WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump expressed a desire for national healing after the assassination of conservative advocate Charlie Kirk. However, during an exclusive Saturday interview with NBC News, he hinted that a “radical left” faction could hinder this reconciliation.
“I would like to see the nation heal,” the president mentioned briefly over the phone. “But we are facing a radical left group of extremists who have never played fair.”
Authorities have arrested Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah, for Kirk’s murder. Robinson is accused of shooting the conservative figure during a speech at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Records indicate Robinson was last registered to vote on July 13, 2021, without any party affiliation.
Officials noted Robinson’s recent political engagement. A family member remembered him criticizing Kirk over dinner prior to the event at Utah Valley University.
Investigators revealed that Robinson left behind bullet casings inscribed with allusions to fascism, internet memes, and video games. He faces charges including aggravated murder, discharging a firearm causing significant harm, and justice obstruction.
Authorities are continuing their investigation into Robinson and the shooting, including a motive.
Kirk’s assassination has ignited discussions about the vitriolic nature of current political discourse. Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox has urged for increased tolerance and a cessation of blame games.
Trump, in the interview, said: “We’ll see what happens. They [the left] don’t like what’s been happening. We’ve been winning very big.”
After the shooting Wednesday, Trump appeared in a video from the Oval Office in which he pledged that his administration would ferret out “each and every one of those who contributed this atrocity … including the organizations that fund and support it.” In that video, Trump also went after the “radical left,” even though the shooter’s identity and motivations were not yet known.
In an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning, he singled out George Soros, the 95-year-old Democratic megadonor and the founder of a group called the Open Society Foundations. Trump said that “we’re going to look into Soros” for possible violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law.
In reply to a question from NBC News about Soros, the president said that he “should be put in jail.”
“He’s a bad guy,” Trump added.
Soros has long funded both Democratic candidates and progressive causes and been one of the biggest donors on the left.
Asked to comment Saturday, a spokesman for the Open Society Foundations pointed to a post from the group last month on X.
Trump had posted that Soros and his son, Alex, now the chair of the organization, should be charged under RICO “because of their support for Violent Protest, and much more, all throughout the United States of America.”
In reply, the group wrote that it does not “support or fund violent protests. Allegations to the contrary are false, and the threats against our founder and chair are outrageous. Our mission is to advance human rights, justice, and democratic principles in the United States and around the world.”
“We stand for fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution,” the group added, “including the rights to free speech and peaceful protest that are hallmarks of any vibrant democracy.”
