jones explained on Substack that he and Kirk had been clashing publicly after the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, which Kirk described as racially motivated.

“He said the gruesome killing of a White woman by a Black man was motivated solely by anti-White hatred,” Jones wrote.

“I denounced those comments on CNN as unfounded. He went on TV and denounced MY denunciation. Then he unleashed a firehose of tweets, challenging my argument,” Jones added.

According to Jones, Kirk’s pushback sparked an online torrent of death threats directed at him. “The likes of which I have rarely seen. Things were seriously heading off the rails,” wrote Jones.

Charlie Kirk’s message called for civility in heated debate

Amid the online hostility, Jones said Kirk surprised him by reaching out privately. In a direct message, Kirk wrote: “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,” Kirk added in the message Jones later shared on Instagram. “We can disagree about the issues agreeably.”

Jones noted he never had the chance to reply. “Unfortunately, before I could even respond, Charlie Kirk was killed — seemingly assassinated for the words he'd spoken,” Jones wrote on Substack.

“I’ve taken issue with many of those words — sometimes strongly — but never his right to speak them. Never his right to express those views and then go home to his family. That is a sacred American value,” Jones added.

Van Jones says Kirk’s death highlights urgent need for dialogue

Jones shared a post on Instagram about Kirk’s approach. “When our public dispute started going sideways, what’s Kirk’s response? He pushed for more civility, not more stridency or venom,” wrote Jones.

“For all our differences, neither Charlie nor I ever wanted to see the other person harmed or silenced.”

On X, Jones connected the tragedy to a wider political climate. “Kirk’s murder gives us all reason to come back to the table for dialogue. There is a rising tide of political violence that has already swept away his life and many others’ lives, from both the Left and the Right,” wrote Jones.

He continued: “Violence like this should compel people in both parties to turn down the heat, seek common ground and look for off-ramps from the vitriol — as Kirk was doing with me, the day before he died.”