Charlie Kirk’s widow vows to uphold legacy as debate rages over suspect’s motive

President Donald Trump’s heated reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk has provided a stark contrast with the way his predecessors have tended to deal with moments of crisis through American history.

But following the fatal shooting of Kirk, a 31-year-old Republican activist who was close with the president and his family, Trump used his social media to post a video blaming “the radical left” for the assassination and ”the media” for creating a tense political environment.

President Donald Trump said Friday that in response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, he would like to see “revenge” manifested at the ballot box.

The president went on the Fox & Friends morning show, where he broke the news that law enforcement officials had detained a person suspected of killing Kirk at a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University in Orem.

Eric Garcia reports on the president’s remarks.

Others have faced torrents of online abuse or seen their offices flooded with calls demanding their firing, part of a surge in right-wing rage following the killing.

Some Republicans want to go further and have proposed deporting Kirk’s critics from the United States, suing them into poverty, or banning them from social media for life.

“Prepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined if you are sick enough to celebrate his death,” said conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, a prominent ally of President Donald Trump, and one of several far-right figures organizing digital campaigns on X, to identify and publicly shame Kirk’s critics.

Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins posted on X that anyone who “ran their mouth with their smartass hatred celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man” needed to be “banned from ALL PLATFORMS FOREVER.”

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on X that he was disgusted to “see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action.”

Republicans’ anger at those disrespecting Kirk’s legacy contrasts with the mockery some of the same figures— including Kirk – directed at past victims of political violence.

For example, when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was attacked with a hammer by a conspiracy theorist during a break-in at their San Francisco home shortly before the 2022 midterm elections, Higgins posted a photo mocking the attack. He later deleted the post.

Loomer falsely suggested that Paul Pelosi and his attacker were lovers, calling the brutal assault on the octogenarian a “booty call gone wrong.” Speaking to a television audience a few days after the attack, a grinning Kirk called for the intruder to be released from jail.

“If some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out,” he said.

Speaking on CBS Mornings on Saturday, Josh Stein, Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, observed: “You cannot cherry-pick which incidents of violence you’re going to condemn.. We have to condemn all political violence. Violence against one particular politician, no matter their party, makes us all less safe.”

With reporting from Reuters

The last person to talk to conservative activist Charlie Kirk before he was shot dead by a sniper on a Utah university campus has broken his silence by posting a video to social media giving his version of events and expressing his shock.

“I don’t know how to make this video, it’s been a rough 24 hours,” Hunter Kozak, 29, a mathematics student at Utah Valley University, says in the video first posted to Instagram.

Joe Sommerlad has the story.

Josh Marcus has the story.

FBI Director Kash Patel’s bizarre parting words to the late Charlie Kirk after saying a suspect had been caught, 33 hours after his assassination, could threaten the prosecution of Kirk’s alleged killer, a former prosecutor said Saturday.

Patel said he would see Kirk in the utopian realm from Norse mythology, likened to a heaven for warriors.

“To my friend Charlie Kirk, rest now, brother, we have the watch, and I’ll see you in Valhalla,” the FBI director said.

Patel’s comments sparked widespread confusion and mockery online, largely due to the use of Norse mythology, given that Patel is Hindu and Kirk is an evangelical Christian.

On the legal side, however, Patel’s comments could raise questions in court about whether the FBI’s investigation was compromised or at least affected by impartiality, Robert James, former district attorney for DeKalb County in Georgia, warned during an appearance on CNN Saturday.

“You have to be careful when you’re running an investigation as a law enforcement officer,” he said.

“Impartiality is very important when you’re looking at facts and determining who did what, what the motivation was, and that sort of thing. So you never want to put yourself in a position where lawyers get involved and then you open yourself up to cross-examination in a courtroom about your perception or perspective, and it happens in high-profile homicide cases all the time.”

James further warned: “For instance, I’ve prosecuted cases where police officers were killed, and the same police department investigated those cases and it’s always a question when the officers are on the stand, whether or not their opinions are slanted or motivated by the grief or anger of what happened, and so it’s the same type of scenario here, so you have to be careful.”

Alfonso Serrano, a politics editor at The Conversation, spoke with University of Massachusetts Lowell scholar Arie Perliger after Kirk’s shooting. Perliger studies political violence and assassinations and spoke bluntly about political polarization in the United States.

Hours after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel announced online that “the subject” involved in the killing was in custody.

The shooter had not been caught, and over the day after the shooting, two men who had been detained were quickly released. Utah officials acknowledged that the gunman remained at large.

The false reassurance was more than just a slip; it highlighted the high-stakes uncertainty about Patel’s leadership of the bureau, especially as its credibility — and his own — faces extraordinary pressure.

Making the matter worse, according to reporting by NBC News, this confusion over whether a suspect had been apprehended was tweeted out by Patel as he prepared to dine at Rao’s, one of New York City’s most exclusive restaurants, with a follow-up tweet posted later in the evening.

Patel now faces congressional oversight hearings this coming week, confronting not only questions about that investigation but also broader doubts about whether he can stabilize a federal law enforcement agency fragmented by political battles and internal turmoil.

Democrats are ready to confront Patel on a purge of senior officials that has led to a lawsuit, his ongoing pursuit of President Donald Trump’s grievances long after the Russia investigation concluded, and a shift in resources that has focused on fighting illegal immigration and street crime — even though the agency has historically been known for tackling complex threats like counterintelligence and corruption.

With reporting by the Associated Press

Joe Sommerlad has the details of his final conversation.