The latest on Trump’s administration: Utah governor describes ‘very sobering’ conversation with Trump after shooting

What we’re covering
• DC reels from Kirk killing: The impact of Charlie Kirk’s assassination is being felt throughout Washington, from scrutiny over President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and FBI director to renewed efforts to better protect lawmakers.

• Crime crackdown: Meanwhile, Trump has pushed ahead with his federal law enforcement crackdown in Democratic-led cities, though he shifted focus last week from Chicago to Memphis in part to avoid legal headaches from the resistant Illinois governor, sources told CNN. The administration’s sweeping deportation push also continues in Chicago and across the US.

• Foreign policy: The president enters a key week on the global stage, with his state visit to the United Kingdom coming at a critical time for US-European relations, and as efforts stall to end wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

DHS secretary Kristi Noem says Charlie Kirk’s assassination marks a global turning point:
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a defining moment not only for the United States but for the world and discussed one of their final exchanges about violent crime and government accountability.

“In fact, the last thing Charlie had texted me about a day or two before he passed away, was about those mayors and governors,” Noem told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. She was referring to ongoing discussions about President Trump’s crackdown on crime and his push to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led states, as he did in Washington, DC.

“He wanted them to be held accountable for how dangerous they were making the situation for their people to have to live in those cities,” Noem added.

When asked why Kirk’s assassination marked a national turning point, the DHS secretary emphasized its broader impact.

“It feels like a grief has settled on not just the country, but the entire world, something has changed.”

Noem also echoed the administration’s criticism of left-wing political rhetoric in the wake of the killing.

“Some of the rhetoric we’re seeing out of the left and out of political animals is ugly and it’s bitter and it’s seeking to seize this opportunity to turn it into evil. And I would just encourage everybody to start focusing on relationships, start focusing on each other and talk about what Charlie believed in.”

Cox signals “dark internet” culture contributed to alleged shooter’s radicalization:
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox further elaborated on how investigators have determined that Tyler Robinson, the alleged shooter of Charlie Kirk, had been radicalized, pointing to gaming and “dark internet” culture as potential factors that contributed to a shift.

Robinson, Cox said, is not cooperating with authorities, but they have been able to glean significant information from family, friends, and acquaintances.

“According to family and people that we’re interviewing, he does come from a conservative family but his ideology was very different from his family and so that’s part of it,” Cox said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker.

Cox suggested things changed for Robinson after he dropped out of Utah State University.

“It seemed to happen kind of after that – after he moved back to the southern part of Utah. Clearly, there was a lot of gaming going on, friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, Reddit culture and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep. You saw that on the casings. … the memeification that is happening in our society today,” he told NBC.

In an interview with ABC’s “This Week” with Martha Raddatz, Cox also confirmed reports that acquaintances were joking online with Robinson about photos released by the FBI during the manhunt.

“Those conversations definitely were happening. And they did not believe it was actually him – it was all joking until he admitted that it actually was him,” he said.

Cox, who appeared on a trio of Sunday shows to offer some new details about the investigation, said he was doing so because the White House asked him to.

“I don’t do a lot of national media anymore and it was the encouragement of the White House that I’m on this program this morning,” he told Raddatz.

Sen. Mark Kelly calls on leaders to choose their words wisely: “people are listening”:
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, the husband of former Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot at an event in 2011, called political violence “a pervasive issue in our country” and cautioned against placing blame with one side.

“Whether you’re a governor or senator, a member of the House, president of the United States, you have to be very careful about your words because people are listening,” Kelly said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Kelly also criticized social media companies for “exploiting kids” and called for congressional action.

Kelly said his wife, who has been focused on curbing gun violence in the US since she was shot, was particularly affected by Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

“I would say this one in particular hit her pretty hard, and it’s because she saw the video. You know, the video is all over social media. It’s kind of hard to avoid, and you can just kind of stumble right into it,” Kelly said. “I hope some of these social media companies can scrub this off the internet, because it’s not good for kids to see this.”

Utah Gov. Cox: “We actually should disagree” :

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has made it a personal campaign to turn down the nation’s political temperature and “disagree better” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder.

But Trump ally Steve Bannon, meanwhile, has attacked Cox as a “national embarrassment.”

“Mr. Bannon is angry, and rightfully so. And I’m not saying we have to just sing Kumbaya and hold hands. What I’m saying is we actually should disagree. I think Charlie represented that better than anyone. Charlie said some very inflammatory things, and in some corners of the web, that’s all people have heard. But he also said some other things about forgiveness,” Cox told Bash.

He continued, “There are conflict entrepreneurs out there who benefit from radicalizing us. And I’m not one of those. I don’t know that that’s particularly helpful.”

Cox called for the removal of cell phones in classroom and efforts to hold social media companies to account.

He described the Kirk killing as a “direct assault on America” and called on Americans to “look in the mirror and decide, are we going to try to make it better, or are we going to make it worse?”