Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Unity & Support, Strength in Adversity, through Faith & Healing We Honor Charlie Kirk

Transcript

Unity & Support, Strength in Adversity, through Faith & Healing We Honor Charlie Kirk · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Thursday was a really tough day. It was a tough
0:04
Speaker 1: day to watch the reality set in of what had
0:07
Speaker 1: happened and the hours before, we watched the Vice President
0:11
Speaker 1: in the second Lady of the United States of America
0:15
Speaker 1: fly to Utah to then help the family of Charlie
0:19
Speaker 1: Kirk take Charlie home to Phoenix, Arizona, where they live.
0:26
Speaker 1: We watched the Vice President of the United States of
0:29
Speaker 1: America carrious casket. We watched the wife of the Vice
0:36
Speaker 1: President hold her hand the now widow of Charlie Kirk.
0:42
Speaker 1: We watched them touch down in Phoenix, and we see
0:48
Speaker 1: the little and hear the little miracles that are happening,
0:51
Speaker 1: happening all along the way. Phoenix Air Traffic Control send
0:59
Speaker 1: a message to Charlie Kirk after landing in Arizona. And
1:04
Speaker 1: here's what they said on the visual people No.
1:07
Speaker 2: Fifteen many five and exam when people were here.
1:09
Speaker 3: And I don't know what he thinks that the life
1:12
Speaker 3: he picks up with a success.
1:14
Speaker 4: Well home, Charlie, you didn't deserve it.
1:16
Speaker 5: May God bless your family.
1:19
Speaker 1: Welcome home, Charlie, you didn't deserve it. May God bless
1:26
Speaker 1: your family. The world lost an incredible man, and so
1:34
Speaker 1: many are grieving the loss of Charlie. I'm one of them.
1:38
Speaker 1: Because of how many people and how many lives that
1:44
Speaker 1: he touched. We are saying many that are standing up
1:48
Speaker 1: and saying we will not be silent. You have made
1:52
Speaker 1: us ten million strong. There are so many on the
1:57
Speaker 1: left that have celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Yet
2:02
Speaker 1: there are so many that are standing up for what
2:04
Speaker 1: is right. There are so many that are standing there
2:12
Speaker 1: and loving Charlie and his family, loving Erica as the
2:18
Speaker 1: second lady whose advance hold the hand as they stepped
2:22
Speaker 1: off Air Force two with Charlie's casket arriving, and moving
2:26
Speaker 1: that casket to the chapel where he will be. These
2:33
Speaker 1: are the things that people will remember as we do
2:37
Speaker 1: come together. I want to tell you that I think
2:41
Speaker 1: this is one of those moments where you can see
2:48
Speaker 1: God using evil for good, more than that assassin could
2:52
Speaker 1: ever imagine. The White House Chief of Staff talk to
2:57
Speaker 1: my good friend Scott Jennings today on his show, and
3:00
Speaker 1: I want you to hear what Susie Wilds had to
3:03
Speaker 1: say about what she told her staff at the White House.
3:07
Speaker 6: I just want to ask you, I mean you're around
3:09
Speaker 6: the president, you were around him during the campaign, you
3:11
Speaker 6: interact with people in public settings. Is it safe in
3:15
Speaker 6: America right now for an outspoken conservative? I mean, obviously
3:19
Speaker 6: the president survived a couple of assassination attempts, and Charlie's
3:24
Speaker 6: no longer with us. How are you processing that question today?
3:29
Speaker 7: I think we have to recognize that America has become
3:32
Speaker 7: a violent place. It's one of the reasons the president
3:35
Speaker 7: is so committed to a safe district of Columbia, and
3:39
Speaker 7: as we've had great, great results there. But Marco Rubio
3:44
Speaker 7: yesterday said, you know, what I think is going on
3:48
Speaker 7: is that there are embers out there and they're starting
3:51
Speaker 7: to burn. And I thought that was a very good
3:53
Speaker 7: way of looking at the atmospherics. We have a lot
3:56
Speaker 7: of high profile people here that engage publicly and in
4:00
Speaker 7: the media, and they say things others might not like.
4:04
Speaker 7: So I called everybody in before they went home last
4:07
Speaker 7: night and said, go home, hug your children, hug your spouse,
4:13
Speaker 7: be careful, take precautions, and don't let your voice get softer.
4:19
Speaker 7: Charlie would want everybody to speak as they had been
4:22
Speaker 7: and more so that's sort of the way we feel
4:25
Speaker 7: here and he was very close to many of us,
4:28
Speaker 7: and even those that were not his good friends, we
4:31
Speaker 7: know him. He was so much help in the campaign,
4:35
Speaker 7: So you know, there's no question there's a sadness here.
4:39
Speaker 1: White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles talking to her
4:42
Speaker 1: staff who are rattled at the White House over this.
4:46
Speaker 1: We also have an update from the FBI, and they
4:50
Speaker 1: gave a update late in the evening last night, and
4:55
Speaker 1: I want you to hear exactly what they had to say.
4:58
Speaker 1: Is someone you're asking about this, who is he? How
5:03
Speaker 1: do he get away? How do we not know where
5:06
Speaker 1: he is right now? Some of those questions were answered.
5:11
Speaker 1: I want you to hear what was said earlier.
5:13
Speaker 5: Listen, day Governor will kick it off.
5:16
Speaker 2: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, Thank you for joining us
5:20
Speaker 2: here tonight. We appreciate the media and the partnership we
5:24
Speaker 2: have with you in helping from out to the public
5:26
Speaker 2: so that we can we can catch this assassin and
5:31
Speaker 2: and hold him accountable. We are going to share a
5:38
Speaker 2: portion of a video and that we have of the
5:42
Speaker 2: of the suspect, as well as some new stills. Those
5:46
Speaker 2: have already been released, but we want to make sure
5:48
Speaker 2: that they get as much attention as possible so that
5:51
Speaker 2: we can get help from from the public in tracking
5:56
Speaker 2: down this this this evil human being.
5:59
Speaker 5: So we're going to we're going to queue up the
6:02
Speaker 5: video right now.
6:03
Speaker 2: Show that I've asked Commissioner Beau Mason if he would
6:06
Speaker 2: narrate to you what is happening in this video.
6:12
Speaker 4: Thank you, Governor Beau Mason, Commissioner for the Utah Department
6:15
Speaker 4: of Public Safety. If you look up to the top left,
6:19
Speaker 4: you'll see the building where the shooter was proned out
6:22
Speaker 4: in the top left corner. We'll go ahead and play
6:25
Speaker 4: that video on narrate as we.
6:28
Speaker 7: So.
6:28
Speaker 4: Here you see the suspect grand behind that upper upper building.
6:34
Speaker 4: He's going to come out on the right, moves to
6:36
Speaker 4: this far right corner. As he does, he's going to
6:42
Speaker 4: climb off the edge and then drop down to the ground.
6:45
Speaker 4: As he did that, he left some palm impressions. There's
6:49
Speaker 4: some smudget some places we're looking to collect DNA.
6:53
Speaker 5: There's a shoe imprint where we will leave.
6:56
Speaker 4: The suspect is clearly identified as wearing Converse tennis shoes. Again,
7:00
Speaker 4: we'll replay that against you can get another view of that.
7:05
Speaker 4: It's important to note his black T shirt, his black pants,
7:09
Speaker 4: and there appears to be some white on the soles
7:12
Speaker 4: of those Converse tennis shoes. Those are all identifiable items
7:15
Speaker 4: that we're looking for. In the stills that are going
7:17
Speaker 4: to follow this, you're going to see a very distinctive
7:20
Speaker 4: T shirt with an American flag and appears to have
7:22
Speaker 4: an eagle on it. There's also a baseball cap with
7:25
Speaker 4: a triangle on it, and a pair of sunglasses, all distinctive,
7:30
Speaker 4: all things that we would ask the public to look
7:32
Speaker 4: for and try to identify if they know someone who
7:36
Speaker 4: has those items, who has been seen wearing those items.
7:39
Speaker 4: We're looking for all that information. Here you see the
7:42
Speaker 4: suspect after dropping off the building, he moved around across
7:45
Speaker 4: this grass area around the parking lot. We're going to
7:48
Speaker 4: pan to the right after he crosses the street. This
7:52
Speaker 4: is where he moves over into the wooded area. This
7:56
Speaker 4: is the video evidence that we utilize to track his
8:01
Speaker 4: movements and to locate that firearm in that wooded area.
8:04
Speaker 4: Following the discovery of this evidence, good you want to
8:08
Speaker 4: go to the stills. So here's the still photographs I mentioned.
8:14
Speaker 4: These have been enhanced, so these are slightly different than
8:16
Speaker 4: what we introduced earlier. Please play close attention to the
8:20
Speaker 4: T shirt, like I said, very distinctive with that American
8:23
Speaker 4: flag and that eagle, the hat with the triangle, and
8:27
Speaker 4: the sunglasses.
8:27
Speaker 5: If you'll go to the next picture, please.
8:32
Speaker 4: The backpack as well, all identifying features that we're hoping
8:36
Speaker 4: the public can help us identify and lead us to
8:39
Speaker 4: this suspect. Next picture, and again there's a better picture
8:45
Speaker 4: of the hat with that triangle logo, and again the
8:48
Speaker 4: T shirt, blue jeans, and you get a good look
8:51
Speaker 4: at those Converse tennis shoes as well. We have pushed
8:56
Speaker 4: these out, we'll continue to push these out, and we
8:58
Speaker 4: just asked for the public cooperation. Through the public, the
9:02
Speaker 4: tips that have been coming in are what are giving
9:04
Speaker 4: us our next leads and enabling us to continue to
9:07
Speaker 4: further this investigation. We've had great cooperation from the public
9:11
Speaker 4: and we're continuing to ask for that as we move forward.
9:14
Speaker 4: Thank you, and I'll turn time back over to Governor Cox.
9:18
Speaker 4: Thank you so much. Commissioner Mason. I want to I
9:21
Speaker 4: want to thank Director Patel and his team. It's great
9:24
Speaker 4: to have them on the ground with us tonight. We've
9:27
Speaker 4: had several briefings and he's had an opportunity to walk
9:30
Speaker 4: the crime scene. We appreciate our local law enforcement here again,
9:36
Speaker 4: we have Mike Smith, who is the county sheriff.
9:40
Speaker 5: Here, we have.
9:41
Speaker 2: All of our local chiefs of police that are here
9:44
Speaker 2: as well, all working hand in hand with the state
9:47
Speaker 2: and with the FBI as we as we move forward
9:50
Speaker 2: with this investigation. Now just give you a little more.
9:54
Speaker 2: We will not be taking any questions at this time.
9:58
Speaker 2: We're giving you the latest information we have, being as
10:00
Speaker 2: transparent with everything that we have. But I do want
10:03
Speaker 2: to share a couple things that I think are important.
10:06
Speaker 2: We cannot do our job without the public's help. Right now,
10:11
Speaker 2: the public has answered our call for action. So far,
10:15
Speaker 2: we've received more than seven thousand leads and tips. I
10:19
Speaker 2: would just note that the FBI hasn't received this many
10:22
Speaker 2: digital media tips from the public since.
10:24
Speaker 5: The Boston marathon bombing.
10:26
Speaker 2: This case also highlights the dedication of our law enforcement community.
10:30
Speaker 2: We have twenty federal, state, and local law enforcement partners
10:33
Speaker 2: that are working shoulder to shoulder to find the person
10:36
Speaker 2: who committed this horrific crime. With their support, we've completed
10:40
Speaker 2: nearly two hundred interviews, as you're aware, as has already
10:45
Speaker 2: been reported. The FBI is offering a one hundred thousand
10:48
Speaker 2: dollars reward for information leading to the identification and arrest
10:52
Speaker 2: of the person responsible for the murder of Charlie Kirk.
10:56
Speaker 2: We also continue to implore the public to support this
10:59
Speaker 2: investigation and come forward with any information.
11:04
Speaker 5: We are truly hopeful that this.
11:05
Speaker 2: Video and new photos will lead to even more tips
11:09
Speaker 2: we are processing. We have an incredible team, a state
11:11
Speaker 2: and federal team working together to process those tips. We
11:14
Speaker 2: are going out in tandem to interview any potential person
11:18
Speaker 2: of interest or suspects. But we need again, we need
11:22
Speaker 2: as many as much help as we can possibly get.
11:25
Speaker 2: Any videos or photos that you might have the public
11:28
Speaker 2: should be submitted to our digital media tip line, which
11:32
Speaker 2: is www dot FBI dot gov. Forward slash Utah Valley
11:37
Speaker 2: shooting all lowercase. Again, that is FBI dot gov forward
11:41
Speaker 2: slash Utah Valley shooting all lowercase. You can also provide
11:46
Speaker 2: general tips about the shooting by calling one eight hundred
11:49
Speaker 2: call FBI, that's one eight hundred c a l L FBI,
11:54
Speaker 2: or at tips dot FBI dot gov. This is I
11:58
Speaker 2: would just say, this is not just so local matter
12:00
Speaker 2: here in Utah. We have people all over the country
12:03
Speaker 2: that are helping to bring this perpetrator to justice for
12:06
Speaker 2: Charlie Kirk and his family.
12:09
Speaker 5: And we'll just add as.
12:10
Speaker 2: Well that as was mentioned, there is there is a
12:13
Speaker 2: lot of forensic evidence that is being processed right now
12:17
Speaker 2: at both the State Lab and the and federal labs
12:21
Speaker 2: and Federal Lab in on the East Coast, so we
12:25
Speaker 2: are working in tandem together. I would also just add
12:29
Speaker 2: a word of note for for those for those people
12:31
Speaker 2: who are spending so much time on social media. I
12:36
Speaker 2: think Charlie said it best that when when things get bad,
12:40
Speaker 2: we should put our phones down and spend a little
12:42
Speaker 2: time with our families. There is a tremendous amount of disinformation.
12:48
Speaker 2: We are tracking our our team, the State team, and
12:55
Speaker 2: I'm sure the federal team as well. What we're seeing
12:57
Speaker 2: is our adversaries want violence.
13:01
Speaker 5: China.
13:01
Speaker 2: We have bots from Russia, China all over the world
13:05
Speaker 2: that are trying to instill disinformation and encourage violence. I
13:09
Speaker 2: would encourage you to ignore those, to turn off those streams,
13:14
Speaker 2: and to spend a little more time with our families.
13:17
Speaker 5: We desperately need some healing.
13:19
Speaker 2: We'll have more to say about that in the days
13:22
Speaker 2: and weeks to come. More than anything, we are going
13:25
Speaker 2: to catch this person. Last thing I will just say
13:28
Speaker 2: is we've been working with our attorneys getting everything that
13:32
Speaker 2: we need affidavits ready so that we can pursue the
13:35
Speaker 2: death penalty in this case, and that will happen here.
13:38
Speaker 5: In the state of Utah.
13:40
Speaker 2: Again, to the public, to those who are grieving, thank
13:45
Speaker 2: you for your prayers. I know we are feeling those prayers.
13:49
Speaker 2: I know the Kirk family is feeling those prayers as well.
13:53
Speaker 2: We pray that God will bless our nation at this
13:55
Speaker 2: very dark time. We can start healing by finding this
13:59
Speaker 2: perpetrator and holding him accountable, and we need your help
14:02
Speaker 2: to do that.
14:02
Speaker 5: Thank you.
14:04
Speaker 1: We will obviously keep you updated here on any breaking
14:08
Speaker 1: news that we get as soon as we get it.
14:11
Speaker 1: I want to finally just also let you know what
14:14
Speaker 1: the President's mindset is right now. A reporter asked the
14:18
Speaker 1: President today, are you concerned for your own safety? It
14:24
Speaker 1: is the question that I and anyone else as a
14:26
Speaker 1: conservative in this movement, are asking themselves about our own
14:29
Speaker 1: safety right now. Every one of us has been rattled
14:33
Speaker 1: by this, and every one of us is saying the
14:35
Speaker 1: same thing. Are we safe. How do we make sure
14:40
Speaker 1: that we are safe as possible? The President asked the
14:44
Speaker 1: same question, Are you concerned about your own safety? And
14:47
Speaker 1: I want you to hear what the President said.
14:52
Speaker 5: Not really.
14:53
Speaker 6: I'm really concerned for our country.
14:56
Speaker 3: We have a great country.
14:59
Speaker 8: We have a i'd a left group.
15:01
Speaker 1: Of lunatics out there, just absolute lunatics, and we're going to.
15:05
Speaker 8: Get that problem solved.
15:06
Speaker 1: I'm only concerned for the country. I'm only concerned for
15:10
Speaker 1: the country. I'm not really concerned about my own safety.
15:15
Speaker 1: That is the embodiment of a man that is clearly
15:17
Speaker 1: going to carry on the legacy of Charlie Kirk and
15:21
Speaker 1: a man that he is going to honor as well.
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Speaker 1: two Patriot. I want to start also with an update
17:33
Speaker 1: for you on what is happening with the manhunt uh
17:37
Speaker 1: for the assassin of Charliekirk. The FBI has released a
17:42
Speaker 1: person of interest picture. It is up on social media.
17:46
Speaker 1: I have stuck it on all of my social media
17:48
Speaker 1: pages seeking the public's help and locating and finding this individual.
17:53
Speaker 1: The FBI office in Salt Lake City released the photo
17:56
Speaker 1: of the person of interest in connection with the Charliekirk
17:58
Speaker 1: assassination and made it very simple. If you know who
18:02
Speaker 1: this person is, they want you to call the eight
18:06
Speaker 1: hundred call FBI in line. It's literally one eight hundred
18:08
Speaker 1: call FBI. They also have digital media tips as well
18:12
Speaker 1: at FBI dot gov slash Utah Valley shooting and you
18:16
Speaker 1: can do that there again. If you see this person,
18:19
Speaker 1: go oh my gosh, I know who it is. They
18:22
Speaker 1: are asking for your help. What we also know is
18:25
Speaker 1: that the Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mo Mason
18:29
Speaker 1: spoke at the press conference instead the shooter appears to
18:31
Speaker 1: be of college age. He stressed that authorities worked through
18:36
Speaker 1: the night and we're able to find photos and videos
18:39
Speaker 1: of the suspect on various cameras. They during the same
18:43
Speaker 1: press conference, the FBI Special Agent in charge know that
18:46
Speaker 1: law enforcement had recovered the rifle which they believe was
18:50
Speaker 1: used to shoot Charlie Kirk. They described the rifle as
18:54
Speaker 1: a bolt action rifle, meaning that you use a bolt
18:57
Speaker 1: and it's one round in and you click it, and
19:00
Speaker 1: they found it in a wooded area. There's also a
19:03
Speaker 1: new report as we speak right now from the Wall
19:06
Speaker 1: Street Journal suggesting that the ammunition found not only in
19:11
Speaker 1: the chamber apparently of the rifle, but also on the rifle.
19:15
Speaker 1: Believe the assassin used words that were engraved with transgender messages.
19:21
Speaker 1: Now you may ask yourself a question. Why is that significant, Well,
19:25
Speaker 1: Charlie was actually shot when he was answering a question
19:29
Speaker 1: on transgender shooters, and so there is a real connection there.
19:36
Speaker 1: We are also hearing from world leaders, not just President
19:41
Speaker 1: Donald Trump, who has spoken out about this, and the
19:43
Speaker 1: Vice President also is going to Utah and going to
19:47
Speaker 1: be picking up the family of Charlie Kirk, his wife
19:50
Speaker 1: and children and relatives and taking Charlie's casket back to Arizona.
19:57
Speaker 1: We've learned that, but there are leaders around the world
19:59
Speaker 1: now now that are talking about what happened to Charlie Kirk.
20:04
Speaker 1: One of those is the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nette Yahoo. Now,
20:09
Speaker 1: Charlie was a protector of Israel. He was very much
20:14
Speaker 1: like me, where he was proud to be an ally
20:16
Speaker 1: and to stand with the Jewish people. I wear if
20:20
Speaker 1: you see me on TV, I wear a pen that
20:23
Speaker 1: is the US flag, and it's right next to the
20:26
Speaker 1: Israeli flag, and I keep wearing it because every time
20:32
Speaker 1: I'm on TV, it irritates people and the hate and
20:35
Speaker 1: bigotry comes out. And I want to shine a light
20:38
Speaker 1: on the standing and the unity that we need to
20:41
Speaker 1: have with Israel. And that is absolutely what Charlie Kirk
20:45
Speaker 1: stood for as well, and net Yahoo was on Newsmax
20:51
Speaker 1: with Greta Ancestrum. He had actually been on there recently
20:54
Speaker 1: with her, and I want you to hear what he
20:56
Speaker 1: had to say about Charlie.
20:58
Speaker 8: Mister Prime Minister.
21:00
Speaker 7: Very nice to talk to you against sir, but I
21:01
Speaker 7: didn't dream that I'd be talking to you so soon
21:04
Speaker 7: since the last time we spoke.
21:07
Speaker 8: Well, the circumstances are tragic, and as you can imagine, Greta,
21:14
Speaker 8: I want to say a farewell to a great human being,
21:19
Speaker 8: a great friend of Israel, a great champion of Judeo
21:22
Speaker 8: Christian civilization, and a champion of free speech, free debate, freedom,
21:28
Speaker 8: Charlie kirk Is. His loss is terrible and we grieve
21:35
Speaker 8: for him, for his wife, Erica, for his two beautiful children,
21:40
Speaker 8: and for the many, many, many people who will not
21:43
Speaker 8: hear his voice. His legacy, yes, but his unique voice
21:50
Speaker 8: that's gone.
21:52
Speaker 7: You know, I'm you didn't just read about him. You
21:55
Speaker 7: actually knew him. He wrote you a very personal letter
21:58
Speaker 7: in May and I think you just spoke to him recently,
22:00
Speaker 7: am I right?
22:02
Speaker 8: Yeah?
22:03
Speaker 9: Yes, he did?
22:04
Speaker 1: You know?
22:04
Speaker 8: He wrote me this letter and I think May second
22:07
Speaker 8: and he says, one of my greatest joys as a
22:10
Speaker 8: Christian is advocating for Israel and forming alliances to defend
22:15
Speaker 8: your del Christian civilization. That's in a nutshell, Charlie. And
22:22
Speaker 8: then I called him a few weeks ago and I said, so, Charlie,
22:25
Speaker 8: why didn't you come and visit us? And he said, well,
22:29
Speaker 8: I'm going to and we were going to fix a date,
22:32
Speaker 8: and that's not going to take place.
22:36
Speaker 1: An emotional benjaminette Yahu there. And I think anyone that
22:40
Speaker 1: had traded text messages or phone calls with Charlie in
22:44
Speaker 1: recent days and weeks is just shocked still to the
22:50
Speaker 1: core by what has happened. I also want to address
22:54
Speaker 1: a question that's been asked to me a lot and
22:58
Speaker 1: in the last twenty four hours, not just by by family,
23:03
Speaker 1: but friends and also others that I work with, and
23:07
Speaker 1: that is the real concern over safety for anyone that's
23:11
Speaker 1: out there doing anything like what Charlie did. There is
23:16
Speaker 1: very real concern, and there are different things that will
23:21
Speaker 1: be done. I will be doing different things things differently
23:26
Speaker 1: and the way that I move and the way that
23:28
Speaker 1: I do things and the way that I do TV
23:30
Speaker 1: appearances because there is a real sense of not fear,
23:37
Speaker 1: I think reality that they're that the there is a
23:40
Speaker 1: wing now of the Democratic Party that is in essence
23:43
Speaker 1: of terrorist organization, and they will be inspired by what
23:47
Speaker 1: just happened. The number of people that cheered on the
23:52
Speaker 1: assassination of Charlie Kirk is poison that is clearly poisoned
24:00
Speaker 1: well in a way that I don't even think I
24:02
Speaker 1: realized how bad it was. And I deal with this
24:05
Speaker 1: every day every time that I go on TV. The
24:09
Speaker 1: number of people that write horrible things online is ever
24:13
Speaker 1: since twenty sixteen, is just constant, Like I kind of
24:17
Speaker 1: laugh and smirk and just whatever. You've got to have
24:20
Speaker 1: thic skin to do this. And there's so many others.
24:24
Speaker 1: But the most shocking part of all of this is
24:27
Speaker 1: just the vitriol and the hate and the celebration of
24:31
Speaker 1: the death of Charlie Kirk. And it's something we need
24:35
Speaker 1: to talk about. The hate that we are witnessing is
24:40
Speaker 1: at a level of a cancer that I am still
24:45
Speaker 1: taken aback by.
24:45
Speaker 7: Now.
24:46
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example. You may know that the
24:48
Speaker 1: It's a show that's on Fox TMZ. They always report
24:54
Speaker 1: big news when it happens, and they get you know,
24:56
Speaker 1: it's it's like the National Enquirer, but with like fat
25:00
Speaker 1: pace and more reality. Are the first ones that report
25:04
Speaker 1: people that die and scandals and sports and all sorts
25:07
Speaker 1: of things. And when there's things that happen they're tragic.
25:10
Speaker 1: There a lot of people go to them TMZ. Yesterday
25:15
Speaker 1: when Charlie Kirk, when the news was breaking of his death,
25:19
Speaker 1: the live feed was up and they have now come
25:23
Speaker 1: out and been forced just publicly shamed. I don't think
25:27
Speaker 1: they actually really care. I want to make that clear,
25:30
Speaker 1: but they've now been forced to apologize because the staff
25:35
Speaker 1: on the video you can hear erupting into clapping, cheering
25:42
Speaker 1: and laughter after it was reported that Charlie Kirk was dead.
25:49
Speaker 1: The Daily Mail put it this way. TMZ has been
25:52
Speaker 1: forced to apologize after stafters burst into laughter the moment
25:57
Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk's death was announced during an unflattering live Now,
26:01
Speaker 1: to be clear, the people in the room, they didn't know.
26:03
Speaker 1: I guess that they were going out live. The Entertainment
26:06
Speaker 1: News out had found itself in hot water while reporting
26:09
Speaker 1: on the gory death of the MAGA Firebrand on Wednesday.
26:14
Speaker 1: While Harvey Levin, the guy Who's famous for TMZ and Charles.
26:19
Speaker 1: I don't even know what the hell the other guy's
26:20
Speaker 1: last name is. We're discussing the thirty one year old
26:22
Speaker 1: Turning Point USA founder assassination. Laughter erupted in the background.
26:28
Speaker 1: Levin remained stoic as he broke the news to the
26:31
Speaker 1: live audience, but viewers were sickened by what they heard
26:35
Speaker 1: during the live stream quote. Employees were heard cheering, clamping,
26:39
Speaker 1: and celebrating just thirty seconds before announcing Charlie Kirk's death.
26:42
Speaker 1: One user on x said they laughed and applauded the
26:46
Speaker 1: cold blooded murder of a husband and a father on
26:49
Speaker 1: a public broadcast like it was some kind of sick joke,
26:52
Speaker 1: before handing it off to Harvey. Conservative internet person personality
26:57
Speaker 1: Laura Lumer called the incident disgusting, shameful and dis disgusting
27:02
Speaker 1: behavior by TMZ. Charlie's a husband, a father. He was
27:05
Speaker 1: murdering cold blood. The worst part is about these two
27:09
Speaker 1: individuals who are famous for getting into this type of
27:14
Speaker 1: smut and profiting off of other people's worst days in
27:18
Speaker 1: their lives, is that no one has dropped the show.
27:22
Speaker 1: TMZ then was forced to put out what I could
27:25
Speaker 1: call a cover your ass statement. We want to make
27:29
Speaker 1: it clear that these cheers were a reaction to a
27:31
Speaker 1: high speed chase happening in California. This was prior to
27:34
Speaker 1: and not related to, Charlie Kirk's death. By the way,
27:35
Speaker 1: I want to make it clear, I don't believe that
27:40
Speaker 1: that's what they put out. Then TMZ later put out
27:43
Speaker 1: this video trying to cover themselves.
27:46
Speaker 3: We were live streaming all day during this tragedy when
27:52
Speaker 3: something happened in our office. As we were reporting the
27:58
Speaker 3: assassination of Charli Arley Kirk, there were some people in
28:03
Speaker 3: the back room, away from your newsdesk here who were
28:06
Speaker 3: watching a car chase and they were laughing. They were clapping,
28:13
Speaker 3: and you could hear it out here. And we want
28:17
Speaker 3: to make a couple of things clear. One is that
28:22
Speaker 3: I know these people and they were not laughing. They
28:27
Speaker 3: were not reacting that way about Charlie Kirk's assassination.
28:31
Speaker 9: They were not They would not work here if they did.
28:34
Speaker 3: And that being said, we acknowledged that it was horrible
28:38
Speaker 3: timing and for that we are sorry.
28:41
Speaker 9: We apologize. We apologize it.
28:43
Speaker 3: You had to hear that, and I get why if
28:45
Speaker 3: you're watching the stream, you may have felt that that's
28:48
Speaker 3: what the laughter was about. We assure you it was
28:51
Speaker 3: not about that, but it was horrible timing. And by
28:55
Speaker 3: the way, I get it too, and he gets it
28:57
Speaker 3: because we listened as we we're talking.
29:00
Speaker 9: You can go back and look on the stream.
29:02
Speaker 3: I actually walked off camera to go back and find
29:05
Speaker 3: out what the hell was going on because it was
29:08
Speaker 3: inappropriate for the laughter at that time, but no one
29:12
Speaker 3: was laughing about the Charlie Kirk tragedy.
29:15
Speaker 9: Nevertheless, we apologize for the way it sounded.
29:18
Speaker 1: I'm just going to be clear, I don't believe this
29:20
Speaker 1: for a second. I think this is a cover your
29:25
Speaker 1: abs moment. I think the timing and the idea that
29:28
Speaker 1: this was you're covering those two stories same time and
29:30
Speaker 1: people weren't aware of what was going on is just
29:33
Speaker 1: completely and utterly insane, and it is really sad. It
29:42
Speaker 1: also makes me incredibly angry that this is where we
29:47
Speaker 1: are now, where people are saying things like this and
29:52
Speaker 1: celebrating it this way. There are people that are also
29:56
Speaker 1: blaming Donald Trump for Charlie Kirk's death, which is also insanity.
30:03
Speaker 1: Jim Acosta, former guy at CNN, he had a guest
30:08
Speaker 1: on his show today, and I want you to hear
30:11
Speaker 1: what he had to say on Charlie Kirk. Listen to
30:12
Speaker 1: his words carefully.
30:15
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean, there's exploitation going on of his death,
30:20
Speaker 10: and it's happening on the right, and it's absolutely disgraceful,
30:25
Speaker 10: and it's sending us down a course where more people
30:29
Speaker 10: are probably going to get hurt. And I mean that
30:32
Speaker 10: to me is that's where I kind of held my
30:34
Speaker 10: breath yesterday. Is that, you know, I think we're now
30:38
Speaker 10: in a moment and there's not a whole lot you
30:40
Speaker 10: and I can do about this. Mike, you and I
30:42
Speaker 10: can talk about this until we're blue in the face
30:44
Speaker 10: or right in the face or whatever. There's not a
30:46
Speaker 10: whole hell a lot we can do to stop what
30:49
Speaker 10: is now I think happening, which is we're going to
30:52
Speaker 10: be in this eye for an eye moment. People on
30:55
Speaker 10: the far right are going to use this moment. You
30:58
Speaker 10: already have the State Department earlier today saying that quote unquote,
31:02
Speaker 10: foreigners need to watch what they say. And Trump is
31:05
Speaker 10: talking about retribution. I mean, if you read between the
31:09
Speaker 10: lines of what he said last night, you know, screwed
31:13
Speaker 10: Jesse Waters and what he said, you read between the
31:15
Speaker 10: lines of what Trump said last night. He's talking about
31:18
Speaker 10: revenge and retribution.
31:22
Speaker 1: This is what the newsrooms are filled with. Jim Acosta
31:26
Speaker 1: is no different than he was when he was at
31:28
Speaker 1: the White House saying there's exploitation going on of his death.
31:32
Speaker 1: It's happening on the right and it's absolutely disgraceful. You
31:37
Speaker 1: guys can't turn it off for five seconds and just
31:41
Speaker 1: say that this is a horrific tragedy and we should
31:43
Speaker 1: maybe come together. Instead, you want to use it to
31:46
Speaker 1: go after conservatives. They weren't done there by the way
31:52
Speaker 1: his guests said, quote people like Jesse Waters, they don't
31:56
Speaker 1: give a blank about Charlie Kirk. And then he said,
31:59
Speaker 1: I'm not going to sugarcoat who Charlie Kirk was. They
32:03
Speaker 1: are celebrating his death, they are celebrating the shooter. They
32:13
Speaker 1: are advocating with a rhetoric for more of this to happen,
32:20
Speaker 1: Which goes back to the point that I said earlier
32:22
Speaker 1: about some people that reached out to me. There is
32:25
Speaker 1: a real fear, There is a real concern. There is
32:28
Speaker 1: a real worry for all of us that do what
32:31
Speaker 1: we do that this is going to happen again, and
32:37
Speaker 1: I would say, pray for all of the people that
32:42
Speaker 1: you know that do this. Pray for all of them
32:46
Speaker 1: for their safety and their security, because you can hear
32:50
Speaker 1: in the clips that I just played for you there
32:54
Speaker 1: is a terrorist group of the Democratic Party that is
33:00
Speaker 1: wanting more of this to happen, and they're acting like
33:02
Speaker 1: this is just the beginning and not the end. And
33:05
Speaker 1: it's sick and it's perverted and it's evil, and we're
33:10
Speaker 1: witnessing it play out on social media and on TV
33:13
Speaker 1: as we speak. Hug your kids, Hug your family, Tell
33:18
Speaker 1: the people around you that you love, that you love them,
33:21
Speaker 1: and do it often. We'll see you back here tomorrow.