A MOMENT OF silence observed in the US House of Representatives for murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk was quickly followed by a shouting match between some Democrats and Republicans last night. 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican, called for the moment of silence to honour Kirk, who was shot and killed while speaking at a university campus in Utah yesterday. 

The silence was observed but things soon became tense in the House when one member called for a further moment of prayer for Kirk. 

Some Democrats appear to have objected, which prompted angry responses from Republicans. 

In an interview with CNN afterwards, Johnson acknowledged that “the emotion was very high in the room” and that as he approached the rostrum, unconfirmed reports of Kirk’s death were coming in on people’s phones. 

“We had a moment of silence and after that, a member stood to be recognised and said ‘Let’s have open prayer’, and that started a debate and people felt like it was being politicised on the Democratic side I guess,” Johnson said.

“There were some shouts and groans and then the Republicans responded and it turned into a little bit of chaos.”

He said it was “a reflection of the emotion of the moment and the real sense of kind of shock that people were feeling, justifiably, understandably”. 

Johnson added that he thought some people would reflect on what they did in the moment “and probably regret it”.