President Trump is still furious over Charlie Kirk’s assassination and worries he and other GOP pols could be next, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox revealed Sunday.
Trump, 79, had called Cox, 50, after the Republican governor held a press conference Friday updating the public on the capture of Kirk’s suspected killer.
“It was a long conversation, by the way. We talked about lots of things. But it was very sobering,” the Utah governor recounted to CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Sunday said President Trump has been gracious with him over his handling of the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. NBCAnchor Dana Bash asked Cox about a report in the magazine The Atlantic that said Trump told Cox at the time, “You know, the type of person who would do something like that to Charlie Kirk would love to do it to us.”
Cox told Bash, “[Trump] is not wrong.
“I mean, he knows better than anyone. As someone who literally was injured by a bullet, I mean, a fraction of an inch away from being killed a year ago, he understands that better than anyone,” Cox said.
The Beehive State GOPer chalked up Trump’s sentiment to his ire over the assassination of Kirk, 31.
Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative influencer, was engaging with students at Utah Valley University when he was fatally shot in the neck. AP“I understand he’s also very angry. And I get that. This is his close personal friend, and anger is a normal reaction,” Cox said of Trump.
Cox told ABC News’ “This Week” that the president warned him of the dangers of rising political violence in the US, too.
“This is a very dark conversation, but he, of course, was almost assassinated,” Cox noted. “These are very dangerous jobs these days. And so it’s not lost on us.”
The conservative Kirk was fatally shot in the neck Wednesday while speaking to students at Utah Valley University as part of his “American Comeback Tour.”
Trump is said to have been deeply impacted by Kirk’s murder. Pool/ABACA/ShutterstockAfter a 33-hour manhunt for Kirk’s killer, authorities arrested Tyler Robinson, 22. Robinson, a trade-school student, wannabe electrician and onetime devout Mormon, has not been cooperating with authorities, Cox said.
Trump has publicly called for Robinson to face the death penalty and faulted the “radical left” for allegedly influencing him to the point of murder. Cox said Robinson was “deeply indoctrinated in leftist ideology.”
Cox, who has clashed with the Republican president in the past, said Trump thanked him “multiple times for my words” about Kirk’s assassination and that the White House requested he do a Sunday show blitz.
The Utah gov had backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over Trump in the Republican presidential primary in 2016.
Cox told “Meet the Press,” “The White House asked us to come on and to talk about this because they’re worried about the escalation that’s happening out there.”
Cox has blamed social media for helping to radicalize people to the point of violence. APThe Utah Republican stressed that he wishes the media would spotlight Trump’s call to nonviolence in the wake of the tragic attack.
[Kirk] was an advocate of nonviolence. That’s the way I’d like to see people respond,” the president told reporters Thursday.
Cox has meanwhile faced blowback from some right-leaning figures, including Steve Bannon, over his call own to tone down the rhetoric.
The governor, striking a conciliatory tone Sunday, acknowledged, “Mr. Bannon is angry, and rightfully so.”
The Utah governor blamed social media at least partly for poisoning political discourse in the country.
“I believe that social media has played a direct role in every single assassination and assassination attempt that we have seen over the last five, six years. There is no question in my mind,” Cox told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“Cancer probably isn’t a strong enough word. What we have done especially to our kids, it took us a decade to realize how evil these algorithms are. And we’re doing everything in Utah. First state in the nation a couple of years ago to pass comprehensive reform.”
