White House slams Katie Couric for grilling Fetterman on Charlie Kirk

Journalist and podcast host Katie Couric discussed President Donald Trump and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on Thursday’s “Next Question” episode of her podcast with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. , sparking a heated response from the White House.

Throughout the episode, Couric appeared to pressure Fetterman to disavow both Trump and Kirk, but the Pennsylvania senator stood her ground.

At one point, Couric asked whether it was appropriate for Kirk’s body to be sent home with Air Force Two, or if it was appropriate for him to be posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom. He added that some critics thought these honors from the Trump administration were “very over-the-top in terms of mourning the loss of someone like Charlie Kirk.”

Fetterman said it was the administration’s choice, before Couric pressed him about Kirk’s past rhetoric, which some would call “extreme.”

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In response to Couric’s remarks, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung criticized the podcast host in a post on Thursday, X.

“This ruined fool @katiecouric is a complete ghoul. She is trying to justify the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. Disgusting people like Katie should be shamed and shamed forever,” Cheung wrote.

As Fetterman and Couric discussed the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the conversation turned to Kirk’s murder.

The senator noted that while he disagreed with many of the things Kirk said, it was “perfectly appropriate” to allow people to grieve and respect their own space, “without taking that opportunity to make an argument or remind people, ‘Hey, I disagree.’

“A father with young children was shot in public because of his political views, and that is a tragedy and leaves space for people to grieve,” he added.

Fetterman maintained that while he “disagreed with much of it,” Kirk’s rhetoric “never justified what happened” and that he chose “not to take the opportunity to discuss his views after the children lost their father in the most violent, public way.”

After Fetterman added that “extreme rhetoric facilitates or justifies extreme reactions,” Couric countered that some would consider Kirk’s rhetoric “extreme.”

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Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Turning Point USA’s event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025, according to The Deseret News. (Tess Crowley/The Desert News via AP)

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Earlier in the podcast, Couric questioned Fetterman about his previous claim that Trump is not an autocrat because his presidency is “the product of a democratic election.” “History has shown that even leaders who come to power through elections can still govern with anti-democratic methods,” the podcast host said.

“So I have to ask, when you think about some of Donald Trump’s actions and policies, like deploying federal forces in US cities, undermining the independence of the Justice Department, trying to overturn the 2020 election. Doesn’t that deeply disturb you?” he asked.

“Of course,” Fetterman replied, adding that he strongly pushed back against Trump’s claim that Pennsylvania did not have a “fair and free election.”

“But I don’t think we’re in an autocracy right now,” he continued. “We’re in a democracy and that’s why they were able to shut down our government. And that doesn’t mean we appreciate what’s going on.”

Sen. John Fetterman and journalist Katie Couric sparred against President Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk on the “Next Question” podcast on Thursday. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Continuing to press Fetterman on Trump, Couric asked if she felt the policies the president was pushing were “anti-democratic.” He then asked her if she would at least accept that, even if she did not believe that we lived in an autocracy: “Some things [Trump] “What they are doing is clearly undemocratic and potentially unconstitutional.”

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As a “committed Democrat,” Fetterman acknowledged that the two had differing views on whether Trump was an autocrat, but argued that he “doesn’t call people fascists or Nazis or compare people to Hitler” and that those comparisons were “part of why we lost our election last year.”