The left have been furiously spinning narrative in the wake of the horrific assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Much of this spin is dedicated to the negation of a transgender motive behind the shooting. In service of that narrative, CBS’s Scott MacFarlane completely misrepresented statements by Utah Governor Spencer Cox.
Watch as MacFarlane tried to establish, without evidence, that Gov. Cox ruled transgender issues out as a motive in the shooting:
FAKE NEWS ALERT: In no way did UT @GovCox suggest on his ABC and NBC hits today that “there is no indication or no idea yet if” transgenderism is “at all relevant to this case”, as CBS’s Scott MacFarlane suggests to viewers of Face the Nation. pic.twitter.com/vQhFZ4c6nM
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
MAJOR GARRETT: Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox has been the most authoritative voice in this matter since it happened, Scott. We have some new comments from him this morning.
SCOTT MacFARLANE: Sounds like they have a lot to work with, to start. First of all, as the weekend began they executed a search warrant on the family home in Washington County, Utah. It’s about three or four hours from the site of the shooting. The governor, though, says multiple people are talking here- including the roommate of the suspect who he describes as incredibly cooperative. The roommate, he says, had no idea this was happening. And he also says the roommate may have been in a romantic relationship with Tyler Robinson, may have been gender transitioning. But the governor says there’s no indication or no idea yet if that’s at all relevant to this case.
Sounds definitive. But that’s not at all what Gov. Cox said on any of his Sunday show interviews on CNN, ABC and NBC. The most extensive exchange was on CNN, where State of the Union host Dana Bash grilled Cox as if he were an unindicted coconspirator in the shooting:
Two minutes of CNN’s Dana Bash trying to push UT @GovCox into admitting that transgenderism is not germane to motive in the assassination of Charlie Kirk pic.twitter.com/Ur8ABcpJt3
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
DANA BASH: Well, some outlets are reporting that the suspect lived with a transgender partner. Is that accurate? And are investigators looking at this part of his life as a possible motivation?
SPENCER COX: Yes, definitely. And yes, I can confirm that. I know that has been reported and that the FBI has confirmed that as well, that the roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to- to female. I can say that- that he has been very cooperative. This- this partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening and is working with investigators right now.
BASH: And how is that relevant to the investigation when it comes to the motive? Are you learning that?
COX: Sure. Well, yeah, that’s what we’re- that’s what we’re trying to figure out right now. Again, it’s- I mean, it’s easy to draw conclusions from that. And- and so, you know, we’ve got- we’ve got the shell casings, other forensic evidence that is coming in and trying to piece all of those things together.
BASH: You said that the roommate is being very helpful. Has that individual explained to law enforcement what the mindset of the shooter was and whether or not it is connected to his ideology or his- his situation as transitioning as you just described.
COX: I’m not sure about- not- not sure about that piece right now, Dana.
BASH: Okay. So we’re not sure if that- the fact that he was romantically involved, as you say, with his partner who was transitioning, is relevant to the motive of the murder based on the investigation.
COX: Well, sure. Again, all of these things are- we’re trying to figure it out. I know everybody wants to know exactly why and point the finger. And I totally get that I do, too. And so I just want to be be careful, as I haven’t read all of the interview transcripts and so we’ll have to wait and see what comes out.
There is nothing in Cox’s responses to Bash’s badgering that is consistent with an admission that transgenderism is not relevant to motive, as reported by MacFarlane. If anything, Cox was intent in protecting the integrity of the investigation, ahead of Tuesday’s filing of formal charging documents.
On ABC’s This Week, Martha Raddatz didn’t even address relevance, choosing instead to try and trip Cox on the shooter’s ideology:
UT @GovCox confirms that the “roommate” is in fact the transgender boyfriend of Charlie Kirk’s assassin, after a Mat Gutman video package that omits this detail entirely. Cox states much more info to be released on Tuesday, when charging documents are filed. pic.twitter.com/5TUXxqwws0
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
MARTHA RADDATZ: Anything new on the investigation? You say he admitted that, confessed?
COX: No, not — again, he has not confessed to authorities. He is not cooperating. But all the people around him are cooperating. And I think that’s very important. There were reports yesterday that we can confirm that his roommate was, indeed, a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female. That’s information that the FBI had mentioned yesterday. We can confirm that as well. And that he is cooperating with authorities as well.
RADDATZ: And, Governor, you told The Wall Street Journal that Tyler Robinson was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology. Have investigators uncovered evidence to- to show that?
COX: So far, that has come from his acquaintances and family members. That’s where the initial information has come from. Certainly, there will be much more information that is released in the charging documents as they are bringing all of that together. Just like to remind people that- that press conference on Friday, we had been up all night trying to get as much as we could in a very short amount of time. We are collecting much more, including forensic evidence that is coming back from Quantico, that will help us tie the shooter to the weapon and everything else. So that’s all being processed right now. And there will be much, much more information on Tuesday when that document is filed with the- with the courts.
On Meet the Press, NBC’s Kristen Welker asked about motive but didn’t press Cox on the transgender issue, avoiding it altogether:
Here again and contrary to what CBS’s Scott MacFarlane laid out- no dismissal of transgenderism as an issue, but a holding back ahead of the formal filing of charges. pic.twitter.com/qd3XWrd13y
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) September 14, 2025
KRISTEN WELKER: Governor, let me start by just asking you to update us on the investigation. What more have investigators learned about the suspect and the motive here?
COX: Yeah. So there will be much more coming out on Tuesday when charges are filed. They are gathering evidence, interviewing known friends and people around the suspect. What we know so far, there are a couple of things that we can confirm that have been reported. We can confirm that, again, according to family and people that we’re interviewing, he does come from a conservative family, but his ideology was very different than his family, and so that’s part of it. We do know that- that the roommate that we had originally talked about- we can confirm that that roommate is a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female, so we know that piece. I will say that that person has been very cooperative with authorities, and we have additional evidence, forensic evidence that has been processed, we’ll be sharing that when charges are filed on Tuesday. So everything that we know confirms that this is the person. The why behind this, again, we’re all drawing lots of conclusions and how someone like this could be radicalized, and I think that those are important questions for us to ask and important questions for us to answer.
WELKER: Governor, you say that the boyfriend, the roommate is cooperating with investigators. What, specifically, have you learned from this individual and is the suspect cooperating?
COX: So what we’ve learned specifically is that this person that did not have any knowledge- was shocked when they found out about it, when he found out about it. The suspect has not been cooperating so far and so we’re getting all of this information from family members. Again, people around the suspect and then the forensic information that we have, which is confirming everything and more than what we were able to share in that initial press conference.
Nowhere where motive was discussed across the Sunday dial did Cox rule out transgenderism as a motive. In fact, Cox repeatedly hinted that more was coming down the pike when formal charges are filed on Tuesday.
But Scottie Mac needed to keep the narrative alive, at least for another day or two. To that end, the truth seems secondary. Perhaps irrelevant, in the face of a story that is increasingly uncomfortable for the legacy media to cover.
