Fox News anchor Bret Baier paused during a live segment on Wednesday to relay to viewers a personal message from President Donald Trump regarding the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier in the hour.
“A few moments ago before this show, I talked to the President of the United States on the phone. He had obviously already posted on Truth Social. He had said some other things but did want to pass on something else publicly and said I could pass this on,” Baier said before he went on to quote the president:
All of this violence cannot happen. Charlie Kirk was such an amazing guy. He really captured the youth — the imagination of the youth. He was an unbelievable patriot. He really convinced millions and millions of young people that MAGA was the way to go. Today is so sad. He was an amazing person who was not afraid to talk to and confront the other side, just talk to them, debate them, and explain why they were wrong and MAGA was right. Nobody was better. It’s such a tragic day.
“Again, that’s President Trump just moments ago before the show,” Baier said.
The FBI provided a somber update Thursday morning following Kirk’s assassination on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem.
A bureau official said the agency does not yet have the suspect in custody, but they did recover a high-powered rifle believed to have been used in the shooting in a nearby wooded area. Officials said the suspect is believed to be “college-aged.”
“We find ourselves today hunting a murderer,” the FBI official stated. “We are confident we will be able to identify him.”
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The FBI is also seeking the public’s help in finding the suspect, asking anyone who had information, images, or videos of the crime to provide it to authorities.
FBI Director Kash Patel said earlier the agency “stands in full support of the ongoing response and investigation.”
Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason called the shooting a “targeted attack,” and said the scene is a “very large area.”
Mason said the “only information” they have on the possible shooter was taken from CCTV on campus, and that the person was dressed in all dark clothing. It’s believed the shooter fired from about 200 yards away.
In a video posted to social media, Trump said, “It’s a long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree.”
“For years, those on the radical Left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” he added. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”
Kirk, who was 31 and leaves behind a wife and two small children, was thought to be a close friend of Trump and a powerful figure in the conservative youth movement.
At 18, he started the conservative group Turning Point USA in 2012. In the 2024 elections, he was credited with getting a lot of young voters to favor Trump.
Support and calls for prayers poured in across social media, including from Vice President JD Vance and other leading political figures on both sides of the aisle.