Accused murderer Tyler Robinson ‘clearly’ had ‘leftist ideology,’ Utah gov has said
CBS News has quietly deleted a tweet of an interview in which an anchor claimed that the motive of Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, “remains elusive,” even though Utah governor Spencer Cox (R.) has revealed that Robinson “clearly” had a “leftist ideology.”
“Five days after Charlie Kirk’s murder, the shooter’s motive remains elusive—no writings left behind, vague, secondhand testimony,” CBS Evening News Plus anchor John Dickerson said Monday, according to a video included in the now-deleted X post. Dickerson went on to describe Kirk’s assassination “may share similarities with recent violence not driven by an obvious political ideology.”
While CBS took down its posts with the interview from both X and Facebook, X users saved and reposted the footage.
WHAT?! “Motive remains elusive.” “Not driven by an obvious political ideology.” “Vague, second-hand testimony.”
Interview on ‘CBS Evening News Plus’ asserts the Charlie Kirk assassination and the Annunciation Catholic school shooting might be examples of nihilistic terrorism… pic.twitter.com/x1JlIgQEcD
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 15, 2025
Robinson is accused of murdering Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, during a September 10 event that the conservative activist was hosting at Utah Valley University.
Dickerson’s comments contradict reports that have shown Robinson was left-wing. “There clearly was a leftist ideology with this—with this assassin,” Cox told NBC on Sunday. FBI director Kash Patel told Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Monday that officials found “a text message exchange where [Robinson] specifically stated that he had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and he was going to do that.” When a correspondent asked Robinson why, the suspected shooter wrote, “Some hatred cannot be negotiated with,” according to Patel.
Police arrested Robinson, who possessed bullets engraved with the words “Hey fascist! Catch!” and lived with a transgender partner, on Friday. They are investigating left-wing and pro-transgender organizations in Utah over their possible ties to Robinson, according to the New York Post.
Dickerson’s interviewee, Institute for Countering Digital Extremism executive director Matthew Kriner, provided information on “nihilistic violent extremism,” which lacks a clear political motive. Dickerson at one point asked for examples but asked Kriner to leave “this assassination out because we just don’t have enough data.”
The interview comes as Skydance CEO David Ellison, whose company acquired CBS parent company Paramount last month, has vowed to crack down on ideological bias at the network.
In a July meeting with FCC chairman Brendan Carr, Ellison emphasized his “commitment to unbiased journalism” and pledged to reflect “the varied ideological perspectives of American viewers” at CBS, according to a letter describing the meeting. Ellison fulfilled one of his commitments to the FCC last week, when Paramount announced that it has hired a former president of the conservative Hudson Institute to serve as CBS’s ombudsman investigating any complaints about bias from employees and viewers. The Skydance CEO is also close to finalizing a deal to hire maverick journalist Bari Weiss as editor in chief, the New York Times reported.
“Bari and the Ellisons have a lot of work to do” at CBS, NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck wrote on X.
Good news is my video lives on! Bari and the Ellisons have a lot of work to do https://t.co/qcSikHivNV
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 16, 2025
