- 5 months ago
Jesse Watters Primetime 9/10/25 FULL END SHOW | ᖴO᙭ ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑎEᗯS September 10, 2025
Jesse Watters Primetime 9/10/25 FULL END SHOW | ᖴO᙭ ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑎEᗯS September 10, 2025
Jesse Watters Primetime 9/10/25 FULL END SHOW | ᖴO᙭ ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑎEᗯS September 10, 2025
Jesse Watters Primetime 9/10/25 FULL END SHOW | ᖴO᙭ ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑎEᗯS September 10, 2025
Jesse Watters Primetime 9/10/25 FULL END SHOW | ᖴO᙭ ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑎEᗯS September 10, 2025
Jesse Watters Primetime 9/10/25 FULL END SHOW | ᖴO᙭ ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑎEᗯS September 10, 2025
Jesse Watters Primetime 9/10/25 FULL END SHOW | ᖴO᙭ ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑎEᗯS September 10, 2025
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NewsTranscript
00:00Fox News alert. Charlie Kirk assassinated. The president breaking the news.
00:05The great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead.
00:08No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.
00:13He was loved and admired by all, especially me. And now he is no longer with us.
00:18Melania and my sympathies go out to his beautiful wife, Erica, and family.
00:22Charlie, we love you.
00:25Charlie was loved by all of us.
00:26He had a beautiful family, married the love of his life, Erica, just four years ago.
00:31Two children, son and a daughter.
00:34And he touched generations of Americans.
00:37But he was taken from us. You've probably seen the video.
00:40Charlie was holding a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University.
00:45He was on his Prove Me Wrong tour, where he takes questions from students and engages in friendly debate.
00:51Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?
00:55Too many.
01:04Five is a lot, right? I'm going to give you some credit.
01:07Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?
01:12Counting or not counting gang violence.
01:14A second later, he was shot in the neck in the middle of the quad,
01:18sitting underneath a banner that said the American comeback.
01:20We know one round was fired and reportedly from 200 yards away,
01:25just 50 yards more than Butler, from a nearby campus building.
01:29One man was taken into custody, but police later determined he was not the gunman.
01:34But we do have good news.
01:36The actual person of interest has been apprehended.
01:38That's according to FBI Director Cash Patel.
01:41They're being interrogated.
01:43The governor of Utah says the killer will pay the ultimate price.
01:46I want to make it crystal clear right now to whoever did this, we will find you.
01:55We will try you.
01:58And we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law.
02:02And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah.
02:10And we're actually just hearing now that they have released the suspect who they thought was the killer.
02:17Police say they'd used surveillance video from the campus that showed the suspect wearing all black,
02:23running away from the scene.
02:24Before Charlie was shot, students actually noticed a guy walking on the roof.
02:28And the FBI tells primetime they're aware of this tape that shows someone crawling across the roof before Charlie was shot.
02:36Getting right up.
02:38Yeah.
02:38You think he'd already be in place?
02:40You would think that.
02:42So there's somebody on the roof right there?
02:45Just saying.
02:46He just ran from over, where's my finger?
02:51Well, from over there, ran in.
02:54And now he's right there.
02:56Just saying.
02:56After the round was fired, another camera captured another person running across the roof in the distance.
03:03Charlie immediately lost a lot of blood after the bullet hit his neck and was rushed to the hospital and then was pronounced dead.
03:10Immediately afterwards, Matthew Dowd on MSNBC said it was probably a fan who didn't know how to handle his gun.
03:16We don't know any full details of this.
03:21We don't know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration or so.
03:25We have no idea.
03:27Oh, and then it got worse.
03:28MSNBC said Charlie deserved to die.
03:30He's been one of the most divisive, especially divisive, younger figures in this who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech.
03:43You can't stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place.
03:50MSNBC has already apologized, but Dowd should be fired immediately because it's traitors like that who make it easier to get murdered.
03:59Charlie wasn't president.
04:00He wasn't even a politician.
04:02He was a young political star defending American freedoms, especially the freedom of speech.
04:07And if guys like Charlie are targets for assassination, we all are.
04:13Charlie Kirk's just like you and me.
04:14We speak our minds.
04:15We speak from the heart.
04:17We tell the truth because we believe in the country and everything that it was founded on.
04:22Charlie had the spirit of our founders, full of energy, passion, conviction and an unrelenting pursuit of happiness.
04:30Charlie was always happy.
04:32You never saw the guy down.
04:33He loved what he did and he never stopped working and fighting and pushing and persuading.
04:41Charlie Kirk grew up in the Chicago suburbs.
04:43Great athlete, good family.
04:45Dropped out of college to join the Tea Party and start a movement.
04:49He set up systems to watch professors and stop their indoctrination.
04:54Then he built up chapters across the country on campuses and launched Turning Point USA,
04:59creating the largest and best organized political mission for young Americans ever.
05:05His events were like concerts.
05:07The biggest stars on the right twice a year.
05:11We all had a blast.
05:13He left it all out in the field for Trump in 2024 and turned out the vote on the ground in the swing states.
05:20He had one of the highest rated podcasts in the country and was in constant contact with the president, J.D. Vance,
05:26helping push policy, execute an agenda and communicate ideas.
05:31And he was able to raise millions and millions of dollars because people believed in Charlie.
05:38He was charming and earnest and never took a day off and was trusted by everybody who knew him.
05:46No one ever said a bad word about Charlie Kirk.
05:49Every time he did a hit on my show, he'd text me afterwards saying,
05:53thanks, Jess, for having me on.
05:54Really appreciate it.
05:55My 13-year-old daughter loves him.
06:00Grandparents love him.
06:03Charlie wasn't offensive at all.
06:05He wasn't trying to be provocative.
06:07He was a gentleman.
06:09He just asked questions, enjoyed debates, just like America's greatest leaders always have.
06:15He intentionally tried to provoke substance out of you.
06:19And you said, well, I'm worried about some laws Congress should pass.
06:22I have to ask, what laws are you talking about?
06:24Because what's happening at the Democrat Party is this very sinister combination.
06:29It's a party of censorship.
06:30It's a party of war, a party of open borders that is against actual traditional liberal values.
06:36Everyone in the audience is the first generation in American history to have it be worse off than your parents.
06:41I'm not policing your language.
06:42I'm just saying I would say black people.
06:43Fair enough.
06:43But the insinuation is that I'm being racist.
06:45But that's fine.
06:46I agree.
06:47So then why are we so fixated on the language of Trump and not on the actions of our current leaders?
06:51They killed Charlie for asking questions.
06:55What kind of message does that send?
06:57Don't ask questions.
06:58It's too dangerous.
07:00Charlie spoke the truth.
07:02He said what he felt and they killed him for it.
07:05The message is shut your mouth.
07:07If you can be murdered for speaking your mind in America, then America is done.
07:12We might as well live in the dark ages.
07:14And this isn't the first time this has happened.
07:17This is just the worst time.
07:18They shot Trump.
07:20They went to Kavanaugh's house with a rifle.
07:22They're firebombing Elon's cars, rioting in L.A.
07:25Trans shooters are killing our kids.
07:28They just plugged two Jews outside the embassy in our capital.
07:32Hell, Rand Paul got his ribs broken by his neighbor.
07:37Ice agents have to wear masks because their families are getting death threats.
07:41It's officially over now.
07:43After today, we're not taking it anymore.
07:45They're telling us we're at war.
07:49We're at a war right now to save this country.
07:52And so you have to be willing to do whatever is necessary in order to save the country.
07:56This is a war we didn't ask for.
07:59And this is a war they can't win.
08:01The way to win is to do what Charlie did.
08:04Speak your mind louder.
08:06Tell the truth more.
08:09Put so much pressure on all of these people
08:12that they never try anything like this again.
08:15This is a turning point.
08:18Everything that we've witnessed recently is unacceptable.
08:22Everyone's going to be held accountable in the media and Congress, on campus, everywhere.
08:26So follow your heart.
08:28Fight for what you believe in.
08:30And don't be ashamed of putting America first.
08:34We know what's right.
08:35And we know what needs to be done.
08:38Challenge them harder.
08:40Ask more questions.
08:41And like Charlie, chin high and do it with a smile.
08:44Let's bring in host of my view, Laura Trump.
08:50Such a sad day, isn't it?
08:54I mean, devastating, Jesse.
08:56You know, I think the entire country feels the pain of this.
08:59We're all heartbroken.
09:00And I'll tell you, for those of us in the Trump family,
09:03I don't think we realize truly how raw what happened on July 13th of last year
09:09still kind of was for all of us.
09:11I can tell you, when I heard this news,
09:13I felt almost the exact same way as I did in the moments
09:16after we saw my father-in-law get shot on stage in Butler.
09:19It's devastating, obviously, because we lost a great human being in Charlie Kirk.
09:26But I think it's also devastating because, to your point in your intro,
09:31if we are not able to have conversations about the hard topics in America,
09:35if we aren't able to freely speak our mind,
09:38and what kind of country are we at the end of the day?
09:41Can we even call ourselves the United States of America again anymore?
09:45You know, Charlie Kirk, I think all of us in our family have known for almost a decade.
09:51This was a person who was bold and brave and unafraid to speak his mind.
09:58I went with Charlie to my alma mater one time, NC State,
10:02and we were holding a, you know, kind of a debate there with the student body.
10:07And before we even arrived, they made it very clear they were going to protest
10:11us being on campus.
10:12And Charlie called me, and he said, listen, I'm in if you're in,
10:15but if you feel uncomfortable about doing this, I understand.
10:18I'll do it myself.
10:19We went through with it.
10:20We had a great event there.
10:22And he truly changed this country.
10:25He gave people strength and spirit and encouragement.
10:28And as a former RNC co-chair, I can tell you the movement he made
10:32with young Americans to be more conservative, to lean more right,
10:37to be bold and brave in their values and convictions and speak loudly about them.
10:43I don't think it can be overstated.
10:45I don't know that Donald Trump would be president right now without Charlie Kirk.
10:50And so I my heart goes out to his wife, Erica, his young children, his family.
10:57You know, we in the Trump family know this feeling, except it turned out the right way for us
11:03and obviously devastatingly did not for Charlie.
11:06So unfortunately, we have to say that this assassin is still at large.
11:11Kash Patel just announced the subject in custody has been released
11:14after an interrogation by law enforcement.
11:17Our investigation continues and will continue to release information
11:20in the interest of transparency.
11:22The FBI has got a tough job ahead.
11:28Just looking at the geography of this campus, this person could be anywhere.
11:34It's surrounded by mountains, highways, airports.
11:36It's tough.
11:38We expect them to apprehend this person and they should serve the ultimate price,
11:46which is the electric chair or firing squad, which is an option in the state of Utah.
11:53Laura, the the feeling that your family had, I think everybody in the country felt that way.
11:58I've never received more text messages since Butler than I have today
12:03from friends and family across the nation.
12:06That tells you a lot about Charlie Kirk.
12:09Yeah, and I've heard other people, you know, who were on Fox programming before your show
12:16talk about the fact that they thought that Charlie could have been president one day.
12:19I don't think that's an overstatement at all.
12:21I think a lot of us looked at him in that way.
12:23This is a person who changed the country.
12:26You know, in a lot of ways, you can say Charlie Kirk changed the world.
12:29He touched so many different people.
12:31But I'll tell you one thing.
12:32You know, last week I heard Joy Reid talk about the assassination attempt on my father-in-law
12:38in which one person, Jesse, died.
12:41Corey Comparator lost his life that day in Butler.
12:43And she seemed to question whether or not it was actually real.
12:48You know, you look at the rhetoric and the, you know, kind of normalizing of political violence
12:54out there from the left.
12:55And sadly, I guess it's not surprising to find ourselves in this spot.
13:01While Charlie wasn't a politician, we know he fought for conservative values.
13:05And that's what he championed day in and day out.
13:08When you have the Maxine Waters of the world saying, get up in their faces, if you see them
13:12at a gasoline station, when you have these people continually beating the drum that conservatives
13:18are evil, Donald Trump is evil, what do you expect to happen?
13:23It's time to bring down that rhetoric.
13:26It's time to stop saying these things that these people know full well is not legitimate.
13:32You know, and so I think-
13:33Well, I mean, you just had doubt over at MSNBC, Laura, say that Charlie deserved it.
13:37And what did MSNBC do?
13:39They just said, oh, yeah, we're sorry.
13:41That's it.
13:42Still has a job there.
13:43He'll probably be on their air later next week.
13:47Yeah, there have to be consequences for these people because obviously there are consequences
13:52to the things that they say.
13:54We saw it happen today.
13:55It's absolutely devastating.
13:56There will never be another person like Charlie Kirk.
14:00I feel so grateful that I got to know him as well as I did, that, you know, our family
14:04got to spend as much time with Charlie as we did, that he allowed me to come to so many
14:09of his turning point events to see the real change, Jesse, that he was making, the way
14:13he touched so many young people.
14:15You go to those events.
14:16I know you've been to them.
14:17There are thousands of people.
14:18You can't even see the back of those crowds.
14:20It was really incredible what one person was able to do.
14:25And sadly, he died doing what I believe God put him on this earth to do, which was to
14:29spark debate and to talk about the tough things.
14:33He gave us all courage to do it.
14:34And what an incredible loss, a hole and a void that will never be filled.
14:40Absolutely.
14:40And I'll be at that turning point event, which is in December.
14:44And that'll be a great place to honor him and his memory and carry that memory forward
14:50into the future.
14:50Laura, good to talk to you.
14:51Thank you so much.
14:52Let's bring in Senator Ted Cruz.
14:56So, Senator, this guy is still on the loose.
15:01He is an evil monster.
15:04And I have faith that law enforcement will find him, will arrest him, will prosecute him.
15:10And he deserves to go to death row.
15:12I'll tell you, Jesse, I'm heartbroken.
15:15I'm physically sick.
15:17Charlie was a good friend.
15:19I first met Charlie when he was 18 years old, when he was this young kid with a vision
15:26for turning point, a vision to energize young people, to excite them, to get them involved.
15:32And Charlie, every word you said about him is true.
15:36He was bold.
15:37He was courageous.
15:39He was fearless.
15:40He was cheerful.
15:41He was a happy warrior.
15:42He went and engaged those who disagreed with him.
15:45And he was happy to listen to their arguments, to engage with them on substance.
15:49And he made an unbelievable difference impacting young people.
15:55You were talking about your cell phone.
15:58I've been getting texts the instant this happened.
16:00Texts from friends of mine who says, you know, my high school kid was inspired by Charlie,
16:05my son, my daughter, all sorts of people that I didn't even know he was impacting.
16:09And I got to say, one of the things that was most incredible about Charlie is he gave voice
16:18to the gospel.
16:19He was a Christian.
16:20He loved God.
16:21I know where Charlie is right now.
16:23He is with Jesus right now today.
16:26But Charlie was willing to speak the truth.
16:31And tragically, you know, the analogy to Butler, Pennsylvania, once again, another psychotic
16:38gunman on a roof, the gunman in Butler, Pennsylvania, that bullet is one or two inches to the side.
16:46And President Trump is killed that day.
16:48And now with Charlie, tragically, that was the outcome.
16:52I can tell you, Heidi and I were praying this afternoon, praying that God's healing hand
16:56would be upon him and, and, and, and that, that, that did not come to pass, but I'll say
17:02his legacy is extraordinary.
17:04And, and it's, we're living in a time where political violence is normalized and it is always,
17:13always, always wrong.
17:15And, and, and I'll just say we're grieving Charlie, but we're also celebrating his legacy.
17:20I don't want us to forget the incredible legacy Charlie has left behind of, I believe,
17:26literally millions of young people he's inspired.
17:29And we're going to continue to celebrate the legacy tomorrow, the next day, throughout the
17:33year, throughout all of the years, because he started something that we're going to finish
17:38and we're never going to be finished because what he started really was a new chapter in
17:43American history.
17:44And that's where we are right now.
17:46You talk about him as a cultural phenomenon and you can tell by the text you're getting.
17:50He went down into the grassroots.
17:53I mean, this is, he went to the streets.
17:55He went to the campus and it wasn't from a microphone in a TV studio or podcast.
18:01He was down on the ground, mixing it up in a friendly, competitive way with other people,
18:09his same age and gave it as good as he got and loved it and, and got energy from it.
18:16And if you can't do that because of safety concerns, I mean, what are we going to do?
18:21I mean, you can't go to a campus and speak to college kids.
18:26Look, Jesse, you and I were, we're not alive, uh, when, when JFK was killed and Bobby Kennedy
18:34was killed and Martin Luther King was killed.
18:36But, but I, I, I, I feel a little bit like it must've felt then like, like what the hell
18:43is happening to this country.
18:45I mean, I mean, it's just horror and, and, and, and revulsion and look, I, I'm just grateful.
18:57Charlie's spirit was indomitable and, and, and, and, but, but he also, he, he, he defended
19:05what he believed in with a smile, with the verb, with, you know, turning point conferences.
19:11I've probably, I don't know, spoken at a dozen of them or more that they were like rock stars.
19:16I mean, rock concerts and you had, you know, pyrotechnics and, and young people were having
19:21a blast.
19:22It was high school kids and college kids.
19:24And, and, and one of the things Charlie had a gift for was, was making it cool to be a
19:30conservative, making it cool to believe in individual Liberty, making it cool to speak
19:35out for the constitution, making it cool to, to believe in America.
19:39And, and, and, and it, he really had an incredible gift doing that.
19:44And that gift is, it is important.
19:46And I think that gift will keep on, on producing real results.
19:51Yeah.
19:51And, uh, you, uh, are a great debater.
19:54Charlie Kirk was a great debater.
19:56And hopefully we can carry that spirit on because that's what that country needs.
20:00That's what America needs.
20:01You got to keep that, that fighting spirit going.
20:05Well, and, and, and all of us were lifting up Charlie's wife, Erica, and his two little
20:09kids.
20:10I, I grieve for, for, for those, the, the, those babies that, that, that will not grow
20:15up with their father in their life.
20:17And it, it, it is horrific.
20:18And, and as the, the, the dad of two daughters, it just, it breaks your heart.
20:23It does.
20:23It's a, it's a heartbreaking day and, uh, we'll honor his memory throughout the night.
20:28Amen.
20:29Senator, thank you.
20:30And Florida governor, Ron DeSantis is here.
20:33I know governor, you've been at these turning point USA events.
20:36Uh, he has an infectious spirit, uh, the energy it's just incredible what they've taken away.
20:45No question.
20:46And, uh, you know, on the one hand, it's immensely sad when you see someone 31 years old, beautiful
20:53young wife and young kids, uh, taken from us in this way.
20:58Uh, but I got to tell you, my sadness when I heard the news has been overcome with anger.
21:02I'm very angry that you had a guy that dedicated his life to taking the ideas that we all believe
21:09in and bringing them to inhospitable environments, the college campus.
21:13You know, people talked about him running for office.
21:15He could have gotten elected to some red legislative district.
21:18He wouldn't have had nearly the impact.
21:20He chose to go in the places where he knew he was going to get pushback, but he was dedicated
21:25to this idea that, you know what?
21:26Uh, I have a right to speak my mind.
21:28I want to change your mind.
21:30You can ask me tough questions.
21:32I'm going to be respectful and civil, uh, but I'm going to tell you what I believe.
21:36And that's what he was doing when he got assassinated for political purposes.
21:40So I think he left a big legacy.
21:43Obviously it's going to shatter the family, but this is a big wound for this nation because
21:48a Republican government cannot endure.
21:51Uh, if we cannot have situations where it's safe to disagree, where you can actually go
21:57and give a different perspective, but we've seen people get shut down on college campuses.
22:02We've seen violence not approaching this level on college campuses.
22:05And then this event, I think really gets to the heart, uh, of whether Republican government
22:11can, can long survive.
22:12So I'm very angry at what happened today.
22:15Um, obviously they got to catch this guy and we need a very quick death penalty prosecution.
22:20I don't want to see this take forever in a day.
22:23Uh, we need justice for this.
22:25So we had two guys, suspects in custody.
22:29They've both been released.
22:31Uh, it's a very dicey situation out there.
22:34As you know, the guy that murdered those four kids in Idaho, he got all the way across the
22:40country in a car afterwards.
22:42So I think the FBI really, really, really needs to get some luck here.
22:50And work their tails off to make sure we get this guy fast, because the longer he's at
22:55large, the harder it is to apprehend them.
22:59Well, and he had the perfect opportunity to blend in because the crowd dispersed every,
23:04no one knew, you know, what, there were still going to be shots and everyone's running for
23:07their lives.
23:08And, and that's a, that's a scene of chaos, but I do think he had to seem like he was in
23:13some type of sniper overwatch position reports.
23:16I saw was a couple, a couple hundred yards.
23:19Um, you know, that's something that somebody should have seen, uh, him set up.
23:24There should be some evidence of this.
23:26So, uh, I hope that they're able to piece that together, uh, very, very quickly.
23:30The hostility that you're seeing on these campuses.
23:33I mean, we joke about it because it's, sometimes it's a little silly, but now it's not silly.
23:38I mean, you, you'd never expect, you expect this in some rough neighborhoods in, in urban
23:43America.
23:44You don't expect this in, in a college campus in Utah.
23:48No, but I think it, I think it flows from this intolerance to opposing ideas.
23:55Uh, one of the things we've done in Florida is say students are going to be held accountable
23:59if they are interfering in a graduation ceremony or shouting down a speaker, because that's not
24:04behavior that's conducive to a free exchange of ideas.
24:08And so I think that's very important.
24:10Now, this is obviously a premeditated assassination to try to snuff out an opposing viewpoint.
24:16So, yeah, this is the most extreme example we've ever seen, but the intolerance has been
24:21very real for a long time.
24:23And, you know, that's part of the reason I think why so many people respected Charlie,
24:26because he knew he was going into the lion's den when he's going on the campuses of these
24:30universities.
24:31He knew what he was, what he was in for.
24:34And yes, there had, there are threats.
24:35He probably got threats almost every time he went.
24:38We've seen that happen in the past.
24:40Uh, so, uh, his, uh, commitment to these principles, even when it's not easy, is something that
24:46we should all, uh, really, uh, uh, give credit for.
24:49I completely agree.
24:49And the country needs more of that.
24:51You need more debates.
24:52You need more free exchanges of ideas.
24:54The left has to come over here and listen for once and they can throw out ideas.
25:00We need to listen.
25:02God knows we listen and we've heard enough, but to kill somebody because you don't like
25:07what they're saying.
25:08No, that's we're done with that.
25:11And there, there will be consequences for this.
25:14Well, I was a Congressman Jesse years ago and just narrowly got, got out of the congressional
25:20baseball field when you had a deranged gunman, uh, shoot Steve Scalise and others.
25:25And he did that because he was a leftist and he didn't like that.
25:29There were Republicans practicing baseball.
25:31And I'm just thinking to myself, like, this is a charity baseball game and you have someone
25:36that's so deranged and so filled with hate that he just wants to go out there and start
25:40spraying bullets around a field.
25:42But, but that is just the situation that, that we see increasingly in this country and
25:47it's got to change.
25:48Yeah, it'll change.
25:49Uh, you better believe it will.
25:51Governor, thank you so much.
25:52Very sad day.
25:53Thanks.
25:55House Speaker, Mike Johnson joins me now.
25:57So Speaker, I mean, there was an opportunity to have a prayer, uh, on the house floor today.
26:03It didn't even happen.
26:05Uh, there was just yelling and screaming.
26:08I mean, what's this country come to?
26:11It was a sad day on Capitol Hill.
26:13It was Jesse.
26:14We're all still kind of in shock.
26:16I mean, you know, there are many Republican members, uh, in Congress who are friends with
26:20Charlie.
26:20He was a good friend of mine.
26:21I mean, he was a man of deep faith, as you know, he and I talked about that a lot.
26:25He was a man of deep conviction.
26:27I mean, I think he, he brought more productive content to the free marketplace of ideas than anybody
26:33in his generation.
26:34He was a singular talent.
26:35He'll be greatly missed.
26:36And it doesn't even seem real tonight, honestly.
26:38But the, the mood in Congress today was something unlike I haven't seen since that, that shooting
26:45that involved the congressional, uh, members on the baseball field that, that Ron DeSantis
26:50was just referring to.
26:51I mean, a really somber mood and, and, um, hard to describe really.
26:55I led the chamber in a moment of, of, of prayer and, and quiet reflection, which is the
27:00custom in the house.
27:01And then a motion was made on the floor to have a vocal prayer and it turned into an
27:05argument.
27:06You know, that's where our politics are in the country right now.
27:09Uh, we have got to turn the heat down a little bit.
27:12We got to have civil discourse.
27:14The great tragic irony about this.
27:16One of the tragedies is that Charlie represented that the best of it.
27:20I mean, he's the guy that was the champion out on the front lines, having the debate, but
27:26he, he loved on the people that disagreed with him, right?
27:28Yeah, he loved it.
27:29I mean, he didn't regard them as enemies.
27:30That was the whole point.
27:31He loved it.
27:32And he loved, he loved the, the debate.
27:34He loved the exchange and he loved the people that were on the other side of the table.
27:37And that's, what's so important for us to remember that we don't, we shouldn't regard
27:41one another as enemies or fellow Americans and we should have vigorous debate, but it cannot
27:46lead to political violence.
27:48It's just too much.
27:49You know, as, as sharp as his tongue was, and it was sharp.
27:52He had such a gentle soul and he embraced his political opponents.
27:58If you can call them that, like they were his brother, they were his sister.
28:03They could have it out and ask each other questions.
28:07And then afterwards they could kind of have a laugh about it.
28:09You know, yeah, we, we kind of mixed it up and that was fun.
28:12And let's, you know, we'll see you back here next campus tour.
28:15I mean, that's kind of what this country has all been all about since the founders,
28:18since the Lincoln Douglas debate, since presidential debates.
28:22I mean, this is what we do on Fox.
28:24I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a cable channel where we just debate on the five with other
28:28people.
28:29And then afterwards, maybe we'll go get a drink.
28:31Why can't we do that?
28:33Why is there such a threat to free speech in this country?
28:38You know, I think part of the dynamic now that did not exist in previous generations
28:43is social media.
28:44It's, it's really been a toxin in politics and it's, it's made it a much more sort of
28:49hostile environment to have those kinds of discussions and debates.
28:52And we lament that.
28:54I mean, it's, it's a sad development, but we've got to, we've got to develop as the
28:57technology does.
28:58And we have to address it.
28:59We have to address the humanity of people.
29:01We have to recognize that there is this sort of level of civility that we have to maintain.
29:05It's, it's part of the fabric and tradition of America.
29:09They've always had vigorous debates.
29:10I mean, they had vigorous debates at the founding of the country 250 years ago.
29:13But they did not regard one another as enemies and they were able to work it out and still
29:18be friends and colleagues.
29:19And we, we've got to bring that spirit back.
29:21I mean, I think leaders on both sides of the aisle need to do that.
29:25And this is a moment.
29:26I think something changed today.
29:27I really do.
29:28There's a, there's a different kind of mood now on Capitol Hill and around the country.
29:32And I think it's an opportunity for us to speak truth into that.
29:35Let's talk about the founding principles of America that Charlie Kirk was a champion of our
29:40our Judeo-Christian foundations, that the moral consensus that makes us who we are in a country.
29:46That's really important for us to talk about, especially on the eve of the 250th anniversary
29:50of the greatest nation in the history of the world.
29:52This is not who we are.
29:53I feel the gravity of the moment you're talking about.
29:56I know you do, your colleagues do, and millions of Americans do.
29:59But what if the other side doesn't?
30:01What do we do?
30:02What if they don't get it?
30:04I mean, you look at some of these other cable channels, they don't get it.
30:10Yeah, I think you're right.
30:11And some of the things that have been said on the leftist, you know, networks is just,
30:15it's incredible, outrageous.
30:17I hope they regret some of the things they were saying on live television.
30:20I hope that they'll come back and apologize for that.
30:23But maybe they won't.
30:24But I tell you what, what we need to do is spend time trying to see one another as people again.
30:30Somebody said it's hard to hate someone if you know the names of their children.
30:33It's about relationship, right?
30:35And our job in Congress is to convince the people on the other side of the aisle that
30:38our argument is correct.
30:40Charlie was a great model for that because he never shied away from debate, but he never
30:46hated the guy that he was debating.
30:48That was the key.
30:48He believed in the biblical admonitions.
30:50You know, there's a passage in the New Testament that says all of us as Christians, believers,
30:54we're supposed to be engaged ultimately in the ministry of reconciliation.
30:58What does that mean?
30:59It means that you leave the door open to reconcile with those who disagree.
31:02And that, you know, a gentle word and a gentle admonition is better than returning fire for
31:10fire, right?
31:11Sometimes we got to remember those principles.
31:13And I think Charlie was one of the best at it.
31:14Yeah, he had sharp debates, but he always went and was willing to put his arm around
31:19the person that he was debating.
31:20And the reason that he was so engaged and so passionate about what he did, Jesse, I know
31:24he and I talked about this, is because he genuinely loved everybody and he wanted to bring
31:29them to the truth.
31:30Yeah.
31:30And he was so effective at doing it.
31:31And I don't know if anybody will be able to fill those shoes.
31:34Yeah.
31:34Well, no one on our side is going to start shooting anybody.
31:37We know that for sure.
31:39You're saying there should be gentle admonition.
31:41I think maybe it could be a little bit more firm this time.
31:44So they get it because sometimes they need a little to understand.
31:49Very good talking to you.
31:51Very sad day.
31:52May peace be with you.
31:53It is.
31:54Thanks, my friend.
31:55You too.
31:56Valuetainment founder, PBD.
31:59How are you feeling right now?
32:03Not feeling good.
32:04We were at an event.
32:05I got 8,000 people here at our event.
32:07Not feeling good.
32:08We were at an event.
32:09I got 8,000 people here at our event.
32:11Tony Robbins is on stage.
32:12I get up on stage and we're praying for Charlie.
32:15And then Vinny comes and tells me, Charlie's no longer with us.
32:18Me and Tony, we couldn't hold it together.
32:20This is a very, very difficult day.
32:23Yeah.
32:23I mean, I was almost in tears on the five.
32:25I didn't think this would affect me like this.
32:29It does feel different in the country now.
32:33Something has changed.
32:35Can you feel that?
32:38I can't.
32:39You know, as a fan of the game of NBA, when Kobe passed away, the world stopped with fans.
32:44As a fan of the conservative values being pushed in America,
32:48Charlie Kirk dying, it looks like everybody stopped.
32:52It's one of those moments I will remember for the rest of my life.
32:55But I want to say a couple things about this.
32:56I was watching a clip that was shown on TMZ where the host is talking and then they realize
33:02Charlie Kirk is dead.
33:03The announcement is made and there's celebration in the back.
33:06And you go through Twitter and you look at some of the people,
33:09the comments that are making it.
33:10They're happy.
33:11They're this.
33:11They're that.
33:12Here's what I've learned.
33:13That's not most of America, Jesse.
33:15That's 10% of America.
33:1880, 90% of America is not happy this event took place.
33:21We're more unified on issues that we have than we're against each other.
33:26I think this is one of those very weird moments where it makes me sit there and think about
33:30what happened.
33:31Was it just the guy that was upset because of what happened the last 48 hours?
33:34You know, the whole Van Jones, the Irina Ukrainian girl that got murdered.
33:38Is that the reason why somebody went and took him out?
33:41Was it controlled?
33:42If it is controlled, who is it?
33:44Is it opposition?
33:45Is it funded by a few names that we know, you and I know about?
33:48If an event like this happens to somebody on the opposing side the next 48 hours, the
33:54next week, think about the equivalent of Charlie Kirk on the other side.
33:57If an event like this happens on the opposing side, you have to know a country on the outside
34:02wants to see a civil war in America.
34:04That concerns me a lot.
34:06I hope we don't get there.
34:07One of the things, if the administration is watching this, if the White House is watching
34:11this, here's a request I'm making of the president, of Kash Patel, of Bongino.
34:16These are all good people.
34:17A respectful request from you.
34:19Can we find out what happened to crooks who tried to kill the president?
34:25We know nothing yet.
34:27So how do we close that chapter and move on?
34:30And then now we're getting a tweet from Kash saying we have the subject.
34:33Then you release the subject.
34:34So you don't know who the subject is.
34:36And there's video circulating of a guy up top.
34:38It's very hard to move on to the next case to study.
34:42While an open case is already open, we need to study what happened with crooks so it doesn't
34:46happen again.
34:47Yeah.
34:47There's a lot of suspicious stuff in Butler.
34:50It's suspicious in West Palm.
34:52This is obviously extremely suspicious.
34:54We know nothing about any of these guys.
34:57And that is really scary.
35:00It is.
35:01All I want is answers because everybody's messaging me.
35:04I'm here right now.
35:05My friends, my son is outside.
35:06We got all our 250 employees at this event.
35:08We got 8,000 people here that are visiting us from 60 plus countries.
35:11Everyone's asking what happened, what this, and none of us know.
35:16But we don't even know what happened to the shooting of the president.
35:19We need to get a little bit deeper in this and realize if we don't accelerate the speed,
35:24the temperature in America can go 0 to 100 overnight.
35:27Nobody wants us to go 0 to 100.
35:31We're right now at 70, 75.
35:33To get to 75, 200 is like this.
35:36One event.
35:37One event like this, we go 200.
35:39That's the last thing anybody wants here.
35:42And we can prevent this event.
35:44But I would be investigating a little bit more.
35:47And I want to know the answers from previous shooting that we had to the president.
35:50Heartbreaking event, Jesse.
35:51It's very difficult for us today.
35:52You're right about the temperature of the country.
35:54After Arena was stabbed to death and the reaction that you saw in the media and the non-reaction
36:02you saw on the left, I feel that temperature rising just there.
36:07And then what you're seeing with the National Guard again, the attacks on ice again, it's
36:13starting to rise again.
36:15You think after Butler and West Palm, the country would be like, OK, OK, four more years.
36:21We're going to get through this.
36:22We'll have another election.
36:23We'll move on.
36:24So after this, I mean, they took Charlie.
36:27You didn't even realize how powerful Charlie was until we lost him.
36:31I mean, this does feel like one of the great Americans of this century right now was just
36:37gone.
36:39And they took him.
36:40And we know nothing.
36:41And this has to be investigated.
36:43And it has to be avenged properly.
36:47Oh, but let me give you the final thoughts.
36:50I'm sure you got time.
36:51You got to move to your next guest.
36:52Charlie Kirk, to me, was the only guy I've seen in my generation that was the combination
36:56of Billy Graham, because he could go deep and debate spiritual topics as anybody else.
37:02And also Rush Limbaugh.
37:03We haven't had a guy like this.
37:05This is a very unique talent that we had with him.
37:08But to us, to see where we are right now and what's taking place, I would like us to get
37:14a little bit more deeper, hold the people accountable.
37:16What happened?
37:17China did what they did with COVID.
37:19We still don't know.
37:20We haven't.
37:20There is no tribunal, you know, court to go investigate it.
37:23We have to investigate these things.
37:24So these types of behaviors cannot be repeated.
37:27Too many of these things are pending and open.
37:29And I trust the president will do the right thing, just the same way they went and pushed
37:34the National Guard.
37:35Look how they cleaned up the streets of D.C.
37:37like this, where the mayor and him are getting along.
37:39The president knows what they can do to get to the bottom of this.
37:43And I feel he has what it takes in his team to lower the temperature.
37:45I hope they do.
37:46I'm very optimistic they will, but I hope they're a little bit more aggressive about it
37:50and assertive about it.
37:51I agree.
37:52Patrick Beck, David, good to talk to you as always.
37:56Thank you, Jesse.
37:57Cooper Brown was an event volunteer who was just feet away from Charlie when he got shot.
38:03Cooper, what happened?
38:06Yeah, so this requires a little bit of background knowledge.
38:11But so I work for an organization called Leadership Institute.
38:14And what we do is we work hand in hand with all the different conservative coalition groups
38:19on college campuses.
38:21So the Young Americans for Liberty, the Students for Life and the Turning Point USA.
38:26And so at Utah Valley, we had been really, really excited to be able to host Charlie Kirk this
38:34semester.
38:36And we had spent weeks and weeks and weeks getting volunteers, advertising for this event,
38:43and just so excited to be able to host Charlie Kirk at this university.
38:48And then, unfortunately, it had to end in absolute tragedy.
38:54Did you notice anything different about this event?
38:56Was it more or less hostile?
38:58Were the questions specific about trans, about the economy, about immigration?
39:05What was the vibe?
39:06Unfortunately, we really didn't get to get to any of the actual questions the students want to ask.
39:13But in my opinion, and I've done many a Charlie Kirk events from Arizona to Wyoming.
39:20He was just literally at the University of Utah just last year.
39:24And this one felt actually like there was a ton of energy.
39:29Students were really, really, really excited to see Charlie Kirk come to campus, more than I had ever seen.
39:35I mean, you can see the videos.
39:37There's thousands and thousands of people there that are wanting to witness Charlie Kirk and see him speak live.
39:43I had people contacting me who I haven't known or I haven't spoken to in months,
39:48asked me, like, Charlie Kirk's coming to campus.
39:50I'm so excited.
39:51And so the enthusiasm was actually way up.
39:55Recruiting for this event and finding volunteers was super easy because everyone knows Charlie Kirk.
40:01Everyone on campus has seen his face.
40:03They love his content.
40:05They know what he stands for.
40:06And in Utah, it was everyone wanted to be a part of that.
40:09So when the shot rang out and you saw Charlie get hit, how did you feel?
40:15Yeah, so I was very, very lucky to have gotten the opportunity to actually manage the microphone during this event.
40:24So I was I was basically just in charge of students were speaking clearly into it, that it was raised and lowered to the appropriate height.
40:31And so not not a ton of responsibility, but I got to stand and be really, really close to him, which I thought was was really exciting.
40:40But very, very shortly after just the first question was over, we heard a very, very loud pop.
40:47And me and many of the security, the Charlie security that I was around all looked up me personally.
40:53I thought someone had thrown a firecracker in the audience.
40:55And then when I looked down, I had seen Charlie Kirk, his body shake and blood then pour from his neck in a very, very graphic way.
41:05And from that moment on, there was chaos.
41:08Right. So people began screaming and yelling and the few of the people that were around me, I grabbed them and then brought them down to the ground and just waited and was listening for multiple shots.
41:23And then after five, six seconds, I grabbed them.
41:27And luckily, I was at a location where we could have funneled many people out and I just started grabbing people and pushing them in that direction.
41:35And we were very, very lucky that there wasn't multiple attempts there because it could have been really, really bad.
41:44Was law enforcement there and directing traffic after the shots rang out?
41:49Yes, there was there was law enforcement there.
41:52They had moved some individuals from key locations, like, for example, directly above Charlie Kirk.
41:58There was a little path that students were sitting at.
42:01Police had moved them around a little bit just to make things as safe as possible.
42:07I've heard that there was very limited security there.
42:10We had been working really, really closely with the university to try and make sure that we had locations pointed out that we thought might have been potential threats.
42:18But very, very, very soon after, yes, police and law enforcement were there moving with people that they thought were suspects and then kind of directing the flow of people to make sure that they were out there safely.
42:33All right, Cooper, I'm so sorry you had to witness this.
42:37And I'm so sorry you lost a hero like Charlie.
42:40And my gosh, what a day.
42:44Very sorry.
42:45And yeah, and I have to say Charlie Kirk is one of the greatest conservatives to have to have graced young people.
42:56Everyone on college campuses know who Charlie Kirk is.
42:59He has provided so many people with just entertainment during his videos and his content, but also information.
43:07Right.
43:08The fact that he is unapologetically loves America, that he promotes traditional families.
43:14I can't imagine the amount of lives that he's touched, making sure that people are well educated in the correct way, that they start families, that they know what the true purpose of life is.
43:25And it's really, really horrific to see that we're going to lose him.
43:29Thank you very much.
43:30That was well said.
43:31I'm glad you mentioned how great of a family man he was and how he pushed everybody to have a family and have children, because that really is what the most important thing is.
43:41Thank you, Cooper.
43:43Let's bring in former FBI Special Agent Stewart Kaplan.
43:47Stewart, so you got a little excited when you hear they had the first guy in handcuffs, then they released that guy.
43:53And then when Cash comes out and says they got, I guess, someone they thought was the shooter, you hear they're releasing that guy.
44:01What do you think's going on?
44:03You know, Jesse, I think this assassination, different than the assassinated attempt back in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a very well planned, very well orchestrated plot that was put in motion days before.
44:24And this individual had a plan of escape to elude detection of being out up on a rooftop and also being able to evade and elude law enforcement after that shot was taken.
44:41When you take a look at what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, Crooks came on to the venue.
44:46He left the venue.
44:47He came back.
44:48He was questioned.
44:49I mean, it was really an amateur scenario.
44:53This assassination of Charlie Kurt, to me, is indicative of a professional hit.
45:02And I'm not so sure that we are going to quickly be able to apprehend this individual without some luck, hopefully.
45:12When you say professional hit, what do you mean by that exactly?
45:15Do you mean one shot, one kill, escape, already planned and at large?
45:22It looks clean, yes.
45:24But could this be done by anybody with any sort of basic training?
45:30Well, when you take a look at the video and you take a look at the venue and the spectators and how close they are to Charlie Kurt, and then you have that kind of like umbrella over him, that kind of tent.
45:46But you have to know that this shooter had to be perched in a position with respect to being able to lay his sights perfectly, basically a headshot.
45:59And the shot that was taken was taken to immediately incapacitate Charlie Kurt.
46:06And so this was not some amateur who just, you know, got up on a rooftop because it was, you know, what I consider spontaneous combustion.
46:14He got up this morning and decided he was going to do something crazy.
46:17This seems the earmark of a professional that got up onto this rooftop well in advance of the venue being occupied by the spectators.
46:29He was clearly undetected.
46:32There was no indication that anybody saw him up on this rooftop.
46:36Obviously, after that one single shot was taken, he was able to basically very quietly and systematically elude any further detection and escape.
46:49There's been no indication that there's been a vehicle identified or any mode of how he actually escaped the venue.
46:58And so to me, this is someone who had some experience, some level of sophistication to have mapped out exactly how this was going to go down.
47:09Do you believe that that is just intelligent and could have mapped this out ahead of time?
47:15Or you think this is someone who received professional training, military training or something along those lines?
47:21And now, if that's true, how difficult is it at this point, hours and hours later, to bring him into custody?
47:31Well, let me go to the to the latter.
47:34The FBI is the best in the world with respect to forensic science and be able to try to work backwards and pick up the pieces of any sort of evidence that may have been left behind.
47:47And that could be a shell casing.
47:49Now, what's interesting is we haven't heard about anything that may have been left behind because shell casings in and of themselves can help and assist law enforcement in identifying the shooter, DNA, fingerprint.
48:05We haven't heard anything of that.
48:07We haven't heard anything with respect to the did this individual leave behind the weapon.
48:12Do we have an abandoned vehicle?
48:14Because I would assume by now all of the spectators have cleared the venue.
48:18Obviously, I would assume that very quickly they'll take a head count for any of the vehicles that are in proximity to this venue.
48:25Obviously, they're going through CCTV.
48:28They're going through cell phone video.
48:30We have very sophisticated technology available to the FBI with respect to facial recognition.
48:37And keep in mind, there's other information that is not routinely disseminated to the general public.
48:43That is people that are known to law enforcement or to the FBI that may have been on their radar that we may not know at this point that may be suspected of potentially being a threat to Charlie Kurt.
48:57We haven't heard, quite frankly, has Charlie Kurt received any sort of death threats recently?
49:02Has there been anybody who was recently identified as a potential threat?
49:07So those are things that are being kept very quietly right now.
49:12And so, again, the FBI is trying to comb through what they have in working backwards.
49:18Now, to me, I think perhaps a military type of person may have gone for what we would consider a headshot,
49:26because that would be how a military person would have been trained to neutralize that threat by taking a headshot.
49:33This person took a shot at the upper torso closer to the neck.
49:39This may be someone with some marksman's experience, but not necessarily military experience.
49:45Very interesting.
49:47It's a lot to chew on.
49:48Stuart, you're the best.
49:49Thank you, as always, for joining us and filling in the audience.
49:53My prayers.
49:55Eva Terry works for Desiree News.
49:59She was just a couple of rows away from where Charlie when he got shot,
50:02and she dropped down and ran into a classroom and hid under a desk.
50:07What did you see and where exactly were you?
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