Trump says 'vicious' radicals on the left are problem after Kirk assassination

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump stated in a new interview that the “radicals on the left are the problem” following the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot Sept. 10 while speaking in front of a crowd of people as part of his "American Comeback Tour" at Utah Valley University. Trump announced Kirk’s death on Truth Social, calling him “Great, and even Legendary.”

Trump on “Fox & Friends” on Sept. 12 said that “the radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime.”

“Worried about the border, they’re saying, ‘We don’t want these people coming in. We don’t want you burning our shopping centers. We don’t want you shooting our people in the middle of the street,’” Trump said. “The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.”

He said on Sept. 10 that the rhetoric of the “radical Left” was “directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today.”

Meanwhile, Democrats have condemned the assassination and political violence. Progressive firebrand New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that “the assassination of Charlie Kirk risks an uncorking of political chaos and violence that we cannot risk in America.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a Sept. 10 post on X that “Political violence is NEVER acceptable.”

Contributing: Josh Meyer, USA TODAY