President Donald Trump privately lamented the death of Charlie Kirk in a phone call with CNBC’s Joe Kernen, where he also said the MAGA activist could have become president one day.
Kernen revealed details of the emotionally-charged conversation on Thursday morning, hours after the Turning Point USA founder was killed by a single bullet at Utah Valley University in Orem. Trump said he was “devastated,” according to the Squawk Box host.
“Then he went on to say, ‘The country will heal,’” Kernen said on the show this morning. He also said Trump, 79, touted the 31-year-old as a future president.
“He said, ‘What a guy, what a great individual.’ He said he helped him greatly in the last election and thinks that Charlie Kirk could have been president someday; he was such a talented guy,” Kernen explained.
Kernen added that the main thrust of the call was to congratulate the team on 30 years of Squawk Box.
Kirk, who was married with two children, had been speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University when he was shot from a distance. Social media footage shows a potential suspect on the roof of a building about 200 yards away from where Kirk had been entertaining the crowd.
Despite two suspects being arrested and then released, the FBI has not yet apprehended the shooter. They have, however, found what might be the murder weapon.
A “high-powered, bolt-action rifle” was recovered near the site of the shooting. “That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls said at a press conference.
“The FBI laboratory will be analyzing this weapon. Investigators have also collected footwear impressions, a palm print, and forearm imprints for analysis.”
He vowed to catch the killer. “We are investing everything we have into this, and we will catch this individual,” Bohls said.
Kirk’s stop at the university was one of many he had scheduled as part of what he dubbed the “American Comeback Tour.” The tour was put on by Turning Point USA, the conservative group he founded.
Trump also condemned the killing. He said he was “filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination,” in a video posted on his Truth Social platform. Kirk’s killing marked “a dark moment for America,” he added.
Speaking to reporters after a 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, he said he would meet with Kirk’s family this afternoon.
“I can’t believe Charlie,” Trump said. “What a great guy he was.”
Pressed for more detail on the investigation, he added: “What you’re seeing on the news is what it is,” he said. “They have a virtual manhunt out there. We’ll see what happens. We hope they get him.”
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