Charles Feldman: US correspondent on Charlie Kirk's murder accused making first court appearance

Charlie Kirk's murder accused allegedly told his roommate about the fatal shooting.

22-year-old Tyler Robinson is facing seven charges including aggravated murder, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

US prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

US correspondent Charles Feldman says Robinson exchanged a series of texts and left a note for his roommate reportedly confessing to the murder.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International Correspondence with Ends and Eye Insurance, Peace of Mind
for New Zealand Business. Charles Feldman, US correspondence with US.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Now Hey, Charles, Hey, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Okay, so we've got Charlie Kirk's murder accused appearing in
court for the first time. What's the latest here, Well.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
He appeared by video and there's a lot of new
evidence that was presented at the court. We found out,
for example, that he apparently had an exchange This is,
of course, the suspect in exchange of text messages with
his roommate, who also happened to be someone he was
romantically involved with, where if you accept at face value

(00:43):
those text messages, he would seem to indicate that he
was confessing to the murder of Charlie Kirk. And when
his roommate asked why, his response was along the lines
of that he couldn't tolerate in his view, was the
hate that and he was referring to a hate speech

(01:04):
of course, that Charlie Kirk was spreading on his campus debates.
So we learned that, We learned that the state of
Utah is planning to seek the death penalty if he's convicted.
Not at all clear if a jury will go along
with that, and also in the states on the states
that do have the death penalty, these things do play

(01:26):
out over many, many years, So this is something that's
going to take a very long time.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Did you see anything in the text messages that have
been released that caught your eye? I mean, it seemed
to me the remarkable thing about it was how calm
he wasn't explaining why he did the thing that he
had done.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yes, I mean, and I think that that's actually a
very precise way of putting it, Heather. He was very
matter of fact. He didn't seem to be trying in
any way, shape or form to conceal his action. But
he wasn't boastful either. He was you know, at least
my reading of it was, he was very straightforward. He said,
you know, this is what I did. I had an

(02:07):
opportunity and I decided to take that opportunity. And his roommate,
who is apparently cooperating with authorities, was incredulous and at
first said, you know, you're kidding, right, And obviously he wasn't.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Kidding, Yeah, not at all. Now, listen, the terrorism charges
against Luigi MANGIONI have been dropped y.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Well, because terrorism charges at the state level is kind
of a new thing here in the In the States,
terrorism charges typically are for federal cases. Some states passed
their own terrorism laws after nine to eleven. They've rarely

(02:51):
been prosecuted in court, and so the prosecutors were going
for it. But the judge said, no, you know, not
really an off there to say that this was a
terrorism case, because terrorism implies all kinds of political philosophies
and that sort of thing, and that was, in the
Dredger's view, absent from this particular case. So therefore no

(03:15):
terrorism charge.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, do you reckon Trump's going to cut some deals
with Stammer?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Well, he wants to cut deals, right, I mean, you know,
look the whole reason, as you know, the Brits decided
to have him back. Trump back for a second unprecedented
stayed Visit was in their hopes that by buttering him
up they would get a better deal when it comes
to trade and tariffs, and Trump is planning to have

(03:41):
some signing of agreements along the lines of high tech
and that sort of thing. You know. Trump likes to
be treated like a monarch, so it's kind of a
meeting of monarchs if you will.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, one way of looking at it, Charles, Thanks very much,
Charles Feldman, You is correspondent. More from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.
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