Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said during several Sunday appearances on news shows that the alleged shooter of Charlie Kirk, Tyler Robinson, is not cooperating with authorities, although his family and roommate are.
“He has not confessed to, to authorities,” Cox told ABC News’s This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz. “He is, he is, he is not cooperating, but, but, but all the people around him are cooperating. And I think that’s, that’s, that’s very important.”
Robinson, age 22, was arrested on Friday, and is expected to be formally charged on Tuesday.
Cox also clarified several reports that have gone around the media and social media since Robinson was arrested.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, Cox said that Robinson was not a Republican or a conservative, though his family was conservative.
“We can confirm…according to family and people we are interviewing, he does come from a conservative family but his ideology was very different than his family,” he told the show.
Cox also confirmed that Robinson was in a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate, who is transitioning from male to female.
The roommate “did not have any knowledge (of the assassination), was shocked when they found out about it,” Cox said, adding that they have been "very cooperative."
Authorities are still investigating how the roommate's transitioning played into Robinson's motive, but it seems pretty clear that Robinson had anger towards Kirk for comments he had made about transgender ideology.
Cox also confirmed that Robinson joked around with friends on a Discord chat about being the gunman, and then admitted it was really him.
“All we can confirm is that those conversations definitely were happening, and they did not believe it was actually him. It was, it was all joking until, until he, you know, until he admitted that it actually was him,” Cox said.
Robinson had been a "very normal, very smart" young man who attended Utah State University for a semester before dropping out after one semester.
After dropping out, Robinson spent a lot of his time gaming and discovered the “deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture and these other dark places,” Cox said.
More information will be forthcoming when formal charges are filed on Tuesday, Cox said on all the Sunday shows.
Accused Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson is being held under “special watch” inside the Utah County Jail, where he is awaiting formal charges for Kirk's shooting on Wednesday.
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office told TMZ on Saturday that Robinson, 22, will be held under "special watch" pending a mental health evaluation to determine if he is a danger to himself or to others.
Obviously, there are other reasons to keep Robinson under special watch to ensure that no one else has the opportunity to get to Robinson and make sure that he takes his side of this tragedy to the grave.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, Robinson told his father that he would rather kill himself than be handed over to the police when confronted by his family following the shooting.
While Robinson hasn't been formally charged with anything, everyone has a vested interest in Robinson remaining alive and being forced to testify and divulge his motive in killing Kirk in such a horrific way.
Police have Robinson under surveillance 24 hours a day via security cameras that are positioned in the special housing unit. It's likely that prison guards are periodically checking in on Robinson as well to ensure his well-being.
Robinson will be charged this coming week, likely with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, and obstruction of justice.
Aggravated murder is the most important charge that will be filed against Robinson, as it carries the death penalty as a possible sentence. Utah Governor Spencer Cox mentioned the death penalty in his initial statements on Kirk's assassination.
Robinson is alleged to have killed Kirk during an appearance at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was taking questions in front of a crowd of hundreds of students and fans.
Kirk was answering a question about transgender mass shooters during his “Prove Me Wrong” segment when a shot rang out, and Kirk was hit in the neck. The bleeding was instant and profuse, and this horrifying incident was extremely traumatic for all in attendance.
Of course, this tragedy has been traumatic for the entire nation as radical leftists have been openly celebrating Kirk's death, with some even calling for more violence against conservatives, including Kirk's wife, Erika Kirk.
Kirk's assassination could very well be a turning point for the United States. Kirk's death shocked Americans of all political persuasions, and the reaction of the monsters on the far-left further ingrained that shock and horror.
Kirk had been working for his whole life to effect a massive shift in the culture and he may have succeeded at that goal, albeit at the cost of his own life. Already, thousands of young Americans are rallying to Turning Point USA's banners.
Kirk's ideas and vision will live on stronger than ever because of his martyrdom and Robinson will face justice, likely the death penalty, if Utah's leadership has anything to do with it.
A friend of Tyler Robinson, the man who is accused of murdering conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has confirmed that Robinson was politically left-wing.
Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on Wednesday at Utah Valley University during one of his famous appearances in front of hundreds of college students.
Robinson managed to evade capture for some time, even as law enforcement went into a frenzied manhunt to find him. Ultimately, Robinson was turned in by his family the next day, putting an end to the manhunt and beginning the next chapter in what will be a truly nation-changing tragedy.
As soon as the horrific video of Kirk's killing began to go viral, many immediately began speculating that the assassin was a disgruntled leftist.
That conclusion was supported by the violent rhetoric that Democrats have pushed for years against conservatives. Furthermore, Kirk has been the face of Gen Z's conservative shift, and it was a foregone conclusion that his shooter had political motivations.
A high-school friend of Robinson, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Guardian that Robinson's family was “very hard Republican,” but that Robinson was “the only member of his family that was really leftist."
He went on to explain that during Robinson's sophomore year, he became "more extreme in his political views” and would "always just be ranting and arguing about them."
Robinson is yet another young American who was likely radicalized by the hateful and extreme rhetoric that leftists have pushed over the past decade.
Ever since the 2016 presidential election, Democrats have consistently raised the political temperature with death threats towards President Donald Trump and other figures associated with him.
Democrats have openly called Trump and his supporters a threat to the nation, as well as thrown around terms like "fascist" and "Nazi" with little regard to the truth of the accusation or the radicalization of already mentally unstable individuals.
Last year, President Trump was nearly killed at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and leftists continued to push extreme rhetoric. Charlie Kirk wasn't as lucky as Trump was, and now his wife and daughters are without a father and the nation is in chaos.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) wasted no time in assuring the nation that Robinson would be charged and “held accountable," likely via the death penalty, which is still on the books in Utah.
While justice must be served to Kirk's killer, it also must be recognized that Kirk's killer is merely a symptom of a cancer that has grown out of control.
The left has gotten away with violence and extreme rhetoric for years and many conservatives have warned that someone was going to get killed. The open celebration of Kirk's death by thousands of leftists has made it clear that the time for reconciliation between left and right may be over.
Robinson may be facing the death penalty, but American society is also facing a deadly future and there may be no going back.
Former North Carolina GOP Congressman Madison Cawthorn was arrested in Florida on Wednesday for failing to appear in court on a charge of driving without a valid license, just as he had been preparing to make his political comeback with a run for Rep. Byron Donalds's seat in Florida's 19th district.
Cawthorn was arrested in Cape Coral after failing to appear in court in Collier County that morning for a citation in Naples on August 19.
“Former Congressman, Madison Cawthorn, was arrested earlier today for failure to appear for a routine traffic infraction,” Cawthorn’s representatives said in a statement. “Madison keeps a very busy schedule and, due to a scheduling misunderstanding, did not appear in court this morning. Following processing Madison was immediately released.”
Cawthorn has been living in Cape Coral, which is part of Donalds's district. He is partially paralyzed from an accident when he was 18 and uses a wheelchair.
Donalds indicated in February that he would not seek re-election in order to run for governor in 2026, so his seat will be open.
Axios had reported on September 3 that Cawthorn planned to run for the open seat.
Cawthorn lost his re-election bid to Congress in 2022 after several controversies regarding him hit the news.
An argument between Cawthorn and then-West Virginia Republican Rep. David McKinley over cosponsorship of a bill resulted in McKinley filing an ethics complaint against him in 2021.
Then, during a March 2022 interview, Cawthorn accused members of Congress of inviting him to an orgy and using cocaine in front of him.
His comments caused a firestorm as Democrats pounced on them, and Cawthorn later admitted to then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy that he had exaggerated his claims.
He said that he observed what he thought was drug use from 100 yards away, and that he probably misconstrued the invitation.
After leaving office in 2023, Cawthorn was accused of tailgating a woman in Florida and rear-ending a Highway Patrol officer in 2024, as reported by the New York Post.
It was unclear whether Cawthorn was charged or cited for the accident.
If Cawthorn plans to revive his political career, I think he's going to have to do better than yet another brush with the law and claiming he was too busy to show up in court or remember when he was supposed to do so.
He was considered a promising up-and-comer when he was first elected, but no one wants to deal with more scandals and have someone who seems volatile and unstable as a leader.
President Donald Trump’s appointee for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was recently approved by a Senate committee, in what is seen as a big win for the White House.
White House economic adviser Dr. Stephen Miran was confirmed by the Senate Banking Committee along partisan lines in a 13-11 vote, with all Democrats voting against the confirmation, as Breitbart News reported.
Due to the political makeup of the full Senate, it is expected that the Trump nominee will likely be approved by the upper chamber of Congress.
If confirmed, Miran will sit on a seven-member board that would, with his addition, have three Trump appointees in residence.
Miran, who was a top advisor on the economy for Trump, is thought likely to bring more presidential control to the governing body, which could push interest rate policy toward what the president believes is best.
At the time of his nomination, Trump said that Miran had “served with distinction in my First Administration,” in a post on Truth Social.
“He has been with me from the beginning of my Second Term, and his expertise in the World of Economics is unparalleled — He will do an outstanding job. Congratulations Stephen!”
It is believed that the president has long hoped to gain a majority on the Fed’s board in order to push the central bank to cut its key interest rate.
The nominee has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, but despite his stellar qualifications, he would only serve in the role until Jan. 31, 2026, because he is filling a seat recently vacated.
Miran, if confirmed, would be replacing former Fed governor Adriana Kugler, who stepped down from the position on Aug. 1 of this year.
Should the Senate move quickly, the newly approved nominee could be in his position in time for the Fed’s meeting, which will take place early next week.
That meeting is expected to cover the topic of the reduction of key short-term interest rates, which is something of deep concern to Trump.
Fed Nominee Dr. Stephen Miran Pledges Independence.
Commits to long-term economic stewardship and serving the American people with integrity.#WashingtonEye pic.twitter.com/XeGEYrL7O4
— Washington Eye (@washington_EY) September 4, 2025
Currently, another Fed governor, Lisa Cook, is struggling to hold on to her seat on the same board, as the administration asserts her removal is necessary due to allegations she has taken part in mortgage fraud.
Intelligence information coming from the White House has been under the microscope, and recently, some of it has even been withdrawn.
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard called for the National Security Agency to withdraw a report on Venezuela recently, and the internet has been abuzz about it, according to The Hill.
Gabbard cited concerns about the identification of a senior Trump administration official, who reportedly shouldn’t have been listed in the report.
The document, which was issued several months ago, focused on one Richard Grenell, who was the former acting director of national intelligence in the first Trump administration.
Grenell now heads the Kennedy Center and serves as a special envoy to Venezuela, taking on both roles for a hefty administration presence.
According to early reports about the security information, the report included sensitive details about some communications between Grenell and Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Those communications included negotiations about undocumented migrants from Venezuela that have made their way into the United States.
Gabbard described how it happened:
Officials cherry-picked parts of a 6-page intelligence document on Venezuela's Tren Aragua gang.
They excluded FBI confirmation that Venezuela's government supports the gang's US operations.
This selective disclosure had a purpose. pic.twitter.com/jW2b0EOmPO
— Voyrobi Bristy (@puja_roy30223) September 6, 2025
The DNI made the recall with a notice that states, “the report is accurate and in accordance with all N.S.A. policy, directives and guidance; however, the D.N.I. directed N.S.A. to recall the report.
“Please remove the original report from all manual and computer files.”
Some publications cited unidentified sources who said the report was recalled because of the identity of Grenall being included at all, when Gabbard attempts to keep the names of officials out of such documents.
One intelligence official told reporters that it was due to concerns about personal civil liberties and privacy, particularly concerning GOP officials’ focus on the problem of “unmasking” in intelligence reports.
The White House has yet to comment on the change by the DNI; however, up to now, President Donald Trump and other officials have seemed pleased with the way Gabbard has handled her position.
Gabbard was previously a Democrat lawmaker from the state of Hawaii, and later left the party and became aligned with Trump.
Gabbard was also involved in a legal battle with former First Lady Hillary Clinton, who accused her of being a possible Russian asset several years ago.
A federal appeals court ruled on Monday against President Donald Trump's appeal of an $83 million verdict against him for defamation against E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her in a department store dressing room more than 30 years ago.
Carroll somehow managed to get a $5 million verdict against Trump for some sort of sexual misconduct against her, even though she couldn't remember the date it happened or the layout of the store, and didn't have any physical evidence against him.
Then, because Trump had the audacity to her accusations weren't true and that she wasn't his type, she sued him for defamation (egged on and paid by some of his political enemies).
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the defamation award was fair and reasonable, mostly on the grounds that his presidential immunity didn't cover the remarks he made against Carroll.
His lawyers had asked for a new trial because of the immunity ruling, but they didn't get that either.
"Trump has failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering our prior holding on presidential immunity. We also conclude that the district court did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jury’s damages awards are fair and reasonable,” the opinion Monday said.
The immunity defense might not apply to a case that happened in 2023 and 2024, about comments made in 2022.
But here's what none of the judges and juries who dealt with this case ever considered: Trump was a presidential candidate at the time of the civil trial against him, which happened in 2023 and 2024.
The case should have been dismissed for one simple reason: it clearly attempted to influence the election (but, fortunately, failed).
Carroll and all the Trump-haters who egged her on had one thing in mind and one thing only: to paint Trump as a womanizer, sexual predator, and liar so that voters would not vote for him.
If there had been any type of evidence against Trump besides a writer, spinning a yarn about him, then sure, the case should go forward.
People want to know if their elected leader is a scumbag, but they don't want some vague allegations meant to tarnish his reputation with no proof whatsoever that anything occurred.
Unfortunately, there are enough Trump-hating judges and jury members in certain places (like Manhattan) to convict him of something like this whether there's actually any proof of it or not and make him pay through the nose, if they can't convict him criminally.
That's exactly what happened here, and Trump may have no recourse to do anything about it. The Supreme Court is unlikely to hear the case because it's a civil one and not a super-important matter of law, even though it affects the president.
Two of President Donald Trump's top economic officials clashed at a posh private dinner on Wednesday, with one official threatening to punch and beat up the other amid ongoing conflicts, according to Politico.
During the dinner for 30 people at the exclusive Georgetown club Executive Branch, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suddenly shouted at housing finance official Bill Pulte, “Why the f**k are you talking to the president about me? F**k you. I’m gonna punch you in your f**king face.”
Others at the party included Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Medicare and Medicaid chief Mehmet Oz, as well as venture capitalist David Sacks and MAGA-friendly podcaster Chamath Palihapitiya, who was celebrating a birthday.
Those who witnessed the tirade by Bessent disagreed on which of them started the altercation, but it became clear that Bessent had heard from several people that Pulte had recently been bad-mouthing him to Trump.
Pulte looked blindsided by Bessent's tirade, and club owner Omeed Malik stepped in to try to calm things down.
Bessent tried to get Pulte kicked out of the event. “It’s either me or him,” Bessent said to Malik. “You tell me who’s getting the f**k out of here.”
"Or," he said to Pulte, "we could go outside."
“To do what?” Pulte responded. “To talk?”
“No,” Bessent replied. “I’m going to f**king beat your a**.”
At that point, Malik took Bessent to another part of the club to calm down.
Bessent then came back and was seated at the other end of the table from Pulte, and the dinner continued without further incident.
In May, Bessent, Pulte and Lutnick were put on a team to privatize mortgage giants Freddie and Fanny Mac, which Pulte oversees.
Insiders told Politico that the arrangement has produced conflict, with Bessent viewing Pulte as inserting himself into economic matters beyond his purview, while Pulte feels threatened by the partnership and its influence over his area.
To complicate matters, Lutnick and Pulte are close, while Bessent and Lutnick don't really get along after competing for the Treasury position.
Normally, Bessent is soft-spoken and avoids drama, so he must have been very put out by Pulte's behavior. Let's hope from here on out, the three of them can do their jobs and work together for the good of the U.S. economy.
Actor Tom Hanks has been snubbed after a West Point event honouring him was cancelled on the same day that President Trump ordered the renaming of the Defense Department to the War Department.
The Department of Defense was known as the Department of War previously, but Trump made the decision to revert the name, noting that the DOD had become "very politically correct or wokey."
The decision to cancel the event honouring Hanks likely comes from Hanks's portrayal of a Trump supporter as a dimwitted racist on Saturday Night Live, which ignited outrage among conservatives around the nation.
The Department of War is going to be a strictly nonpartisan organization and cannot be associated with leftist ideologues who smear half the country as racist idiots for supporting President Trump.
Hanks was slated to be awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award from the West Point Association of Graduates, given to non-alumni, in recognition of his work with veterans. But clearly, Hanks would rather set himself up as a political figure and attack half the country in a degrading manner.
Retired Army Col. Mark Bieger, the president and CEO of the West Point Association of Graduates, sent an email out announcing the decision to cancel the ceremony for Hanks.
That email read, "This decision allows the Academy to continue its focus on its core mission of preparing cadets to lead, fight, and win as officers in the world’s most lethal force, the United States Army."
The focus on lethality and fighting effectiveness has been the top priority for the Trump administration after years of politicization and woke politics infecting American fighting forces.
The Pentagon has become notoriously political in recent years, and it's long been known that America's military leadership is comprised of charlatans more interested in setting up their post-military careers with the military industrial complex.
Speaking on changing the culture in America's military, Trump explained, "It has to do with winning. We should have won every war. We could have won every war. But we really chose to be very politically correct or wokey and we just fight forever."
He continued by saying, "We just fight to sort of tie,' the commander-in-chief continued. 'We never wanted to win wars. Every one of them we could have won easily with just a couple of little changes. We just didn't fight to win. We didn't lose anything, but we didn't fight to win."
The Trump administration doesn't want to politicize the military with a right-leaning political bias, even as it purges leftist infection. The military is at its best when it is non-partisan and represents the nation with a blindness to political affiliation.
Leftists have been shrieking about Trump politicizing the military, an ironic claim, accusing him of simply replacing leftist ideologues with rightwing ideologues. The reality is that the left has lost after years of domination, and returning to a non-partisan culture feels like being replaced with more of the same.
Trump's changes will ultimately be healthier for America's armed forces, and anyone who has witnessed the rise of racial grievance politics in the armed forces will quickly agree.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said that President Donald Trump is committed to cracking open the files on Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and acted as an "FBI informant against him," the UK Daily Mail reported. Trump promised during his 2024 campaign that he would release the disgraced financier and sex trafficker's client list, but has yet to do so.
The media has slammed Trump for using the word "hoax" when describing the controversy over the Epstein files. When asked about it on Friday by Manu Raju of CNN, Johnson explained what Trump meant by the word and made the stunning revelation.
"What Trump is referring to is the hoax that the Democrats are using to try to attack him. I’ve talked to him about this many times, many times. He is horrified. It’s been misrepresented. He’s not saying that what Epstein did is a hoax. It’s a terrible, unspeakable evil. He believes that himself," Johnson recounted
"When he first heard the rumor, he kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down," Johnson added, which puts a new spin on the issue.
Commentator Brian Kressenstein shared Johnson's words in a video post to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday. "BREAKING: Mike Johnson just claimed that Trump 'was an FBI informant' to help take down Jeffrey Epstein. If this is the case, then Trump would be a hero after it’s all released in the Epstein Files. Release the files!" Krassenstein urged.
BREAKING: Mike Johnson just claimed that Trump “was an FBI informant” to help take down Jeffrey Epstein.
If this is the case then Trump would be a hero after it’s all released in the Epstein Files.
Release the files! pic.twitter.com/rftV7WYUhX
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) September 5, 2025
This report comes on the heels of Trump's repeated insistence that the issues around the Epstein files are a "hoax" cooked up by Democrats after the Department of Justice said in July that Epstein's client list simply did not exist and that the disgraced financier indeed killed himself in prison. However, even some on the right have cried foul after Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that the files were "sitting on my desk" before the administration reversed its claim and said they did not exist.
Nevertheless, Trump has stuck to the story that it's just another scheme cooked up by his political opponents to smear him. "This is a Democrat hoax that never ends," Trump said of the scandal on Wednesday.
"From what I understand, I could check, but from what I understand, thousands of pages of documents have been given. But it's really a Democrat hoax because they're trying to get people to talk about something that's totally irrelevant to the success that we've had as a nation since I've been president," Trump said.
If Trump were an FBI informant, it would make sense for him to have a sudden change of heart, as even his staunchest supporters are left unsatisfied with his handling of the issue. Now that Congress is back in session, the Epstein issue is once again at the forefront, especially because Democrats believe they can smear Trump with allegations about his association with him.
Just before the summer recess, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) sought to circumvent Johnson by introducing a congressional vote to release the files, Fox News reported. The issue was one of the first priorities in the new session after victims of Epstein spoke with lawmakers at the Capitol.
"It is very much a possibility that Jeffrey Epstein was an intelligence asset working for our adversaries," Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) said following the meetings. "I think this is going to be a criminal investigation for sure. I will say that what's been released, obviously, the American people have wanted for a long time."
Epstein victim Chauntae Davies testified about some of the horrible things she experienced and even name-dropped a former president. "I was even taken on a trip to Africa with former President Bill Clinton and other notable figures. In those moments, I realized how powerless I was," Davies said.
It's unlikely that Trump had anything to do with Epstein's horrific activities, as his political enemies would have released the files already. Still, it's one of the many reasons the public deserves answers about it. The truth about Epstein must come out, and let the chips fall where they may.