FBI Deputy Director Dan Bonino Reveals Investigation Details Into Charlie Kirk Assassination and Warning Signs

[00:00] So good morning everyone on this Monday

[00:02] morning. We saw an outpouring of support

[00:05] from coast to coast over the weekend

[00:07] north into Canada for the late Charlie

[00:09] Kirk. How people across the country now

[00:11] are paying tribute as we say although

[00:13] somber weekend. We'll get to everything

[00:15] this coming week. We'll take a day by

[00:16] day. I'm Bill Hemer. Dana's got the week

[00:18] off and welcome to our coverage as we

[00:20] begin a new to our old friend.

[00:22] Tough couple of days. Good morning to

[00:24] you. Good to see you. I'm Aisha Husnney

[00:26] and this is America's newsroom. So it

[00:27] was a weekend of remembrance bill.

[00:29] Everybody from musicians to athletes and

[00:32] everyday Americans all mourning Charlie

[00:34] Kirk. Charlieie

[00:38] charie Charlie.

[00:45] [Music]

[00:56] [Music]

[00:58] It's been hitting me harder in the last

[01:00] couple days and I just wanted to let

[01:02] Eric and Kirk know that me and my family

[01:03] are sending prayers our way.

[01:06] USA.

[01:11] [Applause]

[01:13] So, now we know that Charlie Kirk's

[01:15] memorial service is set for Sunday in

[01:17] Arizona. President Trump will be there.

[01:20] It will be held in a football stadium

[01:22] where the Arizona Cardinals play.

[01:23] Capacity 78,000 possibly.

[01:26] Uh this is Charlie Kirk's widow, Erica,

[01:29] reacted to the assassination on Friday

[01:31] evening and then sent out a few of these

[01:33] photos from over the weekend. She vows

[01:35] to continue his legacy and make the

[01:37] movement even stronger than what he

[01:39] started.

[01:40] Meanwhile, Bill, we are still learning

[01:42] more about his suspected assassin.

[01:44] Officials are telling us that he is not

[01:46] cooperating with them, but his family

[01:48] and his friends are talking. And FBI

[01:51] director Cash Patel gave us an update on

[01:53] this investigation this morning. Listen,

[01:55] I can report today that the DNA hits

[01:58] from the towel that was wrapped around

[02:00] the firearm and the DNA on the

[02:03] screwdriver are positively processed for

[02:06] the suspect in custody. The suspect

[02:08] wrote a note saying, "I have the

[02:10] opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and

[02:11] I'm going to take it." That note was

[02:13] written before the shooting. Um,

[02:15] evidence of existence we now have

[02:17] learned existed before the shooting was

[02:19] in the location um in the suspect and

[02:22] partner's home. But we have since

[02:24] learned that the note, even though it

[02:25] has been destroyed, we have found

[02:27] forensic evidence of the note. And we

[02:29] have confirmed what that note says

[02:32] because of our aggressive interview

[02:34] posture at the FBI.

[02:36] We're going to get into all of that with

[02:38] FBI Deputy Director Dan Bonino. He's

[02:40] here with us this morning. But first,

[02:42] let's go to Garrett Tenny. He is in

[02:43] Spanish Fork, Utah. Good morning to you,

[02:47] Aisha. Good morning to you. Apart from

[02:49] that note that Director Patel mentioned,

[02:52] we have also learned that Charlie Kirk's

[02:54] alleged assassin also sent a text

[02:56] message to a different individual saying

[02:58] essentially the same thing, that he had

[03:00] an opportunity to take Charlie out and

[03:02] that he was going to do it because he

[03:04] hated what Charlie stood for. So, this

[03:07] is part of the investigation now,

[03:09] looking into who knew what and when. And

[03:11] as part of that, we've learned the FBI

[03:14] is investigating leftwing groups in Utah

[03:17] to see if they knew about the accused

[03:19] killer's plans or provided him with any

[03:22] kind of help.

[03:24] We're seeing who talked to who, not just

[03:26] in chat groups. We're seeing who texted

[03:28] who, who was around who. We're using our

[03:30] geo fencing capabilities to map out

[03:32] exactly where individuals were. And then

[03:35] we're also getting into their their

[03:36] personal cell phone information to say,

[03:38] were you calling so and so? Were you

[03:39] texting so- and so? and we know the

[03:41] suspect was communicating with folks.

[03:45] We're also getting a glimpse into the

[03:46] suspect's mindset during the days after

[03:48] the assassination. This new surveillance

[03:51] video obtained by TMZ shows the

[03:53] 22-year-old walking up to UVU's campus

[03:55] the morning of the shooting. Just as

[03:56] about 4 hours before it happened,

[03:59] wearing a maroon shirt and light colored

[04:01] shorts. We know he later changed into

[04:04] this outfit that the FBI released images

[04:06] of. After those images went out, we have

[04:09] learned that some of the suspect's

[04:10] friends in an online group chat were

[04:12] joking, that he looked just like the man

[04:15] in those pictures. The New York Times

[04:17] reports that the suspect allegedly

[04:19] replied that his doppelganger was trying

[04:21] to quote get me in trouble. And when

[04:23] another friend joked that the group

[04:25] could turn him in for the reward, the

[04:27] suspect allegedly said, "Only if I get a

[04:30] cut." Back here at the Utah County Jail,

[04:33] officials tell us the suspect is being

[04:36] held in a separate unit under special

[04:38] watch to make sure he doesn't hurt

[04:40] himself or others before his first court

[04:43] appearance tomorrow. We're told he will

[04:45] appear virtually and that ahead of that

[04:47] hearing, prosecutors will formally file

[04:49] charges against him. Aisha.

[04:51] Okay, Garrett Tenny live for us.

[04:53] Garrett, thank you.

[04:53] So Dan Bonino is the FBI deputy director

[04:56] and sir, thank you for your time this

[04:57] morning. Important stuff here after a

[04:59] very heavy weekend. Thank you for being

[05:01] here. I want to go back to last week on

[05:03] the day that he was killed. Try and

[05:06] clear up a few things as best we can.

[05:08] Did anyone in that crowd aid or assist

[05:10] this assassination?

[05:12] Well, that's what we're looking into

[05:14] now, Bill. Obviously, we have a suspect

[05:17] in custody. It's quite clear. It's why

[05:18] I'm here discussing this individual.

[05:20] However, if this was a larger effort,

[05:22] there was any aiding and abetting,

[05:24] whether it be financial, whether it be

[05:26] someone who knew the specifics of it and

[05:29] failed to report that, uh, as you heard

[05:31] the director say this morning, we as an

[05:34] FBI, our team along with our state and

[05:36] local partners are looking into that. uh

[05:38] we have a lot of technical capabilities,

[05:40] a lot of good investigative capabilities

[05:42] where we can scrub that entire network

[05:45] whether it's OSEN, open- source intel

[05:48] through social media that people posted

[05:50] publicly. We'll be looking at that.

[05:52] We'll also be dropping a lot of paper, a

[05:54] lot of subpoenas out there to take a

[05:55] look to see if there was any extended

[05:57] network. But I I want to be clear, there

[05:59] are things I can say as you well know

[06:01] today and things I can't I don't want to

[06:02] get ahead or jeopardize the

[06:03] investigation. But when I can sh what I

[06:05] can share with you, Bill,

[06:07] I will. We are we are clinging to

[06:10] transparency here. This is uh you know

[06:12] the era of the you know Kronhite and

[06:14] Jennings generation is over. New media

[06:16] now is media and we want to be sure we

[06:18] can do everything in our power and do

[06:20] everything in our power to share what we

[06:22] can when we can while still balancing

[06:23] the needs of the investigation.

[06:24] Okay. I heard Cash Patel 90 minutes ago

[06:26] in our program. I want to get to a

[06:27] couple of the things that he made news

[06:28] on, but first I want to drill in on

[06:30] this. Is there any connection at all

[06:33] between the person who was asking the

[06:35] question about um about mass shooters

[06:38] and trans killers or was that just a

[06:41] stunning coincidence when that single

[06:43] shot was fired?

[06:45] Well, we're investigating that. Um I

[06:47] don't want to say conclusively right now

[06:49] if there was a connection or not. Um it

[06:52] sometimes I mean Charlie was known to

[06:55] speak out about these issues. He was a

[06:57] powerful voice. It's uh it's not

[07:00] terribly uncommon for him to get

[07:01] questions like that. However, uh we are

[07:03] looking into that any potential

[07:06] connection here. We're going to scrub.

[07:08] I'm I'm not drawing conclusions from

[07:09] your answer, but you're you're saying

[07:11] it's a possibility. Is that what I hear

[07:13] you saying?

[07:14] We're looking into everything, Bill.

[07:16] There's there's not going to be a stone

[07:17] left unturned if there was anyone

[07:19] involved who aided a betetted. I can't

[07:21] say that in strong enough terms. Every

[07:23] single FBI asset on this team is being

[07:27] applied and used in this investigation.

[07:29] Okay. After he fired that single fatal

[07:31] shot, we've got the video of him jumping

[07:34] off the back side of the building. Where

[07:36] is the gun when he drops 15 ft down to

[07:39] the grass below?

[07:42] Well, if you look at the video, the gun

[07:44] is is you'll see in the back of the when

[07:46] you when you're watching the video right

[07:48] there. Um, it appears from the video

[07:51] here that uh the gun is either in the

[07:54] backpack or on him. When he jumps down,

[07:56] this is where, by the way, this part of

[07:57] the video, this is where we got a

[08:00] significant portion of the forensic

[08:03] evidence in the case, which we had to

[08:05] expedite. We had a number of of assets,

[08:08] including fixed wing assets to be able

[08:10] to fly in. Obviously, Salt Lake and that

[08:13] specific area in Provo um is not around

[08:15] the corner from FBI Labs. It was

[08:17] difficult, but we were able during that

[08:19] scene, him grabbing that particular side

[08:21] of the building and jumping down. Um, we

[08:24] were able to gather a significant amount

[08:25] of forensic information which we

[08:26] expedited back to the lab which was the

[08:29] key uh I think uh piece of information

[08:31] that we were able to crack this thing

[08:33] open on.

[08:33] Just looking at that video, it's hard to

[08:36] see the weapon and that's why the

[08:38] question is still obvious to me today.

[08:41] Cash Patel said earlier today that he

[08:45] expressed to someone that he had an

[08:48] opportunity to take out the killer and

[08:49] was going to do it. Did that person do

[08:52] anything with that information?

[08:55] Yeah, that's um that's what we're um

[08:58] we're really disturbed about. It appears

[09:01] that this uh this was communicated. You

[09:03] see this a lot, Bill, when it in

[09:05] targeted violence cases, assassinations,

[09:08] school shootings, where the individual

[09:10] expresses in advance in a good swath of

[09:12] these cases his desire or her desire uh

[09:15] to do these specific things. That

[09:18] appears to be the case here as well,

[09:20] where the um the intent component was

[09:23] there in advance and the target was uh

[09:27] was the target was announced in advance

[09:29] prior. Now, that's the part we want to

[09:32] know. Were they did they know and not

[09:34] say? Did they Now, Bill, you have to

[09:37] keep in mind, and I don't want anyone to

[09:38] jump to conclusions on this. There's

[09:41] Did they say it, hear it, and think it

[09:43] was some kind of a joke? That's what

[09:45] we're trying to find out now. But I

[09:47] promise you, if there's a larger network

[09:48] here, we're going to get that out to the

[09:51] public as soon as we can. We really are.

[09:53] Okay. The reason why this is really

[09:55] important um to your investigation

[09:57] understanding motive that I'll get to in

[09:59] a moment here

[10:00] is that I I believe that if I've got the

[10:04] dates right here that that event was

[10:06] announced one week before it happened

[10:09] and we've got the reporting from over

[10:11] the weekend that said that the the

[10:13] killer the accused killer now uh

[10:15] expressed views with his family at a at

[10:18] a dinner table

[10:19] and

[10:21] I don't know what the timeline is

[10:23] between when that happened. I was it

[10:26] hours or was it days? I mean, clearly it

[10:28] had to be at least a couple days, if not

[10:30] less. And if he also expressed this uh

[10:33] opinion that he had an opportunity to

[10:35] take out Kirk and was going to do it,

[10:37] well, when was that message transmitted?

[10:41] Yeah.

[10:41] From the point that Charlie was killed,

[10:43] this is the troubling part of the

[10:45] investigation as I see it now. There

[10:47] appear to have been multiple warning

[10:49] signs. You just laid out some of them.

[10:51] There were people in his network,

[10:53] friends and family who had stated that

[10:57] he had become more political, that he

[10:59] had become um at some parts, it was I

[11:02] believe some of his co-workers had

[11:04] stated that he had kind of detached

[11:06] himself when the topic of politics came

[11:09] up and walked away from them. family

[11:11] members said he'd become more political,

[11:13] leading us to believe that this uh

[11:15] ideology had in had infected him and had

[11:19] taken over. And he was just intent. It

[11:21] appears from the data we've accumulated

[11:24] and the channel and that uh that that

[11:27] note which we have some evidence uh may

[11:29] have existed before based on the

[11:32] communications in that channel that his

[11:34] target was obviously going to be Charlie

[11:36] and that people knew in advance. The

[11:38] question is, again, I just want to go

[11:39] back to what you had asked before. Did

[11:42] they know? Were they sure of this, or

[11:44] did they hear this and just write it

[11:46] off? That's what we're going to have to

[11:48] find out. And that's what we're

[11:49] investigating now, Bill. This this

[11:51] investigation is is just begun. This

[11:54] isn't even the beginning of the of the

[11:56] beginning. You know, yes, we have a

[11:58] subject in custody. You know,

[11:59] everybody's innocent till proven guilty

[12:00] in our constitutional republic. However,

[12:02] this is not done by any stretch. Our men

[12:06] and women out there in the bureau have

[12:08] worked tirelessly all weekend. I just

[12:10] got back um to DC uh last night and uh

[12:13] you know Cash and I were out there on

[12:15] the scene. We walked the scene. We went

[12:17] through every single component of it. We

[12:19] saw the evidence up close and personal

[12:21] and we went out there to be able to make

[12:23] uh command decisions with our team on

[12:25] the ground. And uh I think the process

[12:28] although not perfect of course I think

[12:30] the process went uh went pretty well

[12:32] considering we got him in 30 33 hours.

[12:35] Okay. Yeah. I I respect the process here

[12:36] too. Uh the governor Cox said he had a

[12:39] leftist ideology. I I don't know what

[12:41] issues were important to him. Maybe you

[12:44] can share that with us today. And Cash

[12:46] Patel said if I've got this right he

[12:47] said I'm looking at facts not motive.

[12:50] What's the working theory now as to

[12:53] motive? Well, I I think it's pretty

[12:55] clear based on the statements of family

[12:58] members, friends, and some of the

[13:00] messaging we have on these digital

[13:03] footprints left behind um that the the

[13:07] he clearly had some obsession with

[13:09] Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk is obviously

[13:12] a conservative commentator. That's no

[13:14] secret to anyone out there. Uh so while

[13:16] again I I don't want to speak in advance

[13:19] and and jeopardize the case in any way,

[13:21] I think it's fairly obvious to everyone

[13:22] out there and there's no need to parse

[13:24] words with it that clearly this was an

[13:26] ideologically motivated attack. I mean

[13:29] Charlie Kirk is a conservative

[13:30] commentator who sadly and tragically uh

[13:33] gave his life, you know, underneath a

[13:36] sign asking people to challenge his

[13:38] ideas, the very essence of our

[13:40] constitutional republican bill. You

[13:42] know, if I may, I know it's a a news

[13:43] show, but you know, Charlie was my

[13:46] friend.

[13:48] Charlie wasn't my friend. Charlie was my

[13:50] good friend. And I spent the weekend,

[13:54] you know, after coming back from Utah,

[13:56] looking through text exchanges, going

[13:58] back years with Charlie. And it's kind

[14:01] of hard to believe he's not here.

[14:03] So, I, you know, this has been hard for

[14:06] everyone. And I I think it's fair and

[14:08] appropriate for every one of the

[14:10] taxpayers who finances your FBI to ask

[14:13] questions about everything. You know

[14:15] what? It wasn't perfect, but it should

[14:16] be. Next time, we'll try to make it more

[14:18] perfect.

[14:19] But I just ask everyone to keep in mind

[14:21] that both Cash and I, this was very

[14:24] emotional for us. We had to put that

[14:26] aside. We had a job to do. And when

[14:28] everything settled down and finally got

[14:30] a little bit of sleep last night, it hit

[14:32] me that, you know, Charlie's not here

[14:35] anymore. And u that was tough for

[14:37] everyone. So I'm not asking for

[14:38] anybody's forgiveness for missteps here

[14:40] and there. We got our guy in 33 hours.

[14:43] Everything. We're going to go look at

[14:45] everything when this is done. And next

[14:46] time when there's a crisis, what we can

[14:48] do well, we can do better. We can do

[14:50] better. We can do even better than that.

[14:51] Yeah, Dan, I'm sorry for your loss and I

[14:54] appreciate your work in the story and

[14:55] the investigation. It's important to

[14:56] America and the world to figure this

[14:58] out. Um and I hope we do in in quick

[15:02] order, I will say. Um, but thank you for

[15:04] coming on.

[15:05] Thanks, man.

[15:06] And let's get it right.

[15:08] Thank you, Dan.

[15:09] Thanks.

[15:10] I'm Steve Ducey. I'm Brian Kilme.

[15:12] And I'm Anley Airheart. And click here

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