The Headlines - Trump’s New Plan to Target Liberal Groups, and a Shouting Match in the Senate

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

Plus, Robert Redford’s legacy. On Today’s Episode:Kirk Killing Suspect Faces Aggravated Murder Charge, and Death Penalty, by Anna Griffin, Jack Healy, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Jacey FortinTrump Invokes Kirk’s Killing in Justifying Measures to Silence Opponents, by Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Andrew Duehren, Kenneth P. Vogel and Katie RogersPatel Plays the Familiar Role of Pugilist at a Senate Hearing, by Glenn Thrush and Alan FeuerTrump Delays TikTok Ban Again as a Deal Takes Shape, by Lauren Hirsch, Emmett Lindner and Sapna MaheshwariWhat to Know About Trump’s Second State Visit to the U.K., by Stephen CastleIsraeli Ground Forces Move Into Gaza City, Sowing Chaos, by Aaron Boxerman, Lara Jakes, Isabel Kershner, Liam Stack and Michael LevensonRobert Redford, Screen Idol Turned Director and Activist, Dies at 89, by Brooks BarnesRobert Redford: 15 Memorable Movies to Stream, by Esther ZuckermanTune in every weekend morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Also, for more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, September 17th. Here's what we're covering. Could you state your name? Tyler James Robinson. Thank you for being here, Mr. Robinson. I'm Judge Graff.

In Utah yesterday, Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, made his first court appearance, joining by video from a county jail while wearing a green suicide prevention vest. For count one, aggravated murder, a capital felony in violation of Utah code. The judge laid out the charges prosecutors have filed. They'd announced earlier in the day that they will seek the death penalty. And in a press conference, they provided the most detailed outline yet of Robinson's mindset after the shooting

and how he came to turn himself in. On September 11th, the day after the shooting, Robinson's mother saw the photo of the shooter in the news and thought the shooter looked like her son. The Utah County attorney said that after authorities released surveillance footage from the scene of the shooting, Robinson's parents thought they recognized him. And Robinson's father said the rifle authorities described as the murder weapon was the same type he'd given his son as a gift.

Robinson's mother explained that over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political and had started to leave. more to the left, becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented. Investigators said his mother called him to ask where he was. He claimed it was at home, sick, but... Roommate. You weren't the one who did it, right? Robinson, I am. I'm sorry. Prosecutor said Robinson had already confessed to the killing in texts with his roommate, his romantic partner who had been transitioning from male to female.

Roommate, why? Robinson, why did I do it? Roommate, yeah. Robinson, I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my... Eventually, Robinson's parents convinced their son to come to the family home, where he implied to them that he was the gunman. They reached out to a family friend who was a retired law enforcement officer. He called up the local sheriff to negotiate a surrender and then drove Robinson over to the sheriff's office, so he could turn himself in. In the six days since Kirk was killed, President Trump and his allies have laid out a broad plan to go after the political left, claiming, without evidence, that the gunman was connected to a dangerous left-wing network.

The president said he wants to designate a range of groups as domestic terrorist organizations without specifying which ones he would target. The administration has also indicated it may go after a number of high-profile liberal philanthropic groups, including the Ford Foundation and George Soros' Open Society Foundations. That could include trying to strip them of their tax-exempt status, a move that could potentially undermine their finances and operations.

In an open letter released this morning, a group of over 100 liberal philanthropies, including Ford and Open Society, accused Trump of trying to exploit political violence to restrict fundamental rights, like the freedom of speech. The letter said, quote, attempts to silence speech, criminalize opposing viewpoints, and misrepresent and limit charitable giving,

undermine our democracy and harm all Americans. Now, a few more updates on the Trump administration. On Capitol Hill. I'm not going anywhere. If you want to criticize my... 16 years of service. Please bring it on. Over to you. FBI director Cash Patel was called to testify before the Senate amid concerns about his leadership of the Bureau. But the hearing quickly devolved into a shouting match with personal attacks. You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United

States Senate. You're disgraced to this institution and an utter coward. Patel, who has embraced Trump's combative style, shouted down Senator Adam Schiff and other Democrats, including when he was pressed about the exodus of top agents from the FBI and allegations that he fired some staffers as part of a White House retribution campaign. You have said. Sir, you're making a mockery of this committee. Sir, you don't tell me my time is over. The people of New Jersey tell me what my time is. You can't lecture me. In a recent lawsuit, former top FBI officials portrayed Patel as out of his depth and more interested in posting on social media than on actually running the FBI's day-to-day operations. At the hearing, Patel denied those claims, but refused to directly answer questions about the thousands of FBI agents who've either been fired or retired since Trump took office. Also, President Trump once again pushed back a deadline for TikTok to either separate itself from its Chinese parent company or face a ban in the U.S. Well, we have a deal on TikTok. I've reached a deal with China. I'm going to speak to President Xi on Friday to confirm everything up.

Trump said yesterday that the U.S. and China have reached the framework for a deal to transfer ownership of the app. If completed, it would mark an end to the long-running debate over TikTok's future in the U.S., where it's used by roughly 170 million people. Last year, Congress, citing national security concerns about the app's ties to China, passed a bipartisan law laying out the sell-or-be-banned ultimatum. While details of the deal are still being worked out, it's likely that TikTok's owner will spin off a new American company to run its U.S. operations, and that it will reduce its Chinese ownership to less than 20%.

And President Trump is in the United Kingdom today to meet with King Charles and Prime Minister Kier-Starmer. Britain and the U.S. are expected to announce billions of dollars in economic deals, including on technology and nuclear power. And the U.K. will be trying to smooth over the tensions that have flared up between the longtime allies over issues like trade and military support for Ukraine. My colleague Mark Landler, the Times London Bureau Chief,

says Britain is rolling out the red carpet with horse-drawn carriages, royal artillery salutes, and an opulent banquet at Windsor Castle. What the British correctly realized is that the royal family is sort of their secret weapon. President Trump has this long-standing affection for the royal family, reverence for the royal family. He viewed his first state visit here in 2019,

is one of the highlights of his presidency, and I think the British government and the royal family are going to do whatever it takes to stay on his good side. Furniture, tents, mattresses, rugs, water tanks, containers, kitchen pots and pans, suitcases, clothes. We're seeing all these things piled onto trucks and vehicles. as tens of thousands of Palestinians flee their homes in Gaza City heading south.

My colleague Mona Bushnock is a photo editor on the Times International Desk. She's been covering the mass evacuation from Gaza City as Israeli forces moved in this week, setting off a chaotic exodus. Our freelance photographer, Sahral Ghurra, goes pretty much on daily basis on the coastal road where people are leaving the city and heading south. And we've been seeing people jammed into vehicles, and trucks and tractors, but many, especially the past few days, we're seeing many more doing the journey on foot.

Especially yesterday, we saw more people in the photos and videos than any of the previous days. Now in the background, we're seeing the landscape of Gaza City changing as people are leaving it. Towers in Gaza City and landmarks have been targeted and bombed. and reduced to absolute trouble. We can also see plumes of smoke rising as people leave their homes. Israel says its military assault is aimed at rooting out Hamas militants in Gaza City, which it claims is one of the group's last strongholds. The assault there has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the territory.

Roughly half a million people are believed to still be sheltering in the city, even as parts of it have been leveled in air strikes. It's unclear how far Israeli forces have advanced this week. Satellite imagery from yesterday shows armored vehicles on nearly all sides of the city. Israeli military analysts said the troops were expected to move slowly, in part out of fear that they could accidentally kill some of the remaining hostages. And finally, the Hollywood legend Robert Redford died yesterday. at 89. And people can duke it out over their favorite Redford role, whether it's the handsome

outlaw in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, his turn as a crusading journalist in all the president's men, the grifter and the sting, the CIA agent, caught in the cat and mouse game in three days of the condor. There are just so many. Redford was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1936. And over his career, he turned his screen idle good looks into a force behind the camera, two, going on to direct the Academy Award-winning film Ordinary People about a family torn apart by grief, which mirrored parts of his own personal life. He also paved the way for a lot of voices to break through by founding the Sundance Institute in the early 1980s and building up its annual film festival, which became the place for indie films and O'Tours. Quentin Tarantino, David O'Russell,

Ryan Coogler, Chloe Zhao, Ava Duverne, they all came up through Sundance. Though Redford later bemoaned how much of a zoo and how commercial the festival became. If you're going to throw yourself a Redford Remembrance movie marathon this weekend, the Times has a list of 15 movies of his to stream. We've got a link to it in the show notes. It includes my absolute favorite movie of all time, the woefully underappreciated 1993 caper about computer hackers trying to do the right thing. The movie is called Sneakers.

It really holds up. Those are the headlines. Today on the Daily, more on the emerging White House plan to use the federal government to crack down on left-wing groups, it believes, inspire political violence. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.