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Manhunt Ongoing for Shooter Who Murdered Charlie Kirk; Politicians Condemn Violence After Charlie Kirk's Death; Charlie Kirk's Role in Conservative Media and Politics; Trump Mourns Conservative Speaker Shot Dead on Utah Campus; Qatari PM Casts Doubt on Ceasefire Talks, Fate of Hostages; Polish President Speaks with Trump after Russian Drone Incursion. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 11, 2025 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[00:00:07]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez.

Right now a manhunt is ongoing in Utah for the person who shot and killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk. A brazen attack on a university campus that's left both people on both sides of the political aisle shaken. The 31-year-old Kirk was a hugely successful Republican youth organizer. He created the nonprofit Turning Point USA in 2012, a group President Donald Trump has credited as a major factor in his reelection to the White House last year.

Now, Kirk had been invited to speak at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, an event that drew hundreds of his supporters, and he was responding to a question about mass shootings when a single gunshot rang out.

Now I want to play you the moments leading up to the shooting, but I want to warn you, this video is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?

CHARLIE KIRK, TURNING POINT USA FOUNDER: Too many.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The number is five. OK, now five is a lot, right? I'm going to give you -- I'm going to give you some credit. Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?

KIRK: Counting or not counting gang violence? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down, get down, get down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: So that screaming is obviously after the gunshot. And the impact was seen. After that Kirk's body went limp. He appeared to recoil backwards, seemingly shot in the neck. The FBI is now leading the search for his killer and officials believe only one person was involved. But authorities are scouring surveillance camera footage looking for anyone who may have more information about the shooting.

President Trump, meanwhile, condemned the attack in a video recorded in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a dark moment for America. Charlie Kirk traveled the nation, joyfully engaging with everyone interested in good faith debate. His mission was to bring young people into the political process, which he did better than anybody ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, we mentioned the ongoing manhunt. Authorities did briefly detain two people of interest after Kirk was killed before determining, though, they weren't involved.

Utah's governor is vowing to find the person responsible and warning of the ultimate punishment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SPENCER COX, UTAH: The investigation is ongoing, but I want to make it crystal clear right now. To whoever did this, we will find you. We will try you, and we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law. And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I want to bring in CNN's Ed Lavandera, who is in Orem, Utah, for us and joins us now live.

So, Ed, can you just tell us what you've been seeing on the ground? Give us a sense of what the scene is looking like now, as this manhunt is still ongoing?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is kind of a surreal scene here. We are on the campus of Utah Valley University. The areas you see behind me, these well-lit up buildings, it's just on the other side of those buildings is the courtyard and the open area where Charlie Kirk was staging his gathering earlier today when that shot rang out. And if you look up there in the distance, you'll see a flashing yellow light. And beyond that, you'll see the lit-up part of a rooftop over there.

That is a building where there has been some video, and investigators have acknowledged this, Omar, that there was somebody seen running across that rooftop in the moments after the shooting, the chaotic scenes there. Obviously that is a key piece of evidence. The belief is at this point is that the shooter was perhaps on that building looking down at Charlie Kirk and fired off that one single deadly shot.

And then the, you know, the chaos ensued from there as thousands of people were running away fleeing the scene. And in those moments, and you alluded to this earlier, there were two people taken or apprehended into custody, at least briefly. Both of those people that were apprehended were taken into custody and questioned, turned out not to be the suspect that authorities here are looking for. And those people were released.

So that means in the chaos of all of this, the gunman was able to slip away and get away from this campus. And that manhunt continues into this late hour here in Utah.

[00:05:00]

And to kind of give you a sense here, Omar, of the campus, we're on the southern edge of the campus. There's a kind of a busy thoroughfare that goes along the southern edge. And then just over there in the distance, you can't see it here in the dark at this point, but that's an interstate that takes you -- runs north and south through Utah. If you go up north, it takes you to Salt Lake City, south, you know, to points south of this area.

So the campus is situated in a place where if everything kind of aligns properly, there were escape -- there's an escape route you can imagine that this person has been able to take advantage of and somehow in that chaos and in the everybody running away, this suspect was able to slip through all of that and get away. But as you heard the governor there alluding, he vows that this person will be caught.

But it's a massive manhunt undergoing. And one of the statements we got from authorities here in Utah saying that there were six police officers with the university who were working the event this afternoon, as well as Charlie Kirk's personal security detail. But, you know, that was -- those officers were stationed throughout the courtyard area where there were so many people gathered. But university officials say they are shocked. They are saddened.

They are extremely concerned about the students who many of them were up close and witnessed this unspeakable tragedy unfold right before the eyes -- their eyes and the videos that have emerged from all this clearly extremely, gruesome and very difficult to watch, which is the reason we're not airing the final moments of Charlie Kirk's life there. But, you know, there's a great deal of concern for the students on this campus who witnessed all of this unfold at such a close range. But right now, the focus is on this manhunt. We have not heard any

updates from authorities on how that is going and how that might be unfolding. But as more hours pass away, or pass by, there's clearly a sense that this, you know, this suspect is able to get farther away from this crime scene.

JIMENEZ: And potentially much more difficult to locate this suspect.

Ed Lavandera, really appreciate you being on the scene. Keep us posted on what you're seeing.

Now, earlier, CNN spoke with a witness who described the chaos that broke out after the shooting. He said he was on a walkway overlooking the crowd, though he couldn't see where the shot came from.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALLIN SMITH, SHOOTING WITNESS: It was definitely a little bit surreal. You know, it was -- we heard two pops and we ran. And some -- a lot of people ran with us when I was standing by the door kind of overseeing what was happening. Some people were standing there still taking videos. So I went back out to look over the railing to see, like, maybe someone just did some firecrackers or something like that.

But more and more people were screaming, crying, dispersing super quickly from the scene. More and more people were headed Charlie's way. And, yes, just pure craziness. And then after getting back into the building, just tons of people flooding to go outside, get away from the scene. A lot of tears, a lot of phone calls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I want to bring in Tom Verni, a former New York Police Department detective and law enforcement consultant.

Thank you for taking the time. I mean, from a law enforcement perspective, what sticks out to you about how this unfolded today?

TOM VERNI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Good morning. And I'd like to express my condolences to the Kirk family. What an awful tragedy. These two children of his and his wife, you know, are going to have to go on having to mark this day of unspeakable violence on this campus.

You know, look, open air events are very difficult to secure. As we saw when President Trump was running for president as a candidate, there was the shooting there and just a number of every time we turn around, there's another shooting somewhere in America. And shame on us that we have to deal with this as a civilized society. People living in fear that they can't even attend a rally, right?

You know, here we're talking about someone who was shot at a bit of a distance. So, you know, law enforcement investigators at this point are probably entertaining the idea that this was done with a long gun as opposed to a, you know, a small caliber firearm, of course, would have to be used at a closer range in order to, you know, to hit the intended target. So they're going to be searching for that. If the same ballistics that have been recovered at the scene, of

course, that that physical evidence, as well as any other physical evidence that they get their hands on will be integral into getting this investigation going as well as the grid search that they're probably doing at this time to search this individual.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, on that front, there's what happened in the moment. And then now trying to bring a shooter into custody, which is -- which is where we are right now on the investigative front, at least. Where does law enforcement start that process with what appears to have been a long distance shot like this over a crowd into a specific, again, targeted shot?

[00:10:09]

Where do you even begin to try and find a shooter here?

VERNI: Yes. I mean, this event was pretty well attended. There were hundreds, if not maybe more than 1,000 or 2,000 people maybe at that event. So there were a lot of people there. The fact that only one person was hit clearly would indicate that this was a targeted shooting versus some of the other shootings that we've seen. For instance, you know, a few years ago back in Las Vegas, it was a shooting at a concert where just people were shot indiscriminately, right?

So, you know, one person was shot, and then that was the end of the incident. So ideally, I guess, you know, you want to look through any sort of -- to my knowledge, I don't believe there were any threats made towards the event. Either online or through the mail or what have you. But of course that will be something to be looked at, whether it's, you know, on the university Web site or any e-mails sent to the university.

Any social media posts that may have been made where tagged the university or tagged that event of course going to be scrutinized to see if someone indicated in some way that they had some sort of a beef with Charlie Kirk, and-or maybe the event itself. And then, you know, that narrowed down from there, you know, the -- if the shooter had a cell phone with them, of course, we're going to check the, you know, the ping on the cell phone off the local towers to further corroborate, you know, that that's the person that we're looking for once we do -- get a person of interest in this case.

So they're going to have to, you know, collect as much physical evidence as possible. They're going to look at, you know, everything -- a lot of these incidents nowadays, as we see every day, someone goes out and makes some sort of either verbal comment or some sort of comment online. And, you know, you've seen the comment, me seeing the comment individually may not necessarily mean a lot, but once, you know, you get all these people in a room together and say, oh, yes, I saw that guy make that comment on, you know, Instagram or TikTok or whatever it may be, or Facebook, then we start piecing this together all these pieces of the puzzle to corroborate all this evidence together. JIMENEZ: And, you know, over the course of this, we've heard from

investigators that there were at least two people of interest that were taken into custody no longer. They were released. Don't appear to be the suspects there. This happened in front of a large crowd as we've been talking about. But when you sort of begin those investigative processes here, does that help in an investigation like this, or does it complicate things more to the point that you were saying, you know, if you have a group where you've got hundreds and you can get 10 people to say, oh, we all noticed this versus maybe just providing more false leads that might slow down getting to the actual shooter?

VERNI: Well, I mean, that's a hell of a crime scene there because of all the people that were there, right? That that became a frenzied, chaotic stampede that took place after he was shot as we saw in the videos. However, you know, investigators are going to want to speak to as many people as possible. You know, this is a traumatizing event not only obviously for the victim and his family, but also anyone who was within, especially if you're within a few feet of Mr. Kirk, you saw this, this murder take place right in front of you.

So the, you know, these people are probably going to have to be treated for trauma as well before we can even sit down and talk to them. So anyone who is certainly within, you know, in arm's length or two of where Mr. Kirk was, anyone who saw or heard the shots from wherever that rooftop happened to be, if they glanced over quick enough and maybe got some sort of a glimpse of the individual, I'm assuming that there's troves -- treasure troves of video in and around that campus.

So they're going to be scouring through that video, security video, in and around the campus, the parking lots and so forth. We would assume that the individual left via vehicle as was mentioned in the reporting earlier, that there's a major highway there where they could escape in two major directions to go, one of which is Salt Lake City, which is a major city for that area, and to try to go and hide, hide their way out if they have to, until they can escape to another place that may be more populated and harder to find.

So they're going to -- the video evidence itself, the video security cameras that were in place there, they're going to definitely be going through hours and hours of video from all different directions. And hopefully that in upon itself might get us a glimpse of the actual shooting itself or the shooter. And then potentially the escape of that shooter to wherever parts they, you know, the direction they fled to. And then the eyewitness accounts, that's going to be critical.

[00:15:01]

And you want to try to get that information as quickly as possible because as time goes on, you know, people's memories start to, you know, start to fade, especially if they're, you know, traumatized.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Tom Verni, appreciate the time and perspective as this manhunt continues. Thanks for being here.

VERNI: Yes. Anytime. Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right. Charlie Kirk's death has reignited calls from lawmakers for an end to political violence. House Speaker Mike Johnson, for example, called on every political figure to push for civil discourse to resolve disagreements. Civil discourse to resolve disagreements, and to spread that message to their constituents.

The House also observed a moment of silence in Kirk's honor. Our Manu Raju has more reaction from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A very emotional House of Representatives in the aftermath of the shooting and murder of Charlie Kirk. Of course, Kirk is aligned with the most conservative members of the House GOP and Senate GOP given his very conservative politics. But Democrats and Republicans alike condemning in the strongest possible terms the political violence that we are seeing really as a trend, an increasing trend here in this country, whether it was just even just this summer.

Two Minnesota lawmakers shot in their homes, but also the assassination attempt of Donald Trump last year. The shooting at a Republican baseball game in the first Trump term. Gabby Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona shot during the Obama administration, but also the January 6th, 2021. Of course, the violence that we saw here in the Capitol. We're seeing these episodes occur time and time again. Now we're hearing more and more lawmakers saying it is absolutely time to stop.

Now, in the aftermath of this, there was -- there's some fiery moments, including from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is pushing back against some Republicans who are blaming Democratic rhetoric for putting Charlie Kirk in that position.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): People can finger-point all they want. Look at the record. Look at the actions of what we are doing. I don't think a single person who has dedicated their entire career to preventing gun safety legislation from getting passed in this House has any right to blame anybody else but themselves for what is happening.

When a politician tries to blame words for an action, they need to look at their action and their record. We -- like enough of this. This is horrific. This is awful. And the assassination of Charlie Kirk risks an uncorking of political chaos and violence that we cannot risk in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now that came in the aftermath of a pretty heated moment on the House floor involving Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna who pushed back against some Democrats who have been objecting to how the speaker of the House was moving forward with the prayer that was about to happen. Luna cursed the Democrats and blamed them for what happened on -- for Charlie Kirk, someone she was actually very close to and credits to recruiting her into politics.

I asked her about that episode on the House floor as she walked off after the votes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANNA PAULINA LUNA (R-FL): Yes, they did cause this. That type of rhetoric, you're calling people fascist, you basically saying that were Nazis, taking away people's rights. Charlie Kirk was literally murdered. And you can see that footage online. And I would encourage people, instead of sharing that, please share pictures of his family and the legacy that he left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But despite the back and forth, there's a really increasing call for more security for members of Congress and all these episodes, including calls to increase the amount of money for members of Congress to spend on additional security measures. Some members saying that this is something that they are not taking seriously enough, the escalating violence against officials here in the United States.

Manu Raju, CNN Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right. Thank you, Manu.

We're going to have more on our breaking news coverage of Charlie Kirk's death and how the school where the shooting happened is handling the tragedy. All that and more, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:23:36]

JIMENEZ: Utah Valley University, where Charlie Kirk was killed, says it will remain closed until Monday as the school's vice president says they don't condone any form of violence there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAL L. PETERSON, VP OF ADMINISTRATION AND STRATEGIC RELATIONS, UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY: On behalf of Utah Valley University, we are shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Charlie Kirk. We express our sincere condolences to the Kirk family. We grieve with our students, faculty and staff who bore witness to this unspeakable tragedy.

He was invited by the student group Turning Point USA to speak on our campus. We firmly believe that UVU is a place to share ideas and to debate openly and respectfully. Any attempt to infringe on those rights has no place here.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JIMENEZ: Now, a video recorded after the shooting shows people frantically searching for shelter from the danger. You can see some of it here.

Kirk was invited to speak by students who are part of the university's Turning Point USA Chapter. Now, the U.S. congressman who represents the district where Kirk was fatally shot says he and his constituents will keep speaking their minds despite Wednesday's violence. Republican Utah Representative Mike Kennedy says political violence is, quote, "entirely unacceptable" and it will not intimidate him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE KENNEDY (R-UT): Sadly, this kind of violence has been going on for a long time. We know back in the day with MLK and RFK and JFK that these kind of things have happened and some people, they have no capacity to deal with these things in a civil fashion.

[00:25:08]

And the full weight and justice of the American system of justice will be brought to bear upon these people for their violent efforts. I've had death threats on myself as a state legislator, and I've also had vandalism to my house for efforts that I've had to move legislation forward.

I'll just tell you, I'm a doctor and I talk to people on a regular basis in the office prior to coming to Congress, and I still do some doctoring. The hearts of people are waxing cold. Their hard heartedness and an unnatural approach to the world where people are callous and unwilling to engage with one another in a civil fashion. And where is the fix to this? It's in the hearts and minds of our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, over the years, Charlie Kirk created a new model for political advocacy among conservatives. He blended commentary with get-out-the-vote drives and public gatherings, where he issued an invitation to critics, saying, prove me wrong.

CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter looks at how Kirk came to play such a pivotal role in conservative media and politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: The killing of Charlie Kirk has really shaken the worlds of politics and media, with both his friends and rivals testifying to his influence and importance, and saying that his death will leave a big void in the conservative media advocacy space.

You know, Kirk was only 18 years old when he started his youth organization, and he helped pioneer a new model on the right, merging multi-platform media commentary with get-out-the-vote drives and in- person live events. Kirk was a highly successful political field organizer, but he was

also a TikTok influencer. He was a radio host, but he was also a public speaker and a nonprofit leader. It was all rolled up in one telegenic package. You know, one minute I would see him on FOX News promoting President Trump's agenda, the next minute he will be on Instagram encouraging high school students and college students to open up their own chapters of his Talking Points organization.

The operation he built was in some ways the envy of many of his Democratic opponents. And for Kirk, unlike an older generation of Republican opinion stars, the talking head part of his job seamlessly blended together with the political organizing part. He prioritized live events, which in turn generated viral content for his shows and social media platforms, thereby making him even more popular.

On Wednesday, Kirk took the day off from his daytime radio show and podcast in order to prepare for his Utah university appearance. He was about 20 minutes into that talk when he was struck by a bullet in the neck. He was holding what he liked to call a "prove me wrong" discussion where he encouraged people from other ideological camps to debate with him. As he once told me, he wanted to encourage dialogue between people who disagreed.

Now, some liberals doubted his intentions about that, but the debates and the disagreements, they were a form of peaceful democratic debate. And now, in the past few hours, we've been hearing from free speech groups condemning Kirk's killing and saying that we all have a role to play in protecting that debate going forward.

Now here's the statement from PEN America, for example, saying, "Violence has no place in our democracy, and campuses must be safe spaces for dialogue across a wide range of political views. All Americans must reject violence as a response to speech. Ideas must be met with debate and not bullets."

Brian Stelter, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right. Thank you, Brian.

We're also following news out of Colorado after a high school shooting in the Denver area on Wednesday. At least two students were injured after a gunman opened fire at Evergreen -- High School, excuse me. The suspect, a male student at the school, was taken to the hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound but has since died, according to officials. And the tragedy marks the 47th school shooting in the United States this year.

We're also going to have much more on the top story tonight, the killing of Charlie Kirk, including reaction from President Trump, who calls the shooting, quote, "a dark moment for America." How the unlikely friends became close political allies, we'll explain just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

[00:34:10]

A manhunt is underway after the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. It happened Wednesday while Kirk was speaking at a university in Utah.

Officials believe only one person was involved. But authorities are scouring surveillance camera footage and looking for anyone who may have more information about the shooting.

Meanwhile, Qatar's primary -- prime minister says he feels betrayed after the Israeli strike on Hamas in Doha. During an -- during an exclusive interview with CNN, he called Tuesday's attack a barbaric action that killed any hope of saving the hostages, and he called for a collective response from the region to push back against Israel.

And Thursday marks the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States. Memorial services are planned for New York, Washington, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to attend a ceremony at the Pentagon in the morning before traveling up to New York to attend a New York Yankees baseball game.

The vice president is set to visit Ground Zero.

Meanwhile, the governor of Utah is calling Charlie Kirk's death a political assassination. Spencer Cox said Kirk's killing "marked a dark day for our state and a tragic day for our nation."

He vowed authorities would bring the killer to justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SPENCER COX (R), UTAH: Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people. Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated.

And that's what he does. He comes on college campuses, and he debates, as foundational to the foundation of our country, to our most basic constitutional rights. And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas, or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Donald Trump is also mourning the death of Charlie Kirk, who had become an ally and personal friend of the president. He released a four-minute video expressing his grief and anger, vowing to crack down on political violence.

CNN's Kristen Holmes has more on the reaction from the White House. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The White House is mourning the loss of Charlie Kirk, somebody who sources told me President Trump --

HOLMES (voice-over): -- viewed as his own son.

We just saw a post, an emotional post from people Don Jr., President Trump's son, saying that Charlie Kirk was like a brother to him.

And the thing to keep in mind here: it's not just political for so many of these White House staffers and advisors. It's also familial. It's also personal.

Charlie Kirk was part of a very small group of loyalists, people who were loyal not only to Donald Trump but to each other --

HOLMES: -- who helped get Trump elected in 2024. He spent time with these various staffers and advisors with his family. They say that he was --

HOLMES (voice-over): -- a devoted father, a devoted husband.

And he gave up a lot of his time and energy to help President Trump not only get elected but also to help with his transition: getting the right people, that they believed were the right people, into office, into the cabinet positions, with vetting and interviews.

President Trump has said on multiple occasions that he credits Kirk, at least in part, for his 2024 win. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I won the young people by 37 percent. No Republican has ever won, and I won by 37 percent. And Charlie Kirk will tell you TikTok helped, but Charlie Kirk helped also.

He's done great, and I appreciate all the help.

Charlie is fantastic. I mean, this guy -- don't believe the stuff when you hear the kids are liberal. They're not liberal. Maybe they used to be, but they're not anymore.

And I want to express my tremendous gratitude to Charlie Kirk. He's really an amazing guy.

HOLMES: It should be noted that Kirk was one of a small group of people who had a direct line to President Trump. We are told that Trump respected Kirk, even if Kirk had a difference of opinion.

There were many who believed that Kirk had his finger on the pulse of young conservativism, of the MAGA movement, even more so than some of the people who serve on Donald Trump's cabinet.

This is a dark day, talking to these White House officials, to these advisers, to these people who were close to Donald Trump and to Charlie Kirk. For them, this is deeply personal.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right. Thank you, Kristen.

Meanwhile, two former Democratic presidents have offered their reactions to the death of Charlie Kirk.

Joe Biden posted on X, "There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now."

And Barack Obama echoed that sentiment, saying that while the shooters motive still isn't known, quote, "This kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy."

Both also offered their thoughts and prayers to Kirk's family.

Still to come, furious words from the Qatari prime minister following Israel's deadly strike in Doha. We're going to take a look at what this means for the hostage in Gaza ceasefire negotiations. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:44:08]

JIMENEZ: Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has joined the chorus of voices mourning the death of U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In an online post, Netanyahu said, "Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom." He also called Kirk a "lion-hearted friend of Israel" who, in Netanyahu's words, "fought the lies and stood tall for the Judeo-Christian civilization."

Meanwhile, Qatar's prime minister is lashing out at Israel and threatening to stop mediating the Gaza ceasefire negotiations after the deadly Israeli strike in Doha.

Now, during an exclusive interview with CNN, he accused Israel of killing any hope for the hostages and accused the Israeli prime minister of, quote, "wasting our time with meaningless talks."

A senior Hamas official confirmed no one is talking about a ceasefire right now, as Qatar has confirmed the identity of one of the five Hamas members killed in the attack. He was the director of the office of Hamas's chief negotiator.

CNN's Nic Robertson has more details on the fallout.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, in his exclusive interview with CNN's Becky Anderson, Qatar's prime minister has said that he doesn't have the words to describe how enraged he is. ROBERTSON (voice-over): Betrayed is how he says the country feels at

the moment. He said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, through striking the Hamas negotiators' house here in Doha, has essentially ended hope for the hostages.

He says that Qatar right now is reconsidering its position as a mediator.

ROBERTSON: He said that Prime Minister Netanyahu is bringing chaos to the region; that he is putting the whole region, the whole Gulf region, at risk.

And what the prime minister says he hopes that happens over the coming days.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): And he met today with the president of the United Arab Emirates, who had very strong language to criticize Israel's actions here in Qatar.

ROBERTSON: He said that he hopes that -- this is what the Qatari prime minister said. He hopes that, along with regional partners, they come up with a collective response to decide how to push back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): That there should be some kind of decision that will -- it's not clear diplomatically. He's certainly not talking about some kind of military response, but to determine the regional response.

But the level of anger, the level of frustration, the diplomatic, or if you will, almost undiplomatic language that is being used here gives -- gives a very strong understanding of just how angry and let down the Qataris are.

But what does that mean for the talks in Gaza, the hostage release talks? He says it paints a very, very dark picture. No hope for the -- no hope at the moment for the hostage release. And in terms of a ceasefire.

Again, pulling back from Qatar's mediating role --

ROBERTSON: -- at a time when Hamas is now saying no one is discussing this ceasefire. So, a collective response coming in the next few days, it appears, from this region towards Israel.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Doha, Qatar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Meanwhile, Poland's president says his conversations Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the NATO allies are united following a Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace.

The incident is seen as a significant provocation for Europe and NATO amid Moscow's war on Ukraine.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A sight common in Ukraine: a Russian drone flying in the night's darkness, intercepted.

But this was across the border inside NATO, in Poland. The largest military alliance in history scrambling Dutch and Polish jets and police around the border areas overnight.

And waking up to a new reality that Russian drones had made 19 incursions into their territory.

The remains of Shahed-type Russian drones, found at seven locations, several not containing explosives, said initial Polish reports. But that didn't make them harmless.

A roof torn away at at least one home, and the scale all 19 breaches belied claims. It may all have been a navigational error.

Russia's defense ministry said they didn't target any Polish sites for destruction, but that isn't a denial the fragments collected here were their drones.

Airspace closed for hours, even Warsaw's main airport.

What lingered in the air after the drones: a sense of shock that Moscow had dared violate the airspace of its biggest, wealthiest adversary, NATO.

"In all likelihood, we're facing a large-scale provocation," said the Polish prime minister.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the first time Russian drones were shot down on the territory of a NATO member state. Whether it was intentionally or not, it is absolutely reckless. It is absolutely dangerous. But as I said, a full assessment is ongoing.

WALSH (voice-over): Five European defense ministers gathered in London to discuss Ukraine and found their Polish colleague had urgently gone home.

Last night, Putin hit a new level of hostility against Europe.

WALSH: But how do you stop it happening again? How do you stop it happening next week? What is the deterrent that you're able to present here to change the Kremlin's thinking?

JOHN HEALEY, BRITISH DEFENSE MINISTER: Ultimately, the big deterrent for President Putin is a NATO that is now more united, a NATO that is now bigger than when he launched his full-scale attack on Ukraine.

WALSH (voice-over): President Trump said he'd talked to his Polish counterpart and posted, "What's with Russia violating Poland's airspace with drones? Here we go." Not exactly the cast-iron guarantees of U.S. military protection

that's been at the heart of the NATO alliance for decades.

[00:50:05]

Poland is closing its border with Belarus Thursday ahead of Russian military exercises there Friday.

Tensions have been growing for months. NATO more and more sucked into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine next door. But this is something new, unanticipated and troubling, as Europe has no immediate response. And that may have been the answer Putin was waiting for.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: More now on our top story this hour. New video shows the frantic and, really, chaotic moments following the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

And I want to warn you: the video might be disturbing to some viewers.

One witness who was attending Kirk's event in Utah captured this video. You can see people running and scrambling to get away from the scene of the shooting.

The witness tells CNN he and his wife just happened to be running out this direction when they saw Kirk's security team carrying him to an SUV after the shooting. You can see, as all these people are really running in every single direction.

Now, as we've talked about and many times over this hour, Charlie Kirk is being remembered by those who knew him, as well. Joe Walsh is a former U.S. House Republican, and he spoke to CNN's Jake Tapper about his memories of Kirk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE WALSH, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: I met him when he was 16 years old. I went off to Congress, and I became a father to him. I became a political mentor to him. I helped him launch, start TPUSA.

He was a lovable political nerd. He was a geek. He would rather spend, you know, his weekend nights talking about various House districts instead of going out on dates. It was his life. He didn't go to college.

He and I were extremely close. And then Trump happened, and we went our separate ways politically.

And Jake, he and I would fight repeatedly on social media. But it was just that. And, even though we did that, even right up until today, he still felt like a son to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JIMENEZ: Now, in many ways, Kirk rewrote the rulebook for how the conservative movement in the U.S. can reach young voters. He blended his public appearances and political field work with -- let's call it -- blunt talk on his podcasts and TikTok posts.

As Brian Todd reports, Kirk started his political work when he was still a teenager.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: That's a lot of people in Utah (ph) coming out.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even in a MAGA ecosystem of fast-moving, sharp-talking media stars, Charlie Kirk stood out.

KIRK: We need more people in jail. We do not have enough people in prison in America.

TODD (voice-over): The 31-year-old father of two rose to fame at a young age, just 18 when he co-founded the group Turning Point USA, which builds support for conservative politics at high schools and colleges.

KIRK: As I travel the country -- and I'm doing this on college campuses -- I can feel a surge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please take a seat.

TODD (voice-over): Turning Point USA now has chapters on more than 800 campuses, and on the eve of his second inauguration, President Trump credited Kirk with mobilizing the youth vote.

TRUMP: And a man who's got an army of young people, Charlie Kirk, is here, and I want to thank Charlie. Charlie is fantastic. I mean, this guy -- don't believe the stuff when you hear the kids are liberal. They're not liberal. Maybe they used to be, but they're not any more.

TODD (voice-over): A college dropout born in the suburbs of Chicago, Kirk became a millionaire from the books he wrote, speaking engagements, and his popular podcast, "The Charlie Kirk Show."

On all media platforms, he was a strong voice for conservative causes, including the Second Amendment.

KIRK: You don't need all these gun laws if you -- you know, you don't. It's OK if everybody owns guns, if don't have a bunch of third worlders coming into your nation that don't abide them and then commit a lot of crimes.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: He is one of the most prominent, I would say, the most successful MAGA media personality of his generation.

He's a little bit like a new-era Rush Limbaugh, you know, of the digital age. But unlike someone like Rush, who hosted a radio show at his home, Kirk is out and about. He's known for doing these public events.

TODD (voice-over): Analysts say Kirk's propensity for being able to take on anyone in a political argument at the drop of a hat propelled him in MAGA circles.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF AND POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Charlie Kirk could debate endlessly. He -- he mastered his brief. Again, obviously, not everyone agreed with him. A conservative media star here.

But he would debate for hours on end with people in the belief of his argument.

TODD (voice-over): As a result, Kirk had the ear of almost everyone in the White House: from President Trump on down.

When he broke with the administration twice this year -- over the bombing of Iran and the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files -- the stir in MAGA world was palpable. He later backed down from his call for more transparency in the Epstein case.

KIRK: I'm going to trust my friends in the administration. I'm going to trust my friends in the government to do what needs to be done. Solve it. Ball's in their hands.

TODD (voice-over): In October of last year, Kirk reflected on Trump's defiant gestures right after Trump was shot in an assassination attempt that summer in Pennsylvania.

[00:55:09]

KIRK: They said, well, is this someone that you want your kids to grow up and to look up to? I say, yes, I'm going to tell my son that, in the line of fire, that if you ever think as if things could ever get dark and you rise and you say, "Fight, fight, fight." I want my son to be like that one day.

TODD: And true to form, Charlie Kirk was engaging with an audience in that last appearance in Utah, answering questions from the audience about mass shootings in the U.S. just moments before he was shot.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right. Thank you, Brian.

And thank you for joining me. I'm Omar Jimenez. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after this short break.

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