ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel insinuated Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin was a member of the “MAGA gang” while mocking President Donald Trump’s response to his death during his show Monday night.
The “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host brought up the matter during his monologue and claimed right-wing critics were hitting “new lows” trying to frame the suspect, 22-year-old Utah native Tyler Robinson, as someone who wasn’t “MAGA.”
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.
He went on to mock Trump’s responses, criticizing the White House for flying US flags at half-staff and Trump for discussing ballroom construction when asked his thoughts days later.
“This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody he called a friend. This is how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish, OK?” Kimmel said.
Kimmel’s comments came one day after both FBI officials and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said that Robinson held a “leftist ideology” and was increasingly radicalized in recent years.
“It’s fairly obvious this was an ideologically motivated attack,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino told Fox News on Monday.
A source familiar with the investigation also told Fox News Digital that the FBI is investigating leftist groups in Utah to see if they had any connection to the alleged shooter.
On Tuesday, authorities released new details about Robinson during a press conference.
Law enforcement revealed text messages between Robinson and his roommate and romantic partner, who is a transgender woman.
“I had enough of his [Kirk] hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence. Going to attempt to retrieve it again, hopefully they have moved on,” Robinson messaged his roommate.
Fox News Digital reached out to ABC for comment.
After Kirk was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University last week, Kimmel released a statement mourning the conservative activist.
“Instead of the angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” Kimmel wrote on Instagram.
“On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”
Kimmel previously blasted Trump’s response to Kirk’s death after he blamed leftist rhetoric for the shooting Thursday night.
“With all these terrible things happening, you would think that our president would at least make an attempt to bring us together, but he didn’t. President Obama did. President Biden did. Presidents Bush and Clinton did. President Trump did not. Instead, he blamed Democrats for their rhetoric,” Kimmel said.
He added, “The man who told a crowd of supporters that maybe the Second Amendment people should do something about Clinton. The man who said he wouldn’t mind if someone shot through the fake news media. The man who unleashed a mob on the Capitol and said Liz Cheney should face nine barrels shooting at her for supporting his opponent, blames the radical left for their rhetoric.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
