President Trump said that rhetoric from the “radical left” contributed to the shooting death of his close ally Charlie Kirk, and he promised to find those responsible for political violence, as well as the “organizations that fund it and support it,” the New York Times reports.
In a video address from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said that liberal criticism of conservatives was “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
Associated Press: “Traditional news organizations were cautious in their midafternoon coverage of Charlie Kirk’s assassination Wednesday not to depict the moment he was shot, instead showing video of him tossing a hat to his audience moments before, and panicked onlookers scattering wildly in the moments after.”
“In practical terms, though, it mattered little. Gory video of the shooting was available almost instantly online, from several angles, in slow-motion and real-time speed. Millions of people watched.”
Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-SC) very first words to reporters after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed were: “Democrats own what happened today.”
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“Senate Republicans narrowly blocked an unexpected effort on Wednesday by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files and put Republican senators on record on an issue that has divided their party,” the New York Times reports.
“All but two Republican senators — Josh Hawley of Missouri and Rand Paul of Kentucky — blocked consideration of Mr. Schumer’s measure, which would have required the Justice Department to fully and quickly release its material related to Jeffrey Epstein.”
“Rep. Thomas Massie is on his way to notching the 218 signatures required to end-run Speaker Mike Johnson and force a floor vote on his bipartisan legislation to release Jeffrey Epstein-related documents,” Politico reports.
“Newly sworn-in Democratic Rep. James Walkinshaw, who won a special election in Virginia Tuesday night, signed the petition late Wednesday.”
“Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna need only one more House member’s signature to clinch 218. The pair is set to hit that mark later this month — a Democrat is expected to win the Sept. 23 special election to replace the late Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona.”
“President Trump held a heated call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, senior U.S. administration officials said, conveying deep frustration at being blindsided by Israel’s strike on Hamas representatives in Qatar,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Trump told Netanyahu that the decision to target Hamas political leaders in Doha, Qatar’s capital, wasn’t wise. He was angry to learn about the attack as it was occurring from the U.S. military—rather than from Israel—and that it struck the territory of another U.S. ally that was mediating negotiations on ending the Gaza war.”
Michael Fanone: “I know what it’s like to be on the business end of political violence.”
“I felt fists, flagpoles, and tasers on January 6th. I heard men scream that they were going to kill me in the name of Donald Trump.”
“That day taught me something too many of us are still trying to ignore: once political violence becomes acceptable—once you decide that your enemy isn’t just wrong but expendable—you don’t control where it leads.”
“If you cheered this shooting because you hated Kirk, you’re no better than the mob that chanted for Mike Pence’s hanging. If you shrug it off because it happened to the other side, you’re part of the same sickness that’s rotting this country.”
Authorities have released a “subject in custody” in the shooting of Charlie Kirk, the Wall Street Journal reports.
New York Times: “Videos recorded before and after the shooting show a person on the roof of the Losee Center, about 150 yards from where Mr. Kirk was shot. In one, an onlooker says they saw someone run across the roof and lie down, pointing out the visible outline of the person. In a second video, the person can be seen rushing away from that spot immediately after the shooting.”
FBI Director Kash Patel announced that a subject in the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was in custody.
President Trump announced on social media that conservative activist Charlie Kirk died after being shot in the neck at an event in Utah.
Bloomberg has obtained more than 100 previously undisclosed emails between U.K. Ambassador Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein from 2005 through 2010 that reveal Mandelson’s steadfast support for Epstein after Epstein was charged with sex crimes.
Said Mandelson, in one email: “I think the world of you and I feel hopeless and furious about what has happened. I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain.”
The shooting of Charlie Kirk is absolutely horrifying.
It’s sickening to see political disagreements spill into violence — especially on a college campus, where speech is supposed to be celebrated, not silenced.
There’s no justification for it. Political violence is evil, no matter who the target is.
In a democracy, we have ballots, courts, and free expression to resolve disputes. Resorting to violence threatens to destroy the very system we all depend on.
This country is already on edge. No one wants to live in a tinderbox where politics is settled by force.
Everyone in public life needs to do some serious soul searching.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) yelled at Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) on the House floor over a comment Jacobs made saying that “boob jobs” are gender-affirming care, with Mace later taking to social media to offer Jacobs a surgeon for a nose job, The Hill reports.
President Trump threatened to sue The New York Times for $10 billion for publishing articles related to a sexually suggestive note and drawing that was given to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and appears to have been signed by Trump, the New York Times reports.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck at an event at Utah Valley University, the Deseret News reports.
A suspect is in custody.
A witness told CNN what Kirk was talking about: “A kid came up and he asked a question about how many transgender shooters there were… And then he asked one more question, and so the question was about shooters. And before Charlie Kirk could pick up the mic again, that’s when the shot happened.”
“Buckingham Palace confirmed that Prince Harry met with his father, King Charles III, for tea at Clarence House on Wednesday — their first meeting since Harry publicly said that his father wasn’t speaking to him and that he hoped for a reconciliation,” the Washington Post reports.
John Gruber comments on President Trump’s humiliating dinner with tech CEOs last week:
“I’m not going to argue that any of these CEOs, Cook included, are playing this situation right. But it really shows the profound power imbalance. The president of the United States is so astonishingly powerful. And Trump is wielding that power in unprecedented ways. This entire fiasco is embarrassing, but the criticism really ought to be directed at Trump.”
“Joe Biden looks like an Olympic athlete compared to the illnesses that he’s hiding. Donald Trump is a broken man who has broken all of his promises, and we’re all starting to pay for it; and we’re going to be a broken country pretty soon.”
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), on CNN.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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