CBS News Presents: A Town Hall with Erika Kirk

Honestly with Bari Weiss

The Free Press

News, Society & Culture

4.6 • 7.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, Bari sat down with Erika Kirk for an hour-long town hall in front of a live audience on CBS. It was an extremely powerful conversation. Erika and Bari spoke about a lot—rising political violence in this very divided country; the way some people justified or excused Charlie’s murder; what Erika thinks about some of the controversial things Charlie said in his lifetime; her response to Candace Owens and the conspiracy theories Owens and others are peddling; the growing antisemitism on the right; and her decision to forgive Charlie’s killer. They also talked about the posthumous release of Charlie’s last book, Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life. This town hall was the first of many conversations and debates Bari will be bringing to CBS News about the things that matter most. Which, of course, are often the hardest to talk about. We really hope you will tune in. In case you missed this first one with Erika Kirk, we’re thrilled to share the conversation here on Honestly. And we can’t wait for you to catch the next one on CBS News. The Free Press earns a commission from any purchases made through all book links in this article. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the free press, this is honestly, and I'm Barry Weiss.
0:07.3	As you may have heard, I have a new side gig over at CBS News.
0:11.8	And as perhaps you've seen, I hosted a town hall with Erica Kirk that aired on CBS this past Saturday night.
0:20.0	It was an extremely powerful conversation.
0:22.9	We spoke about a lot.
0:24.1	We talked about rising political violence in our divided country,
0:28.4	the way that some people justified or excused Charlie's murder.
0:33.0	We spoke about what Erica thinks about some of the controversial things Charlie said in his lifetime,
0:38.9	her response to Candace Owens and the conspiracy theories that she and other podcasters are peddling.
0:45.8	We spoke about growing anti-Semitism on the right, about the ability to discern between good and
0:51.2	evil, and of course, her decision to forgive Charlie Kirk's
0:55.3	killer.
0:56.7	This town hall was the first of many conversations and debates that I'm bringing to CBS News
1:02.7	about the things that matter most, which of course are often the topics that are hardest
1:07.9	to talk about.
1:09.2	I'm extremely excited about these events, and I hope
1:12.4	that you'll tune in. You'll hear more about them soon. If you miss this first one with Erica
1:16.9	Kirk, I'm thrilled to play it for you here on the podcast today, and I can't wait for you to catch
1:22.6	the next one on CBS. More about that soon. For now, stay with us.
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1:45.5	Merlin in a Britain torn apart by warring factions and standing on the brink of a new era with
	...

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