Washington DC - Democratic lawmakers said Thursday they plan to introduce legislation to protect free speech, arguing that President Donald Trump is using the assassination of Charlie Kirk to censor opponents.

The death of Kirk – a far-right, Christian nationalist who was shot dead on a campus in Utah last week – was "a national tragedy" that "should have been an opportunity for President Trump to bring this country together," Senator Chris Murphy told a news conference in Washington.

"But Trump and his lieutenants are choosing to exploit this tragedy to destroy Donald Trump's political opposition," the Connecticut Democrat said, citing the example of Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! was indefinitely suspended by ABC after he accused Trump's MAGA movement of seeking to exploit Kirk's death for political points. The president has since threatened to revoke the broadcasting licenses of networks that are critical of him.

Politicians Newsom urges America to "wake up" after Stephen Miller's shocking rant

"That's censorship. That's state speech control. That's not America," Murphy said.

The No Political Enemies Act "creates a specific defense for those that are being targeted for political reasons" and "builds real consequences for government officials when they use the power of the government to target speech that is protected by the First Amendment," he said.

Senator Alex Padilla listed various recent developments as causes for concern.

"An attorney general who is vowing to prosecute Americans for what she alone deems hate speech. A president who threatens a reporter with prosecution for asking a question about that," he said.

"And Donald Trump personally suing The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal for publishing stories that he doesn't like."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer added that "one of the great hallmarks of our country is free speech" and accused the current administration of "trying to snuff it out."

"They don't want people to even speak when they don't like what they say," Schumer said, warning: "That is the road to autocracy."