Morning Wire - Hunting Kirk’s Assassin & America’s Military Renewal | 9.12.25

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

The manhunt for Charlie Kirk’s assassin continues, backlash ensues over the legacy media’s coverage of Kirk’s murder, and Secretary Hegseth lays out the mission of the newly renamed Department of War. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy morning wire,morning wire podcast,the morning wire podcast,Georgia Howe,John Bickley,daily wire podcast,podcast,news podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Authorities race to track down Charlie Kirk's killer as more details emerge. What this man did was disgraceful, so hopefully we'll have him and we will deal with him very appropriately. I'm Daily Wire, Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, September 12th. This is Morning. We don't know if this was the supporter shooting their gun off in celebration, so we have no idea. The legacy media's response to Kirk's death sparks widespread backlash and high-profile firings.

And Secretary Hegeseth issues a call to action on 9-11 as he lays out the hard-hitting mission of the Department of War. The Department of War will always honor the service of our warriors and all they left behind. Never straying from the warrior ethos. They and those on 9-11 embodied and deserve. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. New details have emerged on the tragic assassin. of Charlie Kirk as authorities race to track down his killer.

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here with the latest A Cabot, so the nation's still reeling from this heinous act. On Wednesday, we've been watching this manhunt with interest. What did we learn yesterday? So throughout the last 24 hours, authorities have been working to piece together the assassin's timeline on Wednesday afternoon. Based on security footage, a slender male who appeared to be in his 20s, arrived on campus at 1152 a.m. just before the event kicked off.

He then entered a building adjacent. to the event venue, climbed the stairs, and made his way onto the roof. Moments after taking his shot, he's then seen again on camera, climbing off the roof, jumping down, and running into a nearby residential neighborhood. It's there in a nearby wooded area that police found the bolt-action rifle with a scope that they say was used in the attack, along with the screwdriver that they believe may have been used to assemble and then disassemble the rifle before and after using it, presumably so the shooter could avoid suspicion.

But perhaps most notably, a Wall Street Journal report Thursday cited a law enforcement bulletin which said the ammunition found with the rifle was etched with a number of pro-transgender and anti-fascist phrases. We're still waiting for official confirmation on that report, but if true, it would appear to play into a potential motive. Kirk was outspoken on the issue of transgenderism, including after last month's Catholic school shooting that was carried out by a trans individual. All right, so some potential clues to the motive there.

What is the latest on the manhunt? Well, it's been a chaotic manhunt to say the least. Two men were detained in the hours after the shooting, but both were released shortly after. And then on Thursday morning, the FBI said that they had identified a person of interest. Initially, they opted against releasing images to the public, though, saying they were working to identify him on their own. But ultimately, they did share images of that person of interest.

It shows a man wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a black shirt, offering $100,000 for anyone who could provide. information about his whereabouts. But at the time of this recording, the actual identity of that man is still unknown. We have nothing. No name, just those images. Obviously, with each minute that goes by, the fear is that he could be getting further and further away from the crime scene. Right. Time is definitely of the essence here. Now, you got the chance to talk with one of the students that was at the event yesterday. Tell us about what you heard. Yeah, I spoke with Nolan Kramer, a college freshman who attended the event with friends and was standing just a few dozen

feet away from Charlie when the shots first rang out. Here he is describing that horrific scene. I saw basically him kind of like start to fall, but then all of his security guards just jump up to him. Everyone was like calling their parents, screaming, crying. I heard like four or five people like scream to their friends like yeah, Charlie, Charlie got shot like he's dead. And I was just like, I mean, I just kind of stood there like in shock for a second. I think where like fully hit me like about just how real the situation was is I looked down at his booth, he had his table and everything, and there was just blood all over the table.

And I think, like, at that point, it was like, I just, I could, I literally could not believe what was going on. Now, as you guys can imagine, this assassination has resulted in real concern from lawmakers around the country, many of whom canceled, scheduled events over the next week due to security concerns. President Trump's team even relocated a planned 9-11 ceremony yesterday out of an abundance of caution with the killer still in the loose. Across the country this week, tens of thousands of folks have turned out for candlelight vigils to grieve, honor Charlie's memory, and of course pray for his wife and two small children. For his part, President Trump did announce that Charlie would be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

It is the highest civilian award we give. Charlie was a giant of his generation, a champion of liberty, and an inspiration to millions and millions of people. I'm pleased to announce that I will soon be awarding Charlie Kirk posthumously the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The date of the ceremony will be announced, and I can only guarantee you one thing that we will have a very big crowd. Also on Thursday, Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife Ushah traveled to Salt Lake City to be with Charlie's family. The two of them were very close. From there, the Kirk's joined the second family and flew on Air Force 2 as they carried a Charlie's casket back home to Phoenix one final time.

A powerful moment for Charlie's family. Kevin, thanks for reporting. Absolutely. Charlie Kirk is a divisive figure, polarizing, lightning raw, whatever term you want to use. That was MSNBC host Katie Turr talking about Charlie Kirk after news broke that he'd been shot. It's just one of many responses from the legacy media that has sparked why. widespread criticism. Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Presta Giacomo joins us now. So Amanda, we covered on yesterday's show all the outpouring of love and support from media figures, including Daily Wire

hosts, many of whom knew Charlie well. But unfortunately, there were some alarming responses as well, even on some legacy channels. Can you spotlight a few of those for us? Yeah, well, one of the most widely criticized moments came on MSNBC. Immediately after the shooting, it was strongly implied on that network that Kirk was to blame for his own murder, that this was a justified murder in a sense. This is Matthew Dowd on MSNBC. He's been one of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this, who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to hateful thoughts, lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. That comment, Spark.

instant backlash. And within a few hours, MSNBC issued a statement apologizing for the comments, and then it was later reported that MSNBC had fired doubt. The New York Times also found itself being accused of horrible insensitivity. Its report on the assassination originally smeared Kirk as a provocateur, and they accused him of spreading supposed unsupported claims and outright lies. Now, there's also been a lot of discussion about CNN's recent coverage of Kirk, particularly in the past few days just leading up to this event. What have we seen from them? Yeah, not even a week before Kirk was assassinated.

CNN host Abby Phillip and CNN political commentator Van Jones. They went after Kirk for his comments on the brutal murder of Ukrainian refugee Irina Zerutska. Kirk said the murder was racially motivated. He highlighted audio from surveillance video where the suspect appears to say, I got that white girl. Here's Philip and Jones. People like Charlie Kirk, Van, they've been looking for opportunities. to make this some sort of like reciprocal George Floyd situation.

For Charlie Kirk to say, we know he did it because she's white, when there's no evidence of that, it's just pure race mongering, hate mongering. Someone like Charlie Kirk, he should be ashamed of himself. And notably in response to all of this, Kirk invited Jones on his show to discuss this matter respectfully. That right there is what Kirk was known for, for engaging the other side, for having civil discussions and debate. In fact, as we know, Kirk was engaged.

engaging young people on college campus with differing views the moment he was assassinated. Now, is it fair to say this is part of a larger pattern when it comes to coverage of Kirk? Yeah, no question. We've seen this again and again over the years with left-wing or so-called mainstream coverage. The Sacramento Bee once falsely said that Kirk called for the, quote, lynching of trans people. They had to retract that. MSNBC once branded Kirk's grassroots organization Turning Point USA, a quote, maga white supremacist cult. They also had to walk that. that back. The view co-host would be Goldberg falsely accused TPSA

of letting in neo-Nazis at an event that was also retracted and far-left Southern Poverty Law Center, which claims to monitor so-called hate groups. Just a few months ago, they added TPPUSA to its hate map. For context, this hate map also includes KKK

chapters. Now, what about political leaders on the left? Have we seen a more tempered response from them? Well, we've seen a lot of more generic statements condemning violence, but then we've also seen some victim blaming and both siding. For example, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker disavowed political violence, but seemed to blame President Trump for Kirk's assassination. In this country, I think the president's rhetoric often foments it. We've seen the January 6th rioters

who clearly tripped a new era of political violence. And the president, what did he do? He pardoned them. I mean, what kind of signal does that send to people? who want to perpetrate political violence. Mere hours after Kirk was confirmed dead, GOP rep Lauren Bopert asked House Speaker Mike Johnson to follow up a moment of silence with a verbal prayer. But Democrats erupted. There were reportedly about a dozen Democrats who protested any prayer.

Sort of hard to make out what's being said there, but reports say one Democrat shouted, past some gun laws. Daily Mail reporter John Michael Raj said that this was possibly the ugliest moment he's ever witnessed in politics. Well, you know, we debated whether or not we would even highlight some of these responses on this show, but we felt it was important to put on record. Amanda, thanks for reporting.

No problem. The White House marked the 24th anniversary of 9-11 yesterday with a solemn ceremony, punctuated by a powerful statement from Secretary of War Pete Hegsseth. War is an enduring aspect of the human condition, a tool that, when wielded wisely, ruthlessly punishes enemy's intent, on terrorized, or subjugating our nation. War must not become a mere tool for global social work, eager to risk American blood and treasure for utopian fever dreams. We should hit hard, wreak vengeance, and return home. Joining us now to discuss is retired Marine Corps Major, Chris Lovell Major.

Thank you so much for joining us and thank you for your service. Thanks, John. Thanks for having me on. Before we talk about the new look military under Hegsseth, I wanted to ask you first about 9-11 for 24 years. We've been looking back at the events of that day in the fallout since. What did we see that day as far as the response from the country, our leaders, our first responders? Obviously, it was a shocking event. People can recall the exact moment when they found out the president had been assassinated.

So for us, we remember that. I think the thing that reminds me the most of that day was the following day, President Bush went to the Twin Towers and climbed on a pile of rubble in that famous line. You know, I hear you and the people who brought down these buildings will hear you really soon. That meant that we were going to war. And I remember as a young captain when it happened, I was actually stationed here at Pensacola, and I went into my unit and I gathered my Marines and I said, hey, you know, this is a terrible. event, but be prepared. We're going to war. And we did for a long time. It was refreshing for me

to see, you know, I think the number was 173,000 Americans, young Americans go to the recruiting stations and sign up after 9-11 as a sign of resolve and their patriotism. They could have done a lot of different things with their lives after, but almost 200,000 sign and said, I'll go, Send me. Now, turning to the present day we've seen under Trump and Hegsteth, a dramatic shift in tone and mission from the previous regime. Do you feel that we're in a good place now? We are in such a good place with the military, you know, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegeseth. What a great choice, right?

He's one of us, too. And the things that he's done, you know, specifically just getting rid of the DEI distractions, the woke distractions. you have young men and women that may have been standing on the sidelines for the last four years. I think recruitment is full. Like they've never been fuller. These great young men and women of the next generation are saying, hey, this is the kind of organization I want to be a part of. I want to serve and I want to defend the nation.

And the great part about it is the focus is just now it's lethality. It's not about equality or being fair. You know, young men and women don't want to join the military for fairness. they want to challenge and they want to serve their country. And I think that's what this new administration is giving them. And it's very good to see. Final question. You touched on it there. But what do you think the perception of the role of the U.S. military is now? What is the mission as new recruits understand it now? The mission is clear guidance from leadership. You know, we're going to be lethal. We're going to defend the interests of the United States of America. And we're going to have

leaders that support us and have our backs. And I think that's what I'm, seeing and hearing and reading from, you know, the current morale in the active duty forces, they're happy to have clear guidance and leadership. And that's a huge boost in morale. Just to know you've got leaders that are going to use resources wisely and in the defense of the U.S. Well, as you laid out, the recruitment numbers appear to really back that up major level. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.