Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has died after being shot during an event in Utah on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump announced Kirk’s death on Truth Social.
Kirk, a prominent ally of Trump, was speaking at Utah Valley University when the shooting occurred.
Follow along below for live updates:
Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect Is Under 'Special Watch,' Utah Authorities Say
The suspect in the assassination of Charlie Kirk is on "special watch" at the Utah County Jail until the completion of his mental health evaluation, said Sgt. Raymond Ormond, a spokesperson for the Utah County Sheriff's Office.
"After cleared by mental health, he will proceed through our classification process to determine the appropriate housing area,” Ormond said in a statement shared with CNN on Sunday. "He will continue to be monitored by mental, medical, and custody staff throughout the duration of his stay."
JD Vance To Host Monday's Edition Of 'The Charlie Kirk Show'
Vice President JD Vance announced he will be hosting "The Charlie Kirk Show" on Monday afternoon.
"Please join me as I pay tribute to my friend," Vance wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Vance previously spoke at length about his relationship with the right-wing political activist, recognizing his instrumental role in his 2022 Ohio Senate bid and Trump's 2024 campaign but also in helping the president put his new team together.
Trump Says Admin Is Looking Into Leftist Organizations
Trump once again lambasted "the left" in comments to a gaggle of reporters on Sunday evening, adding that his administration is looking into leftist groups.
“If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It's not on the right, like some people like to share the right, the problem we have is on the left," he said, according to a White House pool report. "And when you look at the agitator, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burning all over the place, that's the left. That's not the right."
Trump's comments come after he began blaming "the radical left" for Charlie Kirk's killing prior to the apprehension of a suspect, and as he's continued to disparage this group.
Authorities said Sunday that they're still working to identify a motivation for the attack on Kirk and noted that the suspected shooter's family members believe he subscribed to "leftist ideology."
“We’ll see. We’ll be announcing. They’re already under investigation. They’re already under major investigation," Trump told reporters regarding inquiries into leftist organizations.
He declined to specify which entities he was referring to, however.
“A lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the left, they're already under investigation," he said.
FBI Director Kash Patel To Testify At Senate Hearing On Tuesday
FBI Director Kash Patel is facing congressional scrutiny this week over his fumbling of the investigation into the shooting of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk and the controversy regarding how the FBI handled files related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking case.
Patel will appear in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 9 a.m. Eastern, according to the committee’s website.
He’ll also testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Sept. 17, according to a press release from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the panel.
Utah Governor Says Kirk Shooting Suspect Is Not Cooperating With Authorities
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Sunday that Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Charlie Kirk's assassination, has not been cooperating with authorities so far — but that family members and others who know the 22-year-old are helping with the investigation.
"He has not confessed to authorities. He is not cooperating," Cox said on ABC's "This Week." "But all the people around him are cooperating, and I think that's very important."
The Republican said investigators have not yet discovered a potential motive for the shooting, but that Robinson's conservative family members believe his extensive time online resulted in him subscribing to "leftist ideology."
"We're getting all of this information from family members, again, people around the suspect — and then the forensic information that we have, which is confirming everything and more than what we were able to share in that initial press conference," Cox told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Charges are expected to be filed against Robinson on Tuesday.
Embattled FBI Director Claims Credit For Capture
Amid rising criticism of his agency's handling of the investigation into Charlie Kirk's death, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X Saturday, claiming credit for the capture of a suspect.
"Against all law enforcement recommendations, we demanded the video footage and enhanced stills of the suspect be released to the public." Patal said.
The FBI director then went on to argue that those stills were the reason the suspect's father turned him in.
Suspect Joked With Friends On Group Chat After Shooting: NYT
Before he was arrested on Friday, suspect Tyler Robinson chatted with his friends on the messaging platform Discord about the case, The New York Times reported.
Robinson joked about his resemblance to images of a "person of interest" released by the FBI, reportedly writing that his "doppelganger" was trying to "get me in trouble.”
Read the full report from The New York Times:
Memorial Planned For Charlie Kirk In Arizona Stadium
A public memorial for Charlie Kirk has been planned for Sept. 21 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The stadium, home to the Arizona Cardinals, has a capacity of 63,400.
Turning Point USA, the conservative organization Kirk founded, announced the tribute Saturday in a post on X: "Join us in celebrating the remarkable life and enduring legacy of Charlie Kirk, an American legend."
When asked by reporters the day after the shooting if he would attend Kirk's funeral, President Trump said, "Whenever it is, I’ll be going."
Trump Slams 'Radical Left Group Of Lunatics': NBC News
In an interview with NBC News Saturday, Trump said he'd "like to see" the nation heal, and in the same breath argued "we're dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don't play fair and they never did."
Trump told NBC News those on the left "don’t like what’s been happening."
"We’ve been winning very big," he said.
When NBC News asked Trump about Democratic megadonor George Soros, who Trump called out during a Friday appearance on "Fox and Friends," Trump responded Soros "should be put in jail" because "he's a bad guy."
The president has repeatedly blamed the left and sown division in the wake of Kirk's death. On "Fox and Friends," he said he "couldn’t care less" about Americans coming together in the wake of the assassination.
Read more at NBC News.
NYT's Haberman Says Trump Is 'Struggling' With Messaging Around Kirk's Death
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on Friday said President Donald Trump is “struggling” with the death of Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist who was fatally shot Wednesday at Utah Valley University. She also tried to add some context to the president’s divisive rhetoric.
Trump on Thursday blamed left-leaning “lunatics” for the shooting, but also urged his supporters to respond to the tensions with “nonviolence.” On CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins,” Haberman was asked to explain the contrast between those statements.
Kirk's Social Media Following, Book Sales Skyrocket After Assassination
Since Kirk was killed Wednesday, people have flocked to his social media, with noticeable increases in the YouTube views and followers of his personal accounts and those of Turning Point USA, according to CNN.
Kirk's TikTok, Instagram and Facebook pages have all added millions of followers since Wednesday, CNN reports, and his most recent YouTube video has garnered millions more views since the shooting.
The New York Times reports Kirk's book sales have also surged since Wednesday, including a book that has yet to be released. Four books he's written were among the top 10 books on Amazon, according to the Times.
Trump Praises FBI Director Kash Patel Even After Kirk Investigation Stumbles
President Donald Trump told Fox News on Saturday he's proud of FBI Director Kash Patel for the way the investigation into the assassination of Charlie Kirk was handled.
"I am very proud of the FBI," Trump said told Fox News Digital. "Kash—and everyone else—they have done a great job."
The Fox News report includes details of Patel's actions after Kirk was shot. Fox reported that Patel flew to Utah the day after the shooting and retraced the steps taken by Tyler Robinson, the man suspected of firing at Kirk.
The day of the assassination, Patel wrongly announced "the subject" in the shooting had been caught before later walking back the claim while reportedly dining at Rao's, a popular restaurant in New York that is notoriously hard to get into.
Patel is set to appear at Congressional oversight hearings this week.
Bill Maher Checks Ben Shapiro For Stating Kirk Shooter Was Leftist
“Real Time” host Bill Maher on Friday decried the political violence plaguing American life and got into a heated discussion about the death of Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist fatally shot Wednesday at Utah Valley University, with conservative guest Ben Shapiro.
Maher began by condemning the bipartisan blame game that sprang from Kirk’s killing.
“I think the only way that this starts to get better is if both sides admit, OK, let’s not have this debate about who started it,” he said Friday. “Let’s not have the debate about who’s worse, because plainly both sides do it now — and the right has done it too, a lot.”
Read more here.
Left-Wing Commentator Set To Debate Charlie Kirk Reveals What He Would Have Asked Him
Left-wing online streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker condemned a “culture of violence” in the United States following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“In less than two weeks, I was supposed to debate Charlie Kirk,” Piker wrote in a New York Times op-ed published on Saturday.
Read more here.
Utah Gov. Reveals What Trump Told Him After Suspected Kirk Assassin Was Captured
The Atlantic's McKay Coppins spoke with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox Friday evening about Kirk's assassination and what President Donald Trump told him after a suspect was captured.
After a press conference Friday morning where Cox announced details of the arrest of Tyler Robinson, who is suspected of killing Kirk, the president called the Utah governor.
Cox said Trump told him, “You know, the type of person who would do something like that to Charlie Kirk would love to do it to us."
Read more at The Atlantic:
Rep. Proposing National Day Of Remembrance For Kirk
Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.) said Friday he'll be proposing a National Day of Remembrance for Kirk.
"He championed free speech, civil dialogue, faith, and in his passing, will forever symbolize the best of America," Patronis shared in a post on X. "I want future generations of American children to know his name forever."
Patel Faces Congressional Hearings After Missteps In Kirk Assassination Probe And Turmoil At FBI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hours after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel declared online that “the subject” in the killing was in custody. The shooter was not. The two men who had been detained were quickly released, and Utah officials acknowledged that the gunman remained at large.
The false assurance was more than a slip. It spotlighted the high-stakes uncertainty surrounding Patel’s leadership of the bureau when its credibility — and his own — are under extraordinary pressure.
Patel now approaches congressional oversight hearings this coming week facing not just questions about that investigation but broader doubts about whether he can stabilize a federal law enforcement agency fragmented by political fights and internal upheaval.
Democrats are poised to press Patel on a purge of senior executives that has prompted a lawsuit, his pursuit of President Donald Trump’s grievances long after the Russia investigation ended, and a realignment of resources that has prioritized the fight against illegal immigration and street crime even though the agency has for decades been defined by its work on complicated threats like counterintelligence and corruption.
Read more:
Dem Congressman Shares 'Violent And Graphic Threats' After Comments On Trump
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said his office "has received an extraordinary number of violent and graphic threats" since he made comments urging President Donald Trump to condemn political violence.
Moulton appeared on CNN Thursday, before the suspect in Kirk's murder had been captured. He argued Republicans should follow the lead of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who called for people to "settle disagreements and disputes in a civil manner," rather than Trump, who blamed "extremist left-wing groups."
"The solution to political disagreement in America is never violence," Moulton posted on X Friday along with screenshots of some messages he'd received on social media. "It should be easy for everybody to say that."