Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Charlie Kirk Killing Suspect Arrested, Held without Bond; FBI Workers Share Concerns about Kash Patel's Leadership; U.N. Approves Resolution for Two-State Solution; Media Megaphone Key in Identifying Suspected Charlie Kirk Killer; Prince Harry Lending Support to Wounded Veterans in Ukraine; Bad Bunny Skips U.S. Tour Dates over ICE Fears. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired September 13, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
New details about the suspect in conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. What investigators are discovering about the person they have in custody.
And Charlie Kirk's wife, speaking for the first time since her (sic) death. Hear some of her message about her husband's legacy.
Plus, we'll speak with a security expert about potential threats that the country faces and what could change following the tragic shooting.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: With an arrest made in the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, we're now learning more about the suspect and how he was taken into custody. Sources say Tyler Robinson has, quote, "lawyered up" and is refusing to talk to investigators.
The 22-year old is currently held without bond and makes his first court appearance on Tuesday. He'll be arraigned on multiple state charges related to the shooting on Wednesday, including aggravated murder. Officials say he could face the death penalty.
Senior U.S. National correspondent Ed Lavandera takes us through the manhunt and the arrest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GOV. SPENCER COX (R-UT): We got him.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The information that led investigators to Tyler Robinson came just after authorities released new videos and enhanced photos of the suspect fleeing the shooting scene.
The 22-year old was arrested at 10:00 pm Thursday night. Robinson is now in custody in the Utah County Jail, held on several charges including aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm and obstruction of justice. He could face the death penalty.
The manhunt lasted 33 hours. Investigators say video images of the suspect showed him running along the rooftop of a Utah Valley University campus building, dropping to the ground and walking away. This was seconds after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed with a single supersonic bullet 12:23 pm Wednesday, local time.
The focused manhunt began after authorities analyzed surveillance footage from the scene. A rifle was found in a wooded area near the university with evidence that may point to the suspect's motive.
COX: Inscriptions on the three unfired casings read, "Hey, fascist!. Catch!"
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The governor said surveillance video matched the suspect identified on the roof to footage showing him arriving on campus in a Dodge Challenger.
COX: He is observed on video in a plain maroon T-shirt, light-colored shorts, a black hat with a white logo and light-colored shoes.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Authorities say the suspect arrived on campus at 11:52 am. Less than 24 hours later at 9:48 am Thursday, the FBI released the first photos from surveillance video of a person of interest, showing a man in sunglasses and a dark blue cap, wearing a T shirt with an American flag.
Later that night at 7:52 pm, authorities released the video of the suspect running across a rooftop. Robinson, matching the descriptions in the video, was later located at his home in Washington County, Utah, at 10:00 pm Thursday, 260 miles from the scene and taken into custody.
According to Utah's governor, Robinson's father confronted him after seeing the video and the images and told his son to turn himself in. Robinson was then transported overnight and booked into jail just before 2:00 am Friday morning, 12 miles from the scene of Kirk's shooting.
LAVANDERA: Local prosecutors tell CNN that formal criminal charges will be filed next Tuesday and, on that day, the 22-year-old suspect is expected to make his first initial court appearance.
He will not be taken from this jail here in Utah County to the courthouse. He will appear in the courtroom virtually -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Spanish Fork, Utah.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: On Friday evening. Charlie Kirk's wife made her first public comments since his death. Erika Kirk's remarks were posted on a social media page for Turning Point U.S., the group her husband founded.
She vowed the tour of university campuses that began the day he was shot would continue and his group's annual conference would go ahead in December. Kirk tearfully discussed difficult questions asked by her 3-year old daughter and invoked religious imagery as she paid tribute to her husband.
[05:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIKA KIRK, CHARLIE KIRK'S WIDOW: Now and for all eternity, he will stand at his savior's side, wearing the glorious crown of a martyr. Charlie loved, loved life. He loved his life. He loved America. When I got home last night. Gigi, our daughter just ran into my arms.
And I talked to her and she said, Mommy, I missed you.
I said, I miss you too, baby.
She goes, where's daddy?
What do you tell a 3-year old?
She's 3.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The governor of Utah is calling on Americans to temper their political disagreements with civility and avoid a descent into more violence. He spoke earlier with Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You've called this a watershed event in our history and that the chapter is still being written about what kind of a watershed event is it?
What direction the country goes from here. Can you just talk about that a little bit and how do we all help write that history?
COX: Yes, so to me, I look at this, it feels like something happened. This is big and it's big for a reason.
Again, somebody who was involved in political speech, political discourse, doing the very thing that is the foundation for our democratic republic and then losing their life, which makes it harder for all of us to do the thing that we should do and that's dangerous in a different type of way.
And so, the question is, we've certainly been building to this. I don't think it's a surprise to most people that something terrible like this could happen. You know, President Trump was almost assassinated a year ago.
So the question is this the end of a very dark era?
Does this wake us up in a way that we actually change?
Or is this just the beginning of something far, far worse?
And what will write that history, what that will depend on is all of us. It's not any one person who's going to change this.
If we are waiting for a leader from Washington, D.C., or Utah or anywhere else, then it will never happen. And that's why I just feel so strongly that it's incumbent on every single one of us to look into our souls and decide, do we want this to continue?
Are we going to be the part that continues or are we going to try something different?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: I want to bring in Juliette Kayyem, who's a senior CNN's national security analyst and a Harvard professor, as well as former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security under president Barack Obama.
Thanks so much for being here with us. So Juliette, let's start there with what governor Cox said.
What resonated to you there?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I mean, I think America wanted to hear words like that. I think there's just a lot of shock, a lot of anger about how the political discourse is a lot of sort of -- I was describing it as counting the number dead.
You know, who is responsible?
What ideology, what party?
And I think he really focused on the governor, focused on just the violence aspect of it, that we have unleashed something in this country, in which the hatred which is leading to violence has been -- is uncontained and -- unless we take it seriously.
And he said it, I think for two reasons. One is, of course, the motivations of the killer here are complicated. People and including the president of the United States wanted to have a certain narrative, right, that it's a progressive or liberal or whatever. That is simply not true. We now know that.
The second is that the president used the opportunity in the last 48 hours to really target Democrats and policies he didn't like. And I think the governor, of the same party, really wanted to silence that, really wanted to say, this is not the time to pick teams. We are one United States.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, huge, huge contrast, as you say, between what the president said and the governor's words.
Another thing the governor said, which I thought was interesting, was that Chinese and Russian bad actors are essentially feeding misinformation to try and sow dissent. I mean, that does seem to happen all the time but it still is shocking in a way.
I mean, what is the aim here and what effect might it be having?
KAYYEM: Yes. It's -- it was a very sophisticated thing, I think, for the governor to say and, as you said, sort of surprising. You don't hear that that much.
But you know, foreign enemies of the United States, they're watching. They're -- sometimes they're -- you know, often they're sitting back and waiting for a moment in which they can then exacerbate and put gas to the flames of an America that's clearly ideologically divided.
[05:10:05]
And so what the governor was describing is what we see. And we've seen in the past, during elections, during racial unrest in the United States, is there, you know, Russia and China's bot machines essentially are pushing really bad stuff into the system, including, you know, deepfakes, statements, the trolling that that will exacerbate tensions.
And the goal isn't just, me as a reader will see this; it is, you know, that that a reporter will pick it up and amplify it or that the president will pick it up and amplify it, which he's been known to do. So that that is what the governor was really focused on.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Again, building on something the governor said, he posed, you know, that question rhetorically about the consequences of this, asking if this is a wake-up call or, you know, what he said, quote, "it's hard to separate."
Is this the beginning of something far worse?
So you know, there are, you know, civil war mentions spiking across social media. We saw several Black colleges get threats and were locked down.
I mean, when we think about that, far, far worse that you talked about, I mean, how fraught is the atmosphere in this country right now?
KAYYEM: Yes. So I'm glad you brought up the HBCUs, the historically Black colleges, because once the, you know, there's a permission structure for violence within the political space, it is very hard to contain in terms of ideology, in terms of focus and, you know, in terms of the temperature.
And I think what you're seeing now is that it's just -- it is -- it is -- now, I don't want to say open season. But it is -- it has been made permissive. And we've got to bring that back in. And because lots of people are living in fear, if Charlie Kirk, if the assassination of Charlie Kirk is the catalyst, good.
I mean, it doesn't matter who the victim is, right?
Whether conservative or liberal. What matters is that people wake up, that this is the path we're heading down.
The problem is, of course, the president of the United States, the person with the largest bully pulpit, doesn't view his role as unifying the nation that, even in the worst moments of the last 48 hours, he couldn't get himself to do it.
I've -- you know, Donald Trump has been around a long time. I don't believe he can. I don't believe he will. You know, that is not who he is.
But the question for the America is or the thing that you're seeing, I think, in terms of governor Cox stepping forward, is people looking for that kind of leadership because they won't get it out of the White House.
BRUNHUBER: My last question I want to ask you about the investigation itself. As you mentioned, we still don't know the motive. We don't want to speculate. but it seems as though he was communicating in the form of online memes.
What kind of challenge does that present to investigators in terms of trying to decipher this type of code or language of this, you know, specific in-group or in-groups?
KAYYEM: Yes. I don't even -- it's so hard to explain because, this world in particular, the gamer world, and so everything, you know, all the writings that that the killer put down, all of it is ironic.
It is so ironic there's a whole gaming world you can't even -- you can't even understand it in terms of motivation. It is -- it is isolationist. It's nihilist. It's ironic.
And so here we are in a world, in which we're trying to figure out what's their ideology, what's their ideology?
Doesn't work that way in the world that he lived in. And unearthing it to give you a political explanation is going to be very, very difficult. The thing that doesn't make sense, I will just say, this is lots of young men are gaming.
Lots of young men are doing this irony. There's really no evidence yet that Tyler Robinson would be this violent. We have not seen that yet. It may come out later but we haven't seen that evidence yet.
BRUNHUBER: Still, so many questions that need to be answered. Really appreciate getting your expertise, Juliette Kayyem. Thank you so much. Thanks.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Well, some of president Trump's allies, as well as FBI workers, are expressing concerns about Kash Patel's ability to lead the agency. Those are partly fueled by how he handled the investigation into Charlie Kirk's killing.
Some FBI employees tell CNN they were upset when Patel took credit personally on Friday for the most successful parts of the investigation. They say he should have given more credit to the agency's rank and file.
[05:15:00]
And twice he took credit for releasing photos and videos to the public that led to Robinson's arrest.
On Wednesday, Patel claimed a subject was in custody. But he walked that back less than two hours later. Some FBI staffers also said it was ironic that Patel thanked some of the bureau's support staff, since he's overseen moves to decimate those ranks.
Some NATO members are on edge following new military moves by Russia and Belarus. Still ahead, the two countries launch major military drills just as NATO moves more firepower closer to their borders.
Plus, dozens have been killed in northern Gaza. Hospitals report at least 70 dead overall, as Israel prepares for invasion. We'll have those stories and more when we come back. Please stay with us.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:20:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Tensions are growing in Eastern Europe as NATO and Russia make a show of force close to their borders.
NATO's moving warplanes and other military assets to its eastern flank, following Russia's drone incursion into Poland this week. Officials say Operation Eastern Sentry is meant to send a message that NATO is ready to defend itself.
Russia and Belarus are making a military move of their own, launching major drills on land and sea. The exercises have been billed as defensive but Poland isn't buying it, saying Russia and Belarus are practicing aggressive steps.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Israeli strikes on Friday killed dozens of Palestinians, mostly in northern Gaza. According to hospitals in the region, at least 70 people were killed across Gaza, with the majority, 56, In the north of the enclave. This comes as Israel ramps up attacks ahead of its expected ground invasion.
Meanwhile, 142 countries have approved a non-binding resolution at the U.N. General Assembly endorsing a two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. Ten countries, including Israel and the U.S., voted against it. The declaration calls for Hamas to be excluded from any government of a Palestinian state.
CNN's Nada Bashir is monitoring those involvements and she's in London.
So let's start with the latest strikes on Gaza.
What are we learning?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, we heard from the Israeli military earlier in the week saying it plans to strike Gaza City with "extreme force," in their words.
According to the Israeli military, they are targeting Hamas militants and infrastructure. But as we know, this is an area that is densely populated with civilians. And we have seen the deadly impact of those strikes just in the last few days.
And as you mentioned, just yesterday across Gaza, we've seen at least 70 people killed, the majority of them in the north. But we certainly seen fatalities in parts of Gaza City, according to hospital officials.
One official telling CNN that the bodies of 13 members of one family were recovered from under the rubble, deceased, and taken to hospital immediately after. So clearly, we are already seeing that devastating impact of this intensifying military assault on Gaza City.
The Israeli military has warned civilians to evacuate and to move southwards and we haven't yet seen that mass evacuation that we've seen in previous instances, where such orders have been issued by the Israeli military.
And what we've been hearing from humanitarian organizations is that it is simply too difficult now for civilians to move and to evacuate. There are simply no safe places left and they are being told to move southwards.
But we are still seeing airstrikes taking place in the south. We are still seeing fatalities in the south as well. So for many civilians, there is a fear that, wherever they evacuate to, they will then be targeted. Take a listen to this one account from one resident from Gaza City, who has once again been told to evacuate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DINA MHANNA, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): My home, my safety, my life, my whole life has been spent in this house. It's the safety of my children. Now I can no longer feel safe for myself or my home.
I don't know where to go. I'm standing here with nowhere to go. I have no place in the south. No place in Gaza. I have found nowhere.
Where do we go? Someone please tell us where to go. There is no safe place. Everywhere, they say, is safe. But the bombing continues and death is everywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASHIR: Now, of course, as the military intensifies its assault not only on Gaza City but across the Gaza Strip, we are still seeing a limited amount of humanitarian aid actually being able to get into the Strip.
Of course, as you know, just a few weeks ago now, the U.N.-backed IPC initiative confirmed that there is now famine in parts of the Gaza Strip.
And U.N. officials have repeatedly warned now of the catastrophic humanitarian impact and consequences of this assault on Gaza City, where some 1 million people had been residing at the beginning of Israel's military assault on the city.
Of course, there has also been mounting criticism from members of the international community against Israel's actions, particularly off the back of that strike by the Israeli military on Doha in Qatar targeting Hamas' negotiating team and chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, who was not killed in that strike.
Many officials in Qatar have condemned the strike. We've heard from the prime minister, who said that it undermined the peace process and has really poured water on any hopes of reviving ceasefire negotiations at this stage.
And, of course, as you mentioned, we're also seeing more movement on the international stage, focusing on recognizing Palestine as a state but also now calling for a two-state solution.
A non-binding U.N. resolution just yesterday calling for a pathway toward establishing a two-state solution in order to ensure lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians and security in the region. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Appreciate that. CNN's Nada Bashir in London. Thanks so much.
[05:25:00]
As we mentioned, Israel is carrying out large-scale demolitions of Gaza neighborhoods in preparation for its expected ground invasion. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports on the devastation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Gaza from above. In early August, CNN joined the Jordanian military on a cargo flight, delivering aid to starving Palestinians. The scale of the destruction hard to grasp. And yet, Gaza City has been one of the areas least scarred by Israel's two-year war. The Z-2 neighborhood, for example, was largely still intact, as also seen in this satellite imagery at the time.
One month later, the area has been leveled. For schools, dozens of businesses and hundreds of homes destroyed. This is the damage wrought by the opening moves of Israel's invasion of Gaza City, which the government announced days after CNN flew over the Strip.
The initial assault has also pummeled Jabalya on the northern outskirts of the city, where more than 750 buildings have been destroyed. All told, in the months since approving their plan to invade Gaza City, Israel has damaged or destroyed more than 1,800 buildings, according to a CNN analysis of satellite imagery.
Tent camps at Gaza City's perimeter emptied out, forcing displaced Palestinians to be displaced once again into ever more crowded tent cities as the threat of an Israeli invasion looms. Many more began to flee on Tuesday after the Israeli military ordered all Palestinians to leave Gaza City ahead of a major expanded offensive.
Israel's assault continues as intended, striking multiple high-rise buildings that the military says are used by Hamas as terrorist infrastructure without providing evidence. But on the ground, thousands of Palestinians sheltering around them are suffering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We were having a bite to eat underneath the building, until suddenly, we saw people fleeing from inside.
No one warned us or told us to take our belongings. We only carried our children and sat on the adjacent street. A little while later, they struck the building. We came back to find that everything was gone. There's nothing left.
DIAMOND: These large scale demolitions of entire neighborhoods in Gaza rendering already fragile lives unlivable and offering a glimpse into the ruin that may lie ahead -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And a lot more on the man suspected of shooting Charlie Kirk. Those who know 22-year old Tyler Robinson described different memories of his political leanings. We'll share what we know about him next.
And these heavily shared photos helped identify Charlie Kirk's suspected killer. We'll explore the social media megaphone and how it affected the investigation. That's next. Stay with us.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING) BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Let's
check some of today's top stories.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The suspect in the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is now in custody; 22-year-old Tyler Robinson is being held without bond and will have his first court appearance on Tuesday, where he will be arraigned on multiple initial state charges, including murder.
On Friday evening, Charlie Kirk's wife made her first public comments since his death. Erika Kirk vowed to continue his work. She also said the tour of university campuses that began the day he was shot would continue and that his group's annual conference will go ahead in December.
And some FBI workers are expressing concerns about Kash Patel's ability to lead the agency. Among other complaints, they tell CNN they were upset when Patel took credit personally on Friday for the most successful parts of the investigation into Charlie Kirk's murder. They say Patel should have given more credit to the agency's rank and file.
With Robinson now in police custody, details are emerging about his past. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tyler Robinson.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Tyler Robinson graduated Pineview High School in 2021, photos and videos from his mother's Facebook page show him as a high achiever, graduating with such a strong academic record that he won a four-year scholarship.
TYLER ROBINSON, CHARLIE KIRK MURDER SUSPECT: Congratulations. You have been selected to receive the resident presidential scholarship from Utah State University. The value of this scholarship is approximately $32,000.
LAH: But Robinson did not use all four years of that scholarship. He took a leave of absence after just one semester. According to Utah State University and enrolled at Dixie Technical College in the electrical apprentice program.
It appears Robinson lived near his family at an apartment in St. George, where today law enforcement was at this complex. FBI technicians gathered evidence at the apartment. A neighbor described Robinson as super reclusive. This apartment is three hours away from Utah Valley, the site of the shooting.
He lived here with a roommate who showed police messages.
COX: The content of these messages included messages affiliated with the contact, Tyler, stating a need to retrieve a rifle from a drop point, leaving the rifle in a bush.
LAH: In the woods near the school, investigators found that rifle, along with bullet casings engraved with messages, some referring to online memes and video games, others seemingly political.
COX: "Hey, fascist! Catch!"
A second unfired casing read, "Oh, Bella, ciao, Bella, ciao, Bella, ciao, ciao, ciao."
LAH: That inscription "Bella, Ciao" appears to reference an Italian anti-Nazi folk song, which has been used in recent years on video games and a TV show.
Robinson's voter registration doesn't show any political leaning. He registered as unaffiliated with any party and had not voted in the last two general elections but he had recently become more political. A family member described what he said at a dinner.
COX: In the conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU. They talked about why they didn't like him and the viewpoints that he had. The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.
LAH: It was his family and a friend who turned Robinson into the sheriff's department.
Among the clues, investigators say they got footprints from Converse shoes when the suspect jumped off the roof.
[05:35:00]
Photos show Robinson wearing Converse in several pictures similar to surveillance photos captured at Utah Valley.
Pinpointing Robinson's exact political beliefs right now is proving to be a bit difficult. We've spoken to a number of people who have known him over the years.
We spoke with a high school friend of his, who says, before the 2020 election, Robinson appeared to support Donald Trump and described the family as, quote, "diehard Trump."
But then we spoke to someone who's known him more recently, who said that Robinson, quote, "wasn't too fond of Trump or Charlie Kirk" -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Charlie Kirk's former head of security spoke to CNN about the types of threats his team typically encountered. He described the challenges of determining the most credible threats. And, he says, based on what's publicly known, the suspected killer wouldn't have shown up on their radar. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GREG SHAFFER, FORMER SECURITY DIRECTOR FOR CHARLIE KIRK: The FBI profiling unit is going to have quite the job to, you know, get into the mind of this young man and this individual to see, you know, what caused him, what motivated him to do such a heinous, heinous act?
I mean, as you -- as you pointed out, he came from a well-to-do, middle class family. Parents been married for decades. He made good grades. He's clean cut, doesn't use drugs or alcohol that we know of.
He certainly would not have been somebody that would have bubbled up on our radar as a threat.
I met him in 2015. I think he was 21 years old at the time. And you know, Turning Point USA was just starting to grow tremendously. So the more popular he became, of course, the more threats he received.
And you know, he really didn't take him very seriously because most of them were sent via email or most of them were on social media platforms and they weren't definitive to say, I'm going to kill you. It was just more things like, I hate you. I hate what you stand for. I hope you die. Those are the typical kind of threats.
Now if a threat did come over the threshold that we thought was credible, we certainly made, you know, contacted the local police of where the threat was made and filed a report so that if those threats continue to come, we would have documentation that this individual had made, you know, more than just one, one documented threat.
So he took him as serious as he needed to but for the most part, most of the threats were just idle and not really credible.
When you, you know, conduct security operations, you look at what the threat is, you know, what's the most credible threat, what's the risks involved. And when you go to a college campus where the average age is 18 to 22 years old, it's not a threatening environment.
Yes. They yelled, you know, things at him. They verbally disagreed with him but he's been doing this for years. And, you know, the number of times, he was -- he was physically assaulted is so minimal. And the physical assaults were pretty lame. You know, water being thrown at him or stuff like that.
And that's what the security team that was in place on that fateful day, you know, they were looking at what is the threat. And the threat is going to be close in by the stage. It's going to be somebody throwing a water bottle at them or pigs blood or, you know, God forbid, drawing a handgun or a knife, jumping the bike rack and charging the stage.
That's why the security was placed, you know, in the inner perimeter, you know, watching him closely, you know, with the people right there.
Not in a million years would you ever consider you know, a sniper 200 yards away as part of a threat that you would have to mitigate in an environment like that? It's just that's not part of the operation plan and it's not part of the probability that you're trying to address in mitigating those threats and those risks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The photos and video the FBI released were key to identifying Kirk's suspected assassin. Tyler Robinson's father saw these images and recognized them. They were widely televised and circulated on social media in the hours after the shooting.
But the power of social media as an investigative tool can be double- edged, especially in today's media landscape, where confusion and speculation can spread just as quickly as vital information. CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: It speaks to the power of that media megaphone; in this case, government officials, local authorities using both mainstream media sources, television networks and also social media networks to get those photos widely disseminated.
You know, there has been a lot of nonsense on the internet in the last 48 hours. Some AI slop, you know, bogus imagery; a lot of hateful content surrounding this murder happening in new, you know, and dark corners of the internet.
So it is notable that the officials were able to use old-fashioned media outlets to get those photos out and to spread the word.
As we move toward a potential narrative about a young man radicalized by internet subcultures, I think we should recognize what the Utah governor said today about social media and how we're not wired as human beings to process all of this stuff that comes at us every day. And this isn't about being anti-technology.
[05:40:00]
You know, a lot of us owe many of the best parts of our lives to technology. But it's about making sure the technology is working for us rather than against us, making our lives better rather than worse.
And we all know, we all experience this in our personal lives, ways where the algorithms warp our ideas, warp our judgment, warp our understanding of the world around us.
The worst thing I've been seeing in the last 48 hours are all these, you know, random, anonymous bots or random internet commenters, saying ugly things from the Left or the Right that are getting amplified as if they're actually important.
And they're not. They're random strangers we would never meet in real life. So I hope that's something we can all think about as we head into the weekend, that this is about the extremes versus the middle. And almost everybody in this country is in the middle, actually, you
know, as opposed to those radical extremes, posting hateful comments on the World Wide Web.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: For those returning from war, the road to rehabilitation can be a long one. Britain's Prince Harry wants veterans in Ukraine to know they aren't traveling it alone. Coming up, the trip he made to support them and the group helping them literally get back on their feet. Stay with us.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Prince Harry is lending his support to wounded veterans in Ukraine. He arrived Friday in Kyiv in an unannounced visit by train with a team from his Invictus Games Foundation. The international sporting competition is specifically for wounded veterans and members of the military.
British newspaper "The Guardian" reported that Prince Harry said he was initially invited to Kyiv by Olga Rudnieva. She's the CEO of the Superhumans Centre in Ukraine, which focuses on physical and psychological rehabilitation for adults and children affected by the war. And Olga Rudnieva joins me now.
Thank you so much for being here with us. Really appreciate it. So Prince Harry made this surprise visit. Take us through what he did and what kind of reception he got from the veterans.
OLGA RUDNIEVA, CEO, SUPERHUMANS CENTRE: That was his second visit to Ukraine.
[05:45:00]
The first one was at Superhumans Centre in April and the second one actually took place yesterday. He came all the way to Kyiv, which is not that easy because the area is closed.
So he took a train to get to Kyiv and he had a very productive meeting with the veterans, basically talking to Invictus Games team members and other veterans who were wounded during the Russian aggression.
And he was talking mainly about, you know, the challenges they're going to face after being discharged from the military and the ways how they can cope with it. The main message is, you know, you have an example and, if somebody did that, you can do it as well.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's a great example. As we're showing some of the pictures of him meeting some of the veterans there, as you say, it's the second visit there. Clearly he's formed some kind of bond with the veterans there as well as your mission. He said he wanted to humanize what Ukrainian soldiers are going through.
So why is that international attention and recognition so important, do you think, for the recovery process?
RUDNIEVA: Absolutely. You know, it's very important, first, to get an expertise from the countries who already went through this path and who had an experience.
And second, it's very important to bring the right example to -- in front of the veterans, because Ukraine has 1.5 million veterans and the number is growing. So it's going to be a very big challenge for the country when the war is over and even now.
So we need to get prepared for that. (INAUDIBLE) like that are helping us to forecast the challenges we're going to have.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. I want to ask you a bit more about that because you say, you know, 1.5 million veterans. I understand that Ukraine has some 130,000 people with permanent disabilities from this war. I mean, it's such a huge challenge.
How do you go about trying to help so many people across the country?
RUDNIEVA: Well, we -- I would, first of all, I would say that not a single health care system is ready for the war at its territory. So it was a big challenge. And it's still a big challenge for Ukraine because people still have cancer, COVID and we have a lot of wounded.
So a lot of non-for-profit organizations like Superhumans Centre jumped in to help the government. So we are providing people with prosthetics, rehabilitation. And the most important is psychological support. But it's not only about health services, it's about psychological support.
When people are discharged from the hospitals, what are they going to do, you know?
And that's where Invictus Games can play a big role. And sports and veterans networking can play a big game. And the next step is to find new roles for those people in life, to find, to help them to integrate, find new jobs and provide for their families.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, I'm interested in that aspect, the sporting aspect.
I mean, why would you know the Invictus Games and sports help these wounded veterans?
RUDNIEVA: Basically, it's a community and it's very important for veterans who's been in the front lines and who have this, you know, very special relationships between one another.
Second, they are -- can get their small wins on a daily basis and they can see the results of what they do. It also helps them to recover, concentrate on some success. And for those wounded veterans, it's a huge proof that you still can do a lot. You know, some people have never done running, jogging and, after
losing their limbs, they started winning marathons because they tried. So it's a very great start for civilian life.
BRUNHUBER: And Ukraine is bidding to host the Invictus Games in 2029.
I mean, what would that mean for your wounded veterans to have that competition, you know, right, right there at home?
RUDNIEVA: We are really looking forward and we hope that it will happen, it will take place in Ukraine because it seems like Ukraine will have a lot of veterans. It's going to be a big community of people.
And hosting it here, when we have, let's say, fresh wounded people, you know, winning and competing and extending their brotherhood with other veterans, with international community, will actually demonstrate that they have support outside of the country and they can exchange experience. So it's going to be great if we win that.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, if.
(LAUGHTER)
BRUNHUBER: Well, listen, we wish you the best of luck, both to you and all the wounded veterans that you're helping on that long and difficult road to recovery. Olga Rudnieva with the Superhumans Centre, thank you so much for joining us.
RUDNIEVA: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll be right back with more. Stay with. Us.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Rapper Bad Bunny says he plans to avoid the U.S. as he wraps up a two-month residency in Puerto Rico this weekend. CNN's Isabel Rosales has more from San Juan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here at Puerto Rico.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bad Bunny mania has taken over the island of enchantment. The rapper, who has previously been critical of ICE operations, said in an interview with "i-D" magazine he didn't include the U.S. in his concert tour because of fear that ICE would raid the concert venues.
In a normally slow time for tourism on the island, the Puerto Rican superstar's 30-concert residency is sold out.
ROSALES: Has Puerto Rico ever seen something of this scale?
JORGE PEREZ, COLISEO DE PUERTO RICO JOSE MIGUEL AGRELOT: Never in the 20-year history of quality sale itself or the entertainment history of Puerto Rico, nothing of this magnitude. Not even close.
ROSALES (voice-over): Tourism agency, Discover Puerto Rico, estimates the island will earn at least $196 million from the residency.
ROSALES: Do you think that this stimulus will last beyond his residency at all or is this a temporary?
PEREZ: I think it's one of the most valuable lessons that that will come out of the residency.
ROSALES (voice-over): Even the merch around this historic residency has gone viral. The rapper's version of Labubu, featuring the album's toad mascot and Sapo Concho, sold out. Working from a corner of his grandparents living room in Ponce, the graphic designer Sebastian Muniz Morales is stunned by the hype.
[05:55:05]
ROSALES: Do you ever go, hey, that shirt you're wearing, I designed that.
SEBASTIAN MUNIZ MORALES, GRAPHIC DESIGNER: When I feel like very confident to do it, I do it. But I get a little shy telling people that I was the one who created.
ROSALES (voice-over): Bad Bunny's music has long reflected the struggles of life on the island.
MORALES: You see a lot of things but once you go out, you see the different problems we fight for. (through audio translation) There are many things and -- and you don't have to spend to much time the island to figure out there's something wrong here.
ROSALES (voice-over): A legacy of U.S. colonialism and gentrification confronted head on in his song "What Happened to Hawaii."
The island facing a crushing debt crisis, crumbling infrastructure and frequent power outages spotlighted in his song "The blackout." The reality has driven young Puerto Ricans to leave the island in search of a better opportunity. Something Muniz Morales once considered.
MORALES: Some people like don't see their future here.
(through translator): They don't see a future if the island continues this way.
And after Bad Bunny wraps up his residency here in Puerto Rico, he goes to the Dominican Republic to kick off his world tour.
ROSALES: Let me set the mood for you here. This is like the tailgate ahead of the big Super Bowl. You can see all these massive crowds, all of them here for one person, Bad Bunny -- Isabel Rosales, CNN, San Juan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I really appreciate all of you who watch us. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For our audience in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. And for the rest of the world, it's "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS."
