Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Trump Says, I Think We Have Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect in Custody; FBI Update After Trump Says Kirk Shooting Suspect in Custody; Governor Says, Hey Fascist, Catch, Written on Bullet Casing. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired September 12, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, suspect captured. President Trump says officials have a man in custody for the killing of Charlie Kirk.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with truly major breaking news. Right now, we're awaiting a news conference that's supposed to start at any moment now, a news conference in Utah on the killing of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

BROWN: This morning, President Trump said a suspect is in custody and sources tell CNN that person is being questioned. The sources are saying that the suspect confessed to killing Charlie Kirk to his father.

We're covering all the latest developments as the story unfolds. I want to go straight to John Miller to get the latest reporting from you, John. I know you're talking to your law enforcement sources.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the suspect who is in custody is a 22-year-old man from Washington, Utah. This is apparently something that developed overnight, as the father contacted federal authorities saying that he had confronted his son about this, believing after seeing the pictures that he might be the suspect and that his son made statements to him and he passed that on to federal authorities who have taken him into custody.

What we don't know at this hour is whether he is sharing those admissions that he allegedly made to his father with them. But we do know that we are waiting for this press conference to unfold, which has been delayed several times, which is an indicator that the leaders of the investigation and prosecutors are still sorting through what to say and when to say it because this is all very much still in motion as they apply for search warrants for any residence connected to this young man, any vehicle, any computers, any phones, as well as to platforms that he may have used in social media or email or other communications, to preserve all that material while they apply for search warrants for that kind of material as well.

So, a lot has been going on over overnight and a lot is continuing to go on right now.

BLITZER: Certainly is very dramatic information coming out. In the last several minutes.

Nick Watt is our reporter there on the scene. He is at the news conference getting ready to ask questions. This is going to be a news conference. We expect the Utah governor, Spencer Cox, the FBI director, Kash Patel, the Utah Department of Public Safety commissioner, Beau Mason, and Robert Bohls, the FBI special agent in charge to be speaking to reporters, answering questions.

Set the scene for us, Nick.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. So, this press conference was scheduled to start about an hour ago. It has been pushed. It has been pushed. It has been pushed. I'm now seeing officials walking into the room. They will be moving to the podium any second now. I'm trying to see if I can see Kash Patel. I cannot, so far. They are moving towards the podium and we are going to get this information that now we have been waiting for about an hour for.

So, yes, officials moving towards the podium, there is Kash Patel, the director of the FBI. So, I believe, Wolf, I should get out of the way and we should see what these officials have to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. At today's press conference, we will hear from Governor Cox, FBI Director Kash Patel and Sheriff Mike Smith. We also have with U.S. Utah DPS Commissioner Beau Mason, Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls and local and federal law enforcement partners.

Following the remarks today, Governor Cox, Director Patel and Commissioner Mason will take questions. Thank you.

[10:05:00]

GOV. SPENCER COX (R-UT): Good morning ladies and gentlemen. We got him.

On the evening of September 11th, a family member of Tyler Robinson reached out to a family friend who contacted the Washington County Sheriff's Office with information that Robinson had confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident. This information was relayed to the Utah County Sheriff's Office and scene investigators at Utah Valley University. This information was also conveyed to the FBI.

Investigators reviewed additional video footage from UVU surveillance and identified Robinson arriving on UVU campus in a gray Dodge Challenger at approximately 8:29 A.M. on September 10th, in which 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. When encountered in person by investigators in Washington County on September 12th in the early morning hours, Robinson was observed in consistent clothing with those surveillance images.

Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who stated that Robinson had become more political in recent years. The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to September 10th, and 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. The family member also confirmed Robinson had a gray Dodge Challenger.

Investigators identified an individual as the roommate of Robinson. Investigators interviewed that roommate who stated that his roommate, referring to Robinson, made a joke on Discord. Investigators asked if he would show them the messages on Discord. He opened it and showed several messages to investigators and allowed investigators to take photos of the screen as each message was shown by Robinson's roommate.

These photos consisted of various messages, including content of messages between the phone contact named Tyler with an emoji icon and Robinson's roommate's device. 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. Messages related to visually watching the area where a rifle was left and a message referring to having left the rifle wrapped in a towel.

The messages also refer to engraving bullets and a mention of a scope and the rifle being unique, messages from the contact, Tyler also mentioned, that he had changed outfits.

I know there has been speculation as well as to the writing on those casings, those bullet casings. And I believe we have that as well. And I'll share that with you now.

So, the area north of Campus Drive Road, where the suspect crossed over, you saw some of that in the video that we released last night, consists of a grassy area with trees on the edge of the UVU campus. Investigators discovered a bolt action rifle wrapped in a dark colored towel. The rifle was determined to be a Mauser model '98, 36 caliber bolt action rifle. The rifle had a scope mounted on top of it.

Investigators noted inscriptions that had been engraved on casings found with the rifle. Inscriptions on a fired casing read notices bulges, capital OWO, what's this question mark. Inscriptions on the three unfired casings read, hey, fascist, exclamation point, catch, exclamation point, up arrow, symbol, right arrow and symbol and three down arrow symbols. A second unfired casing read, o bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao. And a third unfired casing read, if you read this, you are gay, LMAO.

We are. Indebted to law enforcement across the state who has worked seamlessly together, local law enforcement, state law enforcement, and our federal partners with the with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We're grateful for everyone who worked together in such a short amount of time to find this person and to bring justice.

I want to thank the public who has been so engaged, reviewing videos, helping us with sending in tips and helping us get to this point.

[10:10:08]

I want to thank the family members of Tyler Robinson who did the right thing in this case and were able to bring him into to law enforcement as well.

I especially want to thank the family of Charlie Kirk, Erica, Charlie's parents, his children. I want us to be thinking of them as we bring justice in this case. They will be involved in that justice. We will be working very closely with them as we move through this process as well.

This is a very sad day for -- again, for our country, a terrible day for the state of Utah, but I'm grateful that at this moment we have an opportunity to bring closure to this very dark chapter in our nation's history.

With that, I will now turn the turn the microphone over to the director of the FBI, Kash Patel.

KASH PATEL, DIRECTOR, FBI: Thank you, Governor. This is what happens when you let good cops be cops. The FBI and our partners are proud to stand here today together to bring justice to the family of Charlie Kirk in honor his memory. I want to express my deep gratitude to President Trump, the vice president, and the entire White House, who have been so incredibly supportive with both resources and just personally to the FBI as a team. They had our backs the entire way, and I just want to express my gratitude for giving us the resources we need to operate in this space, to bring this sort of justice at this sort of speed.

In 33 hours, we have made historic progress for Charlie. Governor Cox, our partnership has been absolutely incredible these last few days. Our partnership will endure. Your state and local partners, your sheriffs, your DPS community has been unbelievably impressive in the hardest of times, and a case like this cannot be solved, cannot be brought without partnering with your state and local authorities. The FBI has a certain role to play and we will play that role and we will lead out for the federal government. But Governor Cox, we are so grateful for your state partnership that led out on this investigation.

A little bit of the timeline. Charlie was shot at 12:23 P.M. on Wednesday. The first FBI agents arrived on scene in 16 minutes with chiefs of police at 12:39 and secured the scene. The FBI immediately launched fixed wing assets. We utilize these assets to transport personnel, specialty technicians, hostage rescue teams. We also utilize these assets to go back and forth from the East Coast and here in Utah to transport forensic evidence and other evidence that will be analyzed and is being analyzed at our FBI laboratories in Quantico and other laboratories, including the ATF.

At my direction, the FBI released the first set of FBI photos of the suspect at 10:00 A.M. local time on 9/11. Then shortly thereafter, the FBI reward of $100,000 was released at 10:45 A.M. local. Myself and Deputy Director Bongino arrived on the scene at approximately 5:30 P.M. on 9/11. The governor led a press conference last night at approximately 8:00 P.M., where, at my direction, the FBI released a never-before-seen video of the suspect. We also released new images to the public of the suspect. And just last night, the suspect was taken into custody at 10:00 P.M. local time.

In less than 36 hours, 33 to be precise, thanks to the full weight of the federal government and leading out with the partners here in the state of Utah and Governor Cox, the suspect was apprehended in historic time period. And I want to highlight what Governor Cox said. This would not have been possible without you, the media and you the public. That's why we went so public so fast and we're so transparent and we're committed to that transparency.

The crime scene, just a little bit there, it is a large crime scene. State and local authorities, along with federal authorities process that crime scene quickly. And I even had the ability to walk through that crime scene and walked through the steps the suspect took to learn more about what was needed and what resources we needed to bear to create a full picture for the FBI and leadership back in Washington. Furthermore, thankfully, to state and local partners, forensic evidence has been seized and continues to be garnered.

Forensic evidence has already been evaluated FBI laboratories and Quantico and state local authorities here. We will continue to process evidence as we see it, as we collect it, and we will continue to deliver to Governor Cox and his team.

[10:15:02]

Last night, we had a total of approximately 7,000 interviews -- excuse me, 7,000 leads. As of this morning, thanks to your great work, we have over 11,000 leads that were called in to the FBI, and we are running out every single lead that we can. Every one of those leads will be run out.

The arrest is a testament to dedication of good law enforcement being great and partnerships in law enforcement, which I've tried to highlight as my tenure at the director of the FBI. There is no better relationship for law enforcement than the FBI to partner with state and local authorities, and you've seen it here in these last few days.

The FBI Salt Lake Field Office, along with our offices in L.A., Phoenix, Denver, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, our headquarters component in Quantico all participate in the FBI, I want to express my deep gratitude to the employees of the FBI, the men and women, the evidence response team tacticians, the special operators, the agents, the support staff. You have done monumental work in historic time when the public, who had a right to demand such an expeditious solving of an investigation, the FBI answered that call diligently, critically important to our nation, and we delivered. And I'm proud to be their leader and I'm proud to be the director of the FBI.

This is a very much an ongoing investigation, as the governor said, and we will continue to work with state and local authorities to develop the investigation, to provide them the evidence they need for their ongoing prosecutions. And we will be here to answer every call they absolutely have as long as it takes, for as long as we need to find and apprehend whatever suspects were involved in this crime.

Lastly, to my friend, Charlie Kirk, rest now, brother. We have the watch and I'll see you in Valhalla.

SHERIFF MIKE SMITH, UTAH COUNTY, UTAH: Thank you and good morning. I would just like to take a few minutes as the sheriff to express my gratitude for everybody who has played a part in this investigation. As you know, it's been a vast, a complicated, and a very, very fast paced investigation. You're looking at people standing up here who are running on, if they got an hour's sleep in the last couple of days, they're probably lucky.

It has been very taxing. It has been so impressive of speaking on behalf of the local law enforcement to see the cooperation that we've seen in this type of case. Across the state, sheriffs, chiefs, our state partners have stepped up and have come to the call on anything that we needed. Our county chiefs have been phenomenal. Our Utah County attorney, Jeff Gray, who's standing up here with us, has been phenomenal in leading us through this investigation.

I would like to thank the federal government for their resource sources, their assets. Our local team here, our FBI team, has been extraordinary in helping us work through this and bring this person to justice.

Most of all, I would like to thank the public, and specifically I would like to thank the public who turned to prayers and who turned to positiveness for us. I would like to thank them on behalf of the law enforcement community because we needed those prayers. That's what we needed to get through this.

We needed your support and you gave it to us. We needed your patience and you gave it to us. And I would like to thank you for the Kirk family because that's what they need is your support and your prayers, and that will get us through all of this.

So, thank you everybody for everybody that have stepped up. We've had such a phenomenal response to this. Thank you.

PATEL: I also want to give a special thanks to the attorney general and the Department of Justice. Their unwavering support and their commitment to justice is shown true here. And without A.G. Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and the resources they brought to bear, we would not have been able to complete our mission. And I just want to say special thanks. It's an honor to be a part of the Department of Justice.

COX: Thank you again to our incredible law enforcement team who has worked so hard. Sheriff, I got a solid 90 minutes last night, so I'm probably the most well-rested person up here.

Please, gentlemen, I get the microphone. So, I hope you'll permit me a moment just to share a few more thoughts about where we are and how we got here and maybe a little bit of where we go from here.

[10:20:11]

I don't want to get too preachy, but I think it's important that we, with eyes wide open, understand what's happening in our country today.

I've heard people say, well, why are we so invested in this? There's violence happening all across our country, and violence is tragic everywhere and every life taken is a child of God who deserves our love and respect and dignity. This is this is certainly about the tragic death, assassination, political assassination of Charlie Kirk.

But it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual. It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been and who we could be in better times.

Political violence is different than any other type of violence for lots of different reasons. One, because in the very act that Charlie championed of expression, that freedom of expression that is enshrined in our founding documents, in having his life taken in that very act makes it more difficult for people to feel like they can share their ideas, that they can speak freely. We will never be able to solve all the other problems, including the violence problems that people are worried about if we can't have a clash of ideas safely and securely, even especially those ideas with which you disagree. That's why this matters so much.

Over the last 48 hours, I have been as angry as I have ever been, as sad as I have ever been. And it was -- as anger pushed me to the brink, it was actually Charlie's words that pulled me back. I'd like to share some of those, and specifically right now, if I could. I need to talk to the young people in our state, in my state, and all across the country.

As President Trump reminded me, he said, you know who really loved Charlie? The youths. He's right. Young people love Charlie, and young people hated Charlie. And Charlie went into those places anyway, and these are the words that have helped me. Charlie said, when people stop talking, that's when you get violence. He said the weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive. Welcome without judgment. Love without condition. Forgive without limit. He said, always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much.

A few months ago, I referenced this last night, Charlie posted to social media, when things are moving very fast and people are losing their minds, it's important to stay grounded. Turn off your phone, read scripture, spend time with friends, and remember, internet fury is not real life. It's going to be okay. He again said, when you stop having a human connection with someone you disagree with, it becomes a lot easier to commit violence. He said, what we as a culture have to get back to is being able to have a reasonable agreement -- being able to have reasonable agreement where violence is not an option.

Now, again, to my young friends out there, you are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option. But through those words, we have a reminder that we can choose a different path. Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now, not by pretending differences don't matter but by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations.

[10:25:07]

I think we need more moral clarity right now. I hear all the time that words are violence. Words are not violence. Violence is violence. And there is one person responsible for what happened here, and that person is now in custody and will be charged soon and will be held accountable. And yet all of us have an opportunity right now to do something different.

I want to thank my fellow Utahans. You know, this -- bad stuff happens. And for 33 hours, I was praying that if this had to happen here, that it wouldn't be one of us, that somebody drove from another state, somebody came from another country, Sadly, that prayer was not answered the way I had hoped for, just because I thought it would make it easier on us if we could just say, hey, we don't do that here. And indeed Utah is a special place. We lead the nation in charitable giving. We lead the nation in service every year. But it did happen here and it was one of us.

But I want you to look at how Utahans reacted the last two nights. There was no rioting. There's no looting, there were no cars set on fire. There was no violence. There were vigils and prayers and people coming together to share the humanity. And that, ladies and gentlemen, I believe is the answer to this.

We can return violence with violence. We can return hate with hate. And that's the problem with political violence is it metastasizes, because we can always point the finger at the other side. And at some point, we have to find an off-ramp or it's going to get much, much worse. But, see, these are choices that we can make.

History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country, but every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us. We get to make decisions. We have our agency. And I desperately call on every American, Republican, Democrat, liberal, progressive, conservative, MAGA, all of us, to please, please, please follow what Charlie taught me.

I'll just conclude with words I share often from a friend, an author you've all lived in, who was asked if he was optimistic about our country. And he said, I'm not optimistic. He said, I hate optimism. Like, ah, that sounds bad. But he said, optimism is a vice. It's this idea that good things are just going to happen. And he said, in the history of the world, good things have never just happened.

He says, I'm not optimistic, but I am hopeful. And hope is the virtue that sits between the vices of optimism and pessimism. Hope is the idea that good things are going to happen because we can make them so. I still believe in our country, and I know Charlie Kirk believed in our country. I still believe that there is more good among us than evil. And I still believe that we can change the course of history. I'm hopeful because Americans can make it so.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're happy to answer any questions you may have.

REPORTER: Governor, can you please speak to whether the suspect ahead is speaking with authorities and his demeanor, Tyler Robinson, when he turned himself in?

COX: We, I cannot speak to that right now.

REPORTER: Governor, how do you interpret the engravings on the casings, on the weapon?

COX: Well, I will leave that up to you to interpret what those engravings mean. I think the clearest one that says, catch fascist, there's not -- and by the way, that's like catch, like a ball, catch this, that's -- I think that speaks for itself.

REPORTER: Governor, are you communicating --

[10:30:00]

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE). Beyond that, is there anything in your view that you discovered that may have radicalized or changed him.