Early Wednesday morning, ABC chief national correspondent Matt Gutman took to X and not on-air to offer his attempt at apologizing for fawning Tuesday afternoon over text messages between the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination and his trans lover as “lovingly” stated, “very intimate,” and “very touching.”
Gutman stated at 6:32 a.m. Eastern ahead of his Good Morning America liveshot about the case (albeit back in Los Angeles) the following:
1. Yesterday I tried to underscore the jarring contrast between this cold blooded assassination of Charlie Kirk – a man who dedicated his life to public dialogue – and the personal, disturbing texts read aloud by the Utah County Attorney at the press conference.
He then added that “I deeply regret that my words did not make that clear. But let there be zero doubt here: I unequivocally condemn this horrific crime and the pain it caused Charlie Kirk’s family, those who were forced to witness it at UVU, and the millions of people he inspired.”
Reminder: Gutman has already been suspended twice by ABC (once for false information, another for insubordination).
As a reminder, below is the first of two insane glorifications of the alleged assassin and his trans lover (or click here to read our full write-up and analysis):
He also doubled down on ABC News Live, not even ten minutes later (emphasis mine):
It’s heartbreaking on so many levels, Kyra. Obviously, Charlie Kirk was murdered brutally in front of a crowd of thousands…[O]n the other hand, there is this duality of a very a portrait of a very human person, a very human experience from this entire family…the kid who had got a 34 out of 36 on the ACT, who had a 4.0, who got a full ride to college here…I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a press conference in which we’ve read text messages that are A, so fulsome, so robust, so apparently, allegedly self-incriminating and yet, on the other hand, so touching — right — with the suspect reaching out to his roommate, who was allegedly his boyfriend, who we understand, you know, identified as male at birth, now identifies as female. And the terminology he used, he was trying to protect him. He kept calling him ‘my love.’ ‘My reason for doing this is to protect you,’ you know, but also asking him to delete the messages and not speak to law enforcement. So there’s this, this heartbreaking duality that we’re seeing very tragically playing out here.
Our boss and Media Research Center President David Bozell hit the nail on the head with a response to Gutman’s second post: “Go on the air and say this. It’s the least you and ABC could do.”
2023 MRC Bulldog Award winner and Washington Free Beacon reporter Andrew Kerr noted the claims Gutman leveled about the texts claiming the suspect allegedly murdered Kirk to protect his trans partner was a fabrication:
Feel free to reread Gutman’s Wednesday morning statement, but he sure didn’t seem to address this particular aspect.
