Utah governor says alleged Kirk shooter not cooperating with authorities

 (NEW YORK) — Gov. Spencer Cox, R-Utah, said Sunday that the suspect in the shooting that killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk is not cooperating with authorities.

“He has not confessed to, to authorities. He is, he is, he is not cooperating, but, but, but all the people around him are cooperating. And I think that’s, that’s, that’s very important,” Cox told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

Authorities identified Kirk’s alleged shooter as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who now remains in custody. Charges are expected to be formally filed on Tuesday, Cox said.

Cox was also asked about a Sunday New York Times report that alleged Robinson had communicated with others on Discord after the shooting. The Times reported Robinson had made jokes about being the alleged gunman.

ABC News has not independently confirmed the Discord messages.

“All we can confirm is that those conversations definitely were happening, and they did not believe it was actually him. It was, it was all joking until, until he, you know, until he admitted that it actually was him,” he said.

The Utah governor, who has been the public face of the investigation, also addressed reports Saturday that the suspect’s roommate is transitioning from male to female.

Cox previously told the Wall Street Journal that Robinson was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.” Asked if investigators have uncovered evidence to show that, Cox replied, “Well, so far that — that has come from his acquaintance and his family members. That’s where that initial information has come from. Certainly, there will be much more information that is released in the charging documents as they’re bringing all of that together.”

Cox said there will be “much, much more information” revealed in the coming days when charges are filed. The governor urged Americans to choose kindness in a time of high political tension.

“These are very tragic circumstances that impact all of us,” Cox said.

Here are more highlights from Cox’s interview and those with Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah:

On Trump not talking about political violence against Democrats
Raddatz: President Trump said nothing about the political violence against Democrats. In fact, he blamed the radical left. What’s your reaction to that? Is that something you think he should be doing?

Cox: Well, look, President Trump is very angry and, Charlie is his close personal friend. There is a lot of anger, a lot of anger on the right, on my side of the aisle. And I’ve certainly felt that. And in this case, it does appear that that’s true. Again, more, more information is coming and we’ll learn more over time.

You know, I don’t know that that that matters as much as the the radicalization piece. I brought up the, the Democrats who were assassinated recently. And how quickly we move on from these things. But, but the body count is, is piling up. And so I’m so concerned about this radicalization piece. And that’s what we’re trying to understand. Again, this person made a choice, and it was this person’s choice. And this person will be held responsible.

Cox on how to get out of the ‘dark place’ the country is in
Cox: Right now, we’re in a dark place. Everybody gets that, I think, and we have choices and we in my political philosophy and my, and my religious philosophy, we believe in agency, that every one of us gets to make our own decisions … Every one of us has to make a decision. Are we going to hate our neighbor? Are we going to hate the other side? Are we going to return violence with violence? Or are we going to find a different path? Are we going to get out of those social media, those dark places of the internet where the conflict entrepreneurs reside, who are praying upon us, these, these companies with trillion dollar market caps who are using dopamine just like fentanyl, to addict us to their product and, and lead us again — those algorithms — lead us to more outrage. Can we put that aside? Can we go and serve our fellow human beings? Can we do some good in our neighborhood? Can we hug a family member? Can we talk to a neighbor that we disagree with? That’s, that’s up to us. And that’s the only way out of this. There is nothing else we can do to, to solve this, this dark chapter in our history.

Polis on the country’s political division
Raddatz: How did we get to these moments?

Polis: I think, as Governor Cox said, it really is an important reflection point. Violence in political theater, in our schools, on college campuses, is unacceptable. It’s fine, and we should even celebrate, having different opinions on things, right? Charlie Kirk’s catchphrase, “prove me wrong,” encouraging peaceful debate, discussion.

But it’s wrong to resort to violence and killing. And I think that’s a message we need to reemphasize in this age when sometimes there’s to many conflicting messages out there. We need to speak unequivocally, celebrate our differences. They should lead to discussion, not violence.

Curtis on the pervasiveness of political violence
Curtis: If it were up to me, I think you need to take the word “radical” and remove “right” or “left,” and radical coming from any direction is not good, it’s not healthy, and it should be called out. And that’s, that’s my mission, is to say, look, this to me, this is this is not right. This is not left. We’re talking about radicals, and that’s where we need to put our attention…

Raddatz: Senator, how do you think we got to this point in this country with so much political violence?

Curtis: You know, I was — you mentioned I live not far from the university. I was mayor of Provo, Utah, right next to it. I know you know where that is. That was just a decade ago, and it wasn’t like this.

And I think a number of things have come along. I don’t think COVID helped. I think — we have to look really hard. I mentioned social media before. I think we have to look really hard at what’s just occupying nearly 100% of brain weight of not just the youth, but of all generations, and what’s coming across, and actually what we’re allowing to come across, and there’s just zero liability for what people are putting out there. And I just think that’s if we’re going to fix this, we have to look really hard at that.

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