The Philip DeFranco Show - Charlie Kirk Assassination Updates, New FBI Images, & What Comes Next...

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

New photos of a person of interest have been released as the search for Charlie Kirk’s assassin continues. But there has also been contested information released as people demand answers and tensions rise. LISTEN TO THE SHOW iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V WATCH/LISTEN TO MY NEW PODCAST w/ Ari Cohn Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2CePXwDrvdQTes844wflKp?si=55a6b6049c4841ed Youtube: https://youtube.com/acw?sub_confirmation=1 iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-good-faith-with-philip-defranco/id1827016835 JOIN OUR COMMUNITY 📸Instagram: https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco  🐦Twitter: https://twitter.com/phillyd  🎵TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco  TODAY’S STORIES 00:00 - What We Know About the Shooting of Charlie Kirk  10:24 - Suspect Dead, Two Students Wounded in CO School Shooting  12:55 - Former FBI Officials File Lawsuit Claiming They Were Illegally Fired  18:42 - Senate Republicans Block Proposal to Release Epstein Files 20:11 - SCOTUS Rules in Favor of Trans Student in South Carolina Bathroom Ban Case THE TEAM Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino   ———————————— #DeFranco #CharlieKirk #DonaldTrump Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So the hunt for Charlie Kirk's killer is underway. And as of recording, no suspects are in custody. The identity of the shooter, it remains unknown. But the FBI did just release the first photos to the public. Before we get into all that, I want to start at the beginning, right? What happened yesterday while Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University. It was meant to be the first of 15 stops on his American comeback tour, which is organization Turning Point USA, described as being aimed at giving students the tools to push back against left-wing indoctrination and academia and reclaim their right to free speech. And then with that, you saw the event taking the format that he's probably best known for, which is the prove me wrong segment in which he invites attendees to ask him questions, debate him, and otherwise try and prove him wrong.

Right in the clips from those interactions, they rack up millions and millions of views each on social media. Then instead, what we saw yesterday is that roughly 20 minutes into the event, someone asked, do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years? Kirk answers too many. And the same audience member goes on to say that the number is five. And then that person asking Kirk, how many mass shooters there have been in general in America over the past 10 years with Kirk asking counting or not counting gang violence. And then he got shot in the neck. As we talked about yesterday, it was horrific. If you have not seen it,

I do not recommend you go look at it. His head snapped back. There was blood pouring out. There was panic, screaming, shouting. Some people took cover. Some people ran. And then within a couple of hours, it was confirmed that Kirk had been killed and Utah Valley University told students on campus to take shelter inside until they could be escorted out by police. And actually with that, it's now being said that they've closed their campus and canceled classes for at least the rest of the week. what we saw is that by the end of the day, two people had been taken into custody, but both ended up being released without being charged in relation to the shooting. Though notably, you had FBI director Cash Patel prematurely writing on X that the subject

of the horrific shooting that took the life of Charlie Kirk was in custody. And with that, you had places like the New York Times noting that that was unusual that the FBI director would personally take the lead in releasing information about the shooting and even more unusual that he chose to share the information minutes before state and local officials were scheduled to provide a press briefing. And then actually, with that you had Patel having to walk back as earlier claim and announced that the subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement and adding, our investigation continues and we will continue to release information and interest of

transparency. Also, I'll say that around that time, the idea that the shooter was in custody had already been accepted by many. And in fact, there was a video of a man briefly detained after the shooting that led to false claims that a Canadian man bearing his resemblance was the shooter. And that rumor reportedly originated from an account on X called Fox 11 Reno, though that doesn't actually have any relation to the real Fox News. And so instead, it looked like it was an account that aimed to capitalize on the lack of information around the shooter and try to get traffic to the website and generate some ad revenue. Then I'll say, you know, with so much wrong information out there and just unknown about what's happening, we got to talk about exactly

what we do and do not know. Starting with what we do know is that authorities believe the shooter fired from a rooftop. And with that, you have videos recorded before and after the shooting, showing a person on the roof of a building more than 100 yards when Kirk was standing. One video, you have someone looking saying they saw someone run across the roof and lie down. And then in the second video, the person could be seen rushing away from that spot immediately after the shooting. And then with that, you had the FBI saying in a press briefing this morning that they'd been able to track the movements of the suspected shooter all the way from him arriving on campus, going up a stairwell, and getting onto the roof to jumping off the roof and fleeing

into a neighborhood after he took the shot. You also had the agency releasing a photo of the suspect's help and identifying the person and, in fact, offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the suspect's arrest. Also, you had them saying that they found a high-powered bolt-action rifle in a wooded area near the scene. And with that, you had the Wall Street Journal reporting that investigators found ammunition engraved with expressions of transgender and anti-fascist ideology inside that rifle. And actually, a senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation reportedly told in New York Times that this had not been verified by ATF analysts did not match other summaries of the evidence and might turn out to have been misread or misinterpreted. But with that, I will say, at least as a recording, that detail has not been publicly confirmed by authorities yet.

And so then with all that, as a recording, officials have not released an official motive regarding the shooting. But then with all that said, let's move on to the response. reactions and sort of the fallout that we've been seeing since. And we'll start with President Trump, who first wrote on Truth Social. No one understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by all, especially me, and now he is no longer with us. And with that, you had Trump announcing that American flags would be flown at half staff and adding that he'd be awarding Kirk a posthumous presidential Medal of Freedom Award.

You also had other Republicans and members of the administration coming out and singing Kirk's praises, including RFK Jr, Pete Hegset, Pam Bondi, Mike Johnson, and J.D. Vance who actually went to Utah today to pay respect to Kirk's family. But then also outside of the responses expressing condolences or praising Kirk, you had people blaming the left for what happened with, for example, Elon Musk maybe being the most prominent voice there writing, The Left is the party of murder. And you had Musk also responding exactly to a post that said the left-wing mainstream media as well as figures like Gavin Newsom claiming Trump plans to be dictator has created a climate of hysteria against right-wing figures that could

radicalize any number of unstable people to engage in political violence. And then adding to that, You had the likes of right-wing influencer Laura Lumer, who has been known to have influence over Trump, not only blaming the left, but calling on Trump to crack down on them. Writing, it's time for the Trump administration to shut down, defund, and prosecute every single leftist organization. More people will be murdered if the left isn't crushed with the power of the state. It's time for the full power of the executive branch to come crashing down on the heads of news companies and media personalities who incite political violence in our country. And a very big thing with that, as you had many saying,

that's sort of the tone that we saw Trump taking in his remarks on Kurt's death last night. years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now. My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country. From the attack on my life in Butler, Pennsylvania last year, which killed a husband and father,

to the attacks on ice agents, to the vicious murder of a health care executive in the streets of New York, to the shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalia. and three others. Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives. What I will say with that is that Trump is absolutely right in saying that political violence is a huge and growing problem in this country, though it is very clearly not a one-sided one. Last year, according to Capitol Police, there were 9,500 threats and concerning statements made against Congress members, their families and their staff, up from 8,000 the year prior and up from less than 4,000 in 2017. And then as far as judges and prosecutors, you have the U.S. Marshal

service saying that threats against them reportedly doubled from 2021 to 2023. And then, of course, besides the threats, there's tons of stories that could have been mentioned. Right, in addition to incidents mentioned by Trump, like his own assassination attempts, which are horrifying. Back in 2020, the Democratic governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, was the subject of a kidnapping plot. You then had the January 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021, with Trump pardoning everyone, whether they were violent or not. In 2022, Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked in their San Francisco home by a man wielding a hammer. In D.C., you've had armed men arrested and accused to heading toward the homes of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and former President Barack Obama with the intent to kill them.

And I mean, this year, we had things like a guy who ran for the New Mexico legislature as a Republican being convicted for planning a politically motivated shooting spree against four Democratic officials. You had a guy shooting up the CDC after allegedly falling prey to misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine. And you had a guy with a list of dozens of other potential Democratic targets killing Minnesota's House Speaker Belisa Hortman and her husband, Mark, while also wounding State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. You might remember after that, you had people like Republican Senator Mike Lee writing a mocking post on X saying Nightmare on Walt Street. Or with him also pushing conspiracy theories

trying to blame that act of political violence on Marxists. While the reactions online from everyday people, there's been a range of them in those situations and with this Kirk one, in response to Kirk's death, we've seen universal condemnation from the country's most prominent Democrats, including Obama, Biden, Harris, Bernie Sanders, AOC, Zoran, Mamdani, and the list goes on.

All more or less, saying political violence is no place in America and must be rejected in all forms. Now, again, with that, to be very clear, It is not that no one is saying horrible stuff about Kirk's death. There are people that are out there celebrating, saying that he got what was coming to, people pointing to his stance on gun control. Also with that, people posting this clip in particular that's been making the rounds. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year,

so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. In general, we've seen a lot of people yelling at each other. In fact, we saw a shouting match breakout in Congress yesterday with Mike Johnson pausing the house in the middle of a series of votes to call for a moment of silence and prayer for Kirk. And for around 30 seconds, people from both parties, they respected the moment of silence. But when Johnson tried to get things going again, Lauren Bobert started calling for him to have someone lead a spoken prayer for Kirk, who at the time was reported to be in critical condition. With Bobert saying, I believe, silent prayers get silent results.

And then you had several Democrats objecting, pointing out that there was also a school shooting earlier in the day, which we'll also talk about soon, and saying that there was no prayer for those kids. Then you had Anna, Paulina, Luna, a Florida Republican who was close to Kirk, starting to angrily yell back, saying to Democrats, you all caused this. And then as other Republicans began yelling at Democrats, you had at least one Democrat responding, passed some gun laws. But then many noting that Utah where Kirk was killed, it has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the country allowing the purchase and possession of firearms in most cases without a permit or license. And then also with that, you had people pointing to in May, Utah lawmakers actually updating state law to allow the open carry of weapons with a permit on college campuses. Though, with that, I want to say, we do not know if stricter gun laws. there at this time would have actually helped in this specific case. But ultimately, that is where we are right now, and we're going to see how this plays out, what more information we get,

what happens with this manhunt. And so for now, I'll end this with essentially what I said yesterday and a little bit today. I think this is horrific, disgusting, wrong, no matter. Our differences of opinion in politics, I denounce political violence. And I'm sending my thoughts, my well-wishes, and my prayers to Charlie's family and loved ones. And also, as far as the situation as a whole, I hope and pray that there can be a cooling down. a dialogue, but I also fear that what has happened is going to be used to unleash horror. For now, we'll have to wait and see. But then also, you know, I mentioned that we would talk about the other news of the day,

and that includes that as the news about Charlie Kirk was playing out, we saw headlines about a school shooting in the suburbs of Denver. Right in there, the suspects of a male student who reportedly opened fire and injured two other students before taking his own life at Evergreen High School. You had both victims initially considered in critical condition, though one was eventually in stable condition by the early evening. You also had some local outlets saying that another student was injured, though that wasn't from gunshot wounds. Instead, that was from trying to escape the school. And as far as what we know happened, you had officers receiving a call of an active shooter at around 1230 and they arrived at the school in two minutes.

And then encountering the shooter within five, though they reportedly didn't use their weapons. And reportedly, there were hundreds of witnesses to what happened. And right now, we don't know if the victim shot were specifically targeted. And it's also unclear where the shooting started. But you have investigators saying that shots were fired both in and outside of the building. Right now, there's still an ongoing investigation into this person and their locker, car, home, and social media is all going to be looked at to identify a motive. Today, you also have the authorities identifying the 16-year-old suspect and saying that he was radicalized by an extremist network, though they didn't elaborate any further on that. The whole thing, obviously terrifying students in the community with also the New York Times speaking to one mother who received a text from her teen daughter saying, someone just shot up the school, mom, I'm so scared, mom. That mom then saying that she just vomited from how crazy it was. You also had reports of things saying that students who heard the shots, they were running in every direction away from the school,

and you had things like 18 of them reportedly making to a nearby house and pounding on the door, asking for help with that person that lived there telling local news, you know, they're a retired educator, his wife's a retired nurse, and they took them in. And all of this, given everything that we're seeing it, has people underscoring the issue of school shootings. You know, according to reports, there have been 47 so far this year, which have killed 19 people and injured 77 others. There was one in Minnesota just two weeks ago in Evergreen High School. the site of yesterday's shooting, it's actually in the same district as the Columbine High School. So with that, you also had Tracy Dorland, the superintendent of the district, issuing a statement saying, we cannot pretend this is just another tragic incident. The pain of this incident reopens old wounds. I know there are many in our Jeffco community hurting and grieving tonight

in Evergreen and Beyond. The urgency this moment demands is undeniable and dadding. We all know expressions of support, condolences, and gratitude are not enough. The nation is tired of statements filled with platitudes and thoughts and prayers. What we need is courage. What we need is the collective will of our entire community. Violence involving our young people should never be normalized, and we must face the difficult truth that too often it is. And that is either the governor of Colorado writing,

no family should ever fear for their child's life as they send them to school. Ultimately, for now, that's where we are on this, obviously, bleak story. But the next up, in the news from that, we have to talk about Trump's FBI because these allegations and this new lawsuit are very interesting. Because this lawsuit, it comes from three-fired senior officials who were taking FBI director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the entire federal government to court. In this, over what they called a campaign of retribution for their

perceived failure to demonstrate sufficient political loyalty to the president. And this is a big deal, not only because it's the first lawsuit from former FBI agents challenging their firings, but also because it looks like it paints a certain picture of Cash Patel and his deputy director, Dan Bongino. Right, because you have places like the New York Times saying it describes these right-wing influencers with far less experienced than any of their predecessors as almost cartoonish figures, is more interested in social media or handing out oversized challenge coins and in running the day-to-day operations of the nation's flagship law enforcement agency. And as far as those alleged challenge coins, apparently Patel had these large tokens minted with his own name printed on them,

with the S and cash being a dollar sign. And according to the lawsuit, when one of the plaintiffs received this coin, he also noticed a collection of whiskey bottles and cigars on the director's desk. But with that said, let's get into the more serious accusations. Starting with the first and most senior plaintiff, Brian Driscoll, a widely respected professional who worked at the agency for two decades and eventually became Trump's acting FBI director before Patel got confirmed. Though about that, he was actually supposed to be deputy director with the director role going to another senior agent, Robert Kassain. But then, the White House issued a public statement announcing the promotions and he listed

Kisain as deputy director and Driscoll is director, reportedly because of a clerical error. But then, apparently, instead of fixing the mistake, the White House just rolled with it, giving one of the most powerful posts in federal law enforcement to the wrong guy. Now, we'll say that something that we already knew, but what we just learned from this lawsuit is how Driscoll supposedly got selected for the role. With the lawsuit saying in January, he got a call from Patel informing him that he'd soon be vetted by Trump's presidential transition team. And when he asked what that would entail, Patel allegedly responded that as long as he was not prolific on social media, did not donate to the Democratic Party and did not vote for Kamala Harris, he'd be fine. And then when the call came, he says that the man on the other end was Paul and Gracia, a then 29-year-old political appointee with zero prior experience in the White House, DOJ, or FBI.

But then, seemingly, more concerning the questions allegedly included, who did you vote for, when did you start supporting President Trump? have you voted for a Democrat in the last five elections? Do you agree that the FBI agents who stormed Mar-a-Lago should be held accountable? What are your thoughts on diversity, equity, and inclusion? Then Driscoll saying that he refused to answer most of those questions, reportedly informing Ingracia, whom he would later be told did not understand how the government work, that talking politics on the job would violate the hatch act. But then, despite having been told he failed the interview,

Driscoll says then-acting Deputy Attorney General, Amel Beauvais, vouched for his character and he got him appointed anyway. Though, almost as soon as he entered his new office, Driscoll's character was apparently put to the test. But with the lawsuit, alleging that Beauvais demanded the names of every FBI agent or employee across the country who was involved in the January 6th prosecution. To which Driscoll says he informed him that the list would include thousands of people and to emphasize the magnitude and breadth of the request, noted that he himself would be among them.

But then, saying that he was under relentless pressure, Driscoll eventually handed over nearly 6,000 employee ID numbers, hiding their names to protect them from harassment should the list leak. Right. And then, when Elon Musk's infamous Fork in the Road email went out to government employees, Driscoll reportedly told Beauvais that it was causing panic and anxiety in the FBI and thereby putting its missions in national security at risk. But according to him, Beauvais replied that the creation of panic and anxiety, that that was the point. The next year had Patel being confirmed as the permanent director and Driscoll got another senior role in the FBI, but he still got into hot water with the administration. With officials allegedly pressuring him to fire a pilot who flew the FBI's private plane because he was involved in the raid of Mar-a-Lago among others.

And then allegedly when Driscoll pushed back, Patel said they, meaning the White House, had directed him to fire anyone who they identified, as having worked on a criminal investigation against President Donald J. Trump. With the lawsuit then continuing, when Driscoll explained that firing people based on case assignments would be in direct violation of internal FBI processes, Patel said that he understood that, and he knew the nature of the summary firings were likely illegal and that he could be sued and later deposed.

But he then allegedly added he had to fire people. His superiors told him to fire because his ability to keep his own job depended on. With him explaining that, quote, there was nothing he or Driscoll could do to stop these or any other firings because, and here the suit quotes Patel, the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn't forgotten it. And not long after, you had Driscoll fired for good, right? But then the next plaintiff is Stephen Jensen,

who is the head of the FBI's Washington field office. Well, he tells a story about Dan Bongino that is bizarre. Or with Jensen saying that it started when the deputy director called him into his office, at which point Jensen recalls, Bongino looked as if he had not slept for several days. He seemed extremely anxious and agitated. In saying that when Jensen asked what was wrong, he says Bongino told him that he'd found classified documents from the Russian collusion probe,

next to burn bags. To which Jensen said, he informed him that using burn bags or standard practice for investigations that have been closed or papers that are no longer needed because there are digital copies. With Jensen saying that adding to his alarm at Bongino's apparent on seriousness, he worried that the deputy director spent more time creating content for his social media pages than doing actual police work. But then, according to the lawsuit, the last straw came when Bongino asked him

to fire an agent that he believed was involved in the Russian collusion probe. Jensen saying he defended the agent, pleading to at least delay any firing because the agent's wife at stage four cancer and just days left to live. And then about a month later, both the agent and Jensen were fired. And finally, had the last plaintiff, Spencer Evans, the head of the Las Vegas field office. He had him coming under fire from right-wing social media because during the pandemic, he was responsible for approving and denying requests for COVID protocol exemptions. And although he claims that both Bongino and Patel liked him at first, he says that they turned on him after social media lit them up for keeping him on board. In his termination letter read, you demonstrated a lack of

reasonableness and overzealousness in the implementation of COVID-19 protocol. and policies. So now, all three of these men, Driscoll, Jensen, and Evans, they're seeking a jury trial and asking to be both vindicated and reinstated in the FBI. And I will say, if that happens, I mean, it could be quite the ordeal because many of the people named in the suit might be forced to testify. But then, I'll say, shifting gears from that, there's also other news we should talk about today. Starting with that you had Republicans in the Senate, voting to block a proposal from Senator Chuck Schumer to release the Epstein files. Right, and that because you had Schumer proposing an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that was being hashed out in the Senate.

Congress. What we ended up getting was the Senate voting 51 to 49 to table the measure with only two Republicans, Josh Hawley and Rand Paul, voting alongside Democrats. I'll say that, you know, while ultimately it failed, it's still significant because it brought the Epstein battle to the Senate, which, unlike the House, has largely been able to avoid the fight. But I will say, with that you had Schumer making it clear to his Republican colleagues that they won't be able to get out of this so easily, saying, if Republicans vote no, you'll be saying to the American people that they should not see the Epstein files. I ask my Republican colleagues, after all those years you spent calling for accountability, for transparency, for getting to the bottom of these awful crimes, why won't you vote yes? But then also with this, we've got to talk about how things are heating up in the House, with Representatives Thomas Massey and Roe-Kana gaining steam with their bill to release the files. Because those two, you had them circulating a discharge petition, which would allow them to skirt around leadership and force a floor vote on the measure, as long as they can collect enough signatures from a majority of House members. They've been able to get prominent Republicans to sign on, including Lauren Bobert and Marjorie Taylor Green.

And in fact, yesterday the petition collected a 217 signature after swearing in a new Democratic representative who won a special election in Virginia. So now, Kana and Massey, they're just one vote away to reach the 218 threshold. You know, while, of course, they're hoping they can get another Republican to sign on, the final signature could also comment is more likely to come from a winner of a special election in the solidly blue district in Arizona, where a Democrat is expected to win. Also, I'll say while we're on quick political news, we should talk about the very surprising news coming from the Supreme Court that ruled in favor of a trans student and a South Carolina bathroom ban case. Because the case there, it centers around a 14-year-old transgender boy who is challenging the state law that requires

students to use bathrooms that aligned with their gender that they were assigned at birth. And you have the students saying that the law violates his constitutional rights under the Equal Protection Clause and it goes against Title IX, which bans discrimination based on sex and education. What you had is last month, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Temporally ordered the student school to let him use the boys' bathroom while his case played out in court. But then, South Carolina filing an emergency appeal, asking the Supreme Court justices to uphold the bathroom ban. But then, what you saw is that a majority of justices rejected the application, letting the appeals court decision stand and allowing the student to use the bathroom

that he wants at school while his case continues. With that, I'll say, and this is a big key thing, the ruling, it only applies to this one kid. And you're the court, making it clear that their decision was based on the state's failure to meet the standards for an emergency order and adding that their denial, quote, is not a ruling on the merits of the legal issues presented.

And then actually, with that, it's important to know that the Supreme Court might weigh in on similar issues very soon. Because the justices have agreed to hear a major case during the term that starts next month that could decide whether trans girls can play on women's sports teams at school. But that, my friends, brings us to the end of today's show. Though I will say if you're especially interested in like the international news that we often cover,

just an hour ago put out a brand new episode of my In Good Faith podcast where this week I had on Preston Stewart and we talked about Israel, Gaza, Russia, Ukraine, China, there's a lot in there. Also, if you miss coverage from this week, you can click or tap there. And whether it be the PDS or the podcast, if you want to listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or watch on YouTube, I've got links in the description to this video. Thank you for watching. I love yo faces. Stay safe out there and I'll see you next time.