Mehdi Hasan, founder and CEO of news outlet Zeteo, erupted during an interview on Monday night after a former Trump advisor defended some of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's most incendiary statements.

Hasan and Ken Cuccinelli, the former Homeland Security acting deputy secretary during the first Trump administration, clashed on a new episode of "Cuomo" on NewsNation.

Cuccinelli argued that Kirk was killed for sharing his ideas, and called on "everyone to reject violence for political ends."

"That's something Charlie Kirk lived and died for," Cuccinelli said. "People who actually watched him interact with people who disagreed with him...Charlie was incredibly level in how he communicated with people. He was firm. But he never got angry; he didn't call people names. He respected them. He told them he respected them."

His comments didn't sit well with Hasan.

"What Ken just said is not true, that Charlie never called for violence or that Charlie was level-headed," Hasan said. "Charlie called for me to be deported because he didn't like a monologue I did about COVID. He called for Joe Biden to be executed by the death penalty. We can go down the list."

Hasan also noted that Trump uses the same rhetoric that conservatives are saying should be avoided.

"This is a president who has called his enemies scum, vermin, and animals," Hasan said.

Lawmakers should not use the killing of Charlie Kirk as an "excuse" to not have to face their constituents for the hard questions of representative democracy, former Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) told MSNBC's Alicia Menendez on Monday evening.

This comes as Congress takes steps toward allowing senators to pay for their own security out of their taxpayer office budget — a welcome and needed reform, Lamb concurred, and one that further drives his point home.

"I thought that this statement from Senator [James] Lankford really sort of hit the nail on the head, which is when we're talking about protecting judges and protecting individuals, it's not just their personal safety, it is really declaring to the nation that we believe that these tasks are hard, that there should be intense debate, that we have very different perspectives,'" said Menendez. "It strikes me, Congressman, you have members who are saying, I'm not sure we should do town halls because I'm not sure that I can be safe talking to my own constituents. I mean, there is a price that democracy itself, and by virtue of that, each of us as a citizen is paying for this culture of fear."

"I agree with you totally," said Lamb.

"And you know, I don't like the fact that we're going to have to spend government money to protect these members of Congress, but it's long past time that we do," he continued. "I mean, it's been dangerous for members of Congress for years. Your average member of Congress gets no official security protection. They finally have some money in their budget. But even that's not the same as, like, Capitol Police, or obviously what the president has."

"But we need people out doing these town halls," he added. "They need to face their constituents and answer questions about the things they say, like when a Republican member of Congress goes out there and says that the left is a terrorist organization or the enemy. And you can't give in to them under whatever circumstances right now, like they shouldn't have an excuse to not go out and answer questions from their constituents about that because they're afraid of being attacked. They should have the security. And if they choose not to do their job by holding town halls after that, it's on them. And constituents can understand that."

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President Donald Trump's signature domestic policy law's cuts to Medicaid is already wreaking havoc on rural hospitals — particularly in some of the reddest states. One Senate Republican is already fearing the backlash from voters could require an intervention.

According to a Monday report in Politico, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) predicted that Republicans may soon have to go back to the drawing board to rework H.R. 1 ("The One Big Beautiful Bill Act") in order to preserve hundreds of rural hospitals across the country.

"As the implications of the bill become better known, I think there’s going to be tremendous pressure to change the law," Collins told the World Medical Innovation Forum (which was attended by numerous healthcare executives) in Boston, Massachusetts.

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"But we’re going to need the evidence, the stories, the research that didn’t occur," she continued. "... People who didn’t get the care in time because they were diagnosed only when they show up at your emergency room, rather than by a primary care physician."

Trump's massive tax and spending law could close as many as 338 rural hospitals that overwhelmingly rely on Medicaid patients to stay open, according to research from the University of North Carolina's Sheps Center for Health Services Research. The Sheps Center found that in Maine, the Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle and the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth are at risk of closing.

Collins — who is both the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – is presumed to be running for a sixth term in the U.S. Senate. And because Maine has a Democratic governor and voted for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in 2024, Collins could be in for a particularly tough fight with several Democratic challengers already having declared their campaigns.

Click here to read Politico's report in full.

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