Where can I find official congressional records or a Congressional Record transcript of Kirk’s MLK remarks?
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Executive summary
You can find official Congressional Record entries — including members’ floor speeches and “Extensions of Remarks” — on Congress.gov and GovInfo; for example, the Congressional Record volume containing Representative Bennie G. Thompson’s remarks about Charlie Kirk is available on Congress.gov and GovInfo (see the Sept. 19, 2025 entries) [1] [2]. The text of House Resolution H.Res.719 (honoring Charlie Kirk) and its associated Congressional Record materials are published on Congress.gov [3].
1. Where to look first: Congress.gov — the Library of Congress portal
Congress.gov is the official, searchable public gateway for the Congressional Record; it hosts daily issue pages that include House and Senate proceedings, amendments, and “Extensions of Remarks.” The site’s Congressional Record landing page is the canonical starting point when you want members’ statements or the printed Record linked to resolutions such as H.Res.719 [4] [3].
2. The Government Publishing Office / GovInfo: downloadable PDFs and HTML
GovInfo (the Government Publishing Office platform) publishes the full, paginated Congressional Record in PDF and HTML formats for each day. The Sept. 19, 2025 Congressional Record package that contains Representative Bennie G. Thompson’s “Extensions of Remarks” entries is accessible there, with both PDF and HTML renderings available [5] [2].
3. How to find a specific speech or transcript (practical steps)
Search Congress.gov or GovInfo by date, member name, or bill/resolution number. For the Kirk-related materials cited in the Record, the Sept. 19, 2025 Congressional Record (Volume 171, Issue 154) contains “Extensions of Remarks” text from Rep. Thompson and related entries; the Record pages and PDF include the exact language published under the Record’s official pagination [2] [5].
4. What “Congressional Record” actually contains vs. what it omits
The Congressional Record publishes what members submit for the Record and what occurs on the floor; “Extensions of Remarks” often reproduces prepared statements that may include quotes or citations. It does not function as a complete verbatim transcript of every off-stage remark or private event; for example, reporting about Charlie Kirk’s off-stage comments at a Turning Point event appears in journalistic outlets and fact-checks rather than being part of the Record itself [1] [6].
5. Context on the Kirk-MLK controversy and what the Record shows
Congressional materials in September 2025 include members’ reactions to Charlie Kirk’s death and to public comments attributed to him; Rep. Bennie G. Thompson’s remarks are printed in the Sept. 19, 2025 Record and quote or reference public statements such as “MLK was awful,” which are cited in the Record entry [1] [2]. The Record documents lawmakers’ positions and the resolution H.Res.719 text that honors Kirk [3].
6. Where to cross-check contested or off-stage quotations
If you need the original audio/video or event transcripts for Kirk’s alleged MLK remarks, congressional sources will not provide them; journalists and fact-checkers have examined event recordings and reporting instead. FactCheck.org reviewed reporting that some of Kirk’s comments were not on the main stage but reportedly made in a smaller conference room, and noted that the YouTube conference recordings did not contain the specific remarks quoted in some stories [6]. Congressional Record citations reflect members’ use of publicly available quotes, not independent verification of off-stage remarks [2] [1].
7. Alternative repositories for speeches and memorial remarks
Transcription services and media outlets also publish transcripts of public speeches and memorial remarks; Rev hosts transcripts of events such as the Trump remarks at a Kirk memorial and maintains a transcript library, which can be useful to compare what politicians actually said at services or hearings [7] [1]. But these are third-party sources and should be cross-checked against the Congressional Record when citing lawmakers’ official statements [3].
8. Limitations, transparency and recommended next steps
Available sources do not mention a single, definitive “Congressional Record transcript” labeled specifically as “Kirk’s MLK remarks” because those alleged remarks come from event reporting and recordings rather than from speech printed verbatim in Congress; members quoted or discussed those comments in the Record [6] [2]. Recommended next steps: search Congress.gov for the Sept. 19, 2025 Record and H.Res.719 [3], download the GovInfo PDF/HTML for the exact printed text [5] [2], and cross-reference journalism and fact-checking (FactCheck.org, Wired reporting cited by FactCheck) if you need the original event context for Kirk’s alleged remarks [6].
If you want, I can retrieve and paste the exact paragraphs from the Sept. 19, 2025 Congressional Record entry (Rep. Thompson’s text and the H.Res.719 citation) as published on GovInfo/Congress.gov.