Eric Swalwell dons 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' hat in solidarity for CNN interview

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., donned a "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" hat during an interview with CNN on Thursday, after the late-night host's show was pulled. 

"Congressman, I see you are wearing a hat. What does that hat say?" CNN host John Berman asked the lawmaker, who responded with, "You're damn right I am, John."

"It should shake every American that the president of the United States is out there firing comedians who make fun of him. That is not who we are. And every American should care and stand up to this," Swalwell said.

Berman pushed back: "You know that a private company can fire whomever they want for saying anything." 

The CNN host noted that Kimmel wasn't fired, then asked Swalwell if he believed something else was happening behind the scenes.

"The head of the FCC, Brendan Carr, who works for Donald Trump, put out a tweet yesterday that said, 'We can do this the easy way, which is that ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel, or we can do it the hard way, which is the government, Donald Trump's government, takes action against Jimmy Kimmel,' and put ABC in an impossible position. Now, ABC should have stood up to the FCC and fought them," Swalwell said. 

Berman asked Swalwell if he endorsed what Kimmel said about Kirk, since he was wearing a Kimmel hat.

The Democratic lawmaker said Kimmel had a "right to be a comedian." 

"We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel said.

Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.