Megyn Kelly Analyzes Joe Kent's Claims About Charlie Kirk Murder Investigation and Israeli Connection Theories

[00:00] Something extraordinary happened

[00:01] yesterday with many friends of this show

[00:03] about Charlie Kirk,

[00:06] you know, not even indirectly, pretty

[00:08] directly. Um, Michael Shelonburgger, you

[00:11] know him, he comes on all the time. Love

[00:12] him. Great reporter. He interviewed Joe

[00:15] Kent, the now former counterterrorism

[00:18] chief who quit over the Iran war and has

[00:21] make been making the media rounds,

[00:22] including on this show last Friday.

[00:25] And Shelonburgger

[00:27] zeroed in with Joe Kent on Joe's

[00:30] suggestion that the Charlie Kirk

[00:32] investigation has been mishandled by the

[00:34] feds. It's in the hands of the Utah

[00:36] state authorities now, but the FBI was

[00:38] very much involved in this. and he

[00:41] suggested

[00:42] to me, to Tucker, to others that

[00:46] there were potential international

[00:48] connections to Charlie's murder

[00:52] around Tyler Robinson in tandem with

[00:55] Tyler Robinson. Unclear. He's not saying

[00:57] Tyler did not pull the trigger, that

[00:59] were not adequately investigated in his

[01:01] view. We talked in part about a group

[01:05] chat that Charlie was part of prior to

[01:08] his death in which he lamented what was

[01:12] happening with the pressures being put

[01:13] on him by uh Jewish donors. He was

[01:16] angry. He wanted it to stop. And he made

[01:20] clear that he was considering giving

[01:22] back donations he had received from

[01:24] Jewish donors because he was so sick of

[01:27] being pressured not to have people like

[01:29] Candace at at his events, not to

[01:31] platform people like Tucker. And here is

[01:34] in part what was written in the texts

[01:36] that Joe uh has been discussing Joe Kent

[01:40] and that we now know were provided to

[01:43] Joe Kent by Andrew Kovette of Turning

[01:45] Point after Charlie's death because

[01:47] Andrew thought as well this may suggest

[01:50] an Israeli link to Charlie's death and I

[01:53] ought to tell the FBI about it or in in

[01:55] this case the feds. I happen to know

[01:57] that Andrew sent this um text chain not

[02:00] just to Joe Kent but to one other Fed.

[02:02] So, you know, those of you who are like,

[02:04] "That must mean Joe Kent is the leaker

[02:06] because it got leaked to Candace Owens."

[02:08] Not necessarily. Um, it could have been

[02:10] somebody who worked for Joe Joe Kent. It

[02:11] could have been Joe Kent. He denied it.

[02:13] And it could have been this other Fed

[02:14] who Andrew provided the text chain to.

[02:17] But here's what Charlie wrote. This is

[02:19] 48 hours before he died. Just lost

[02:21] another huge Jewish donor. 2 million a

[02:23] year because we won't cancel Tucker. I'm

[02:26] thinking of inviting Candace. Uggh. Then

[02:29] Charlie writes, "Jewish donors play into

[02:31] all the stereotypes. I cannot and will

[02:34] not be bullied like this, leaving me no

[02:37] choice but to leave the pro-Israel

[02:39] cause." And then the person he's

[02:41] corresponding with says, "Please don't

[02:42] invite Candace. That might feel good

[02:44] short term, but it's not good long-term

[02:46] in my opinion. Like all groups, you're

[02:48] going to get a wide variety of opinions.

[02:50] That that nasty free will thing that God

[02:53] bestowed on us makes life frustrating at

[02:55] times and goes on." Okay, so this was

[02:58] turned over to the feds investigating

[03:00] Charlie's death. And in Joe Kent's view,

[03:02] the possibility of an Israeli connection

[03:04] of some sort, whether you know a

[03:06] domestic or an actual international,

[03:09] like an Israeli an actual Israeli was

[03:12] not adequately looked into.

[03:14] And I happen to know that there is at

[03:17] least one other lead on that front,

[03:19] which I'm not at liberty to divulge

[03:21] because it was given to me off the

[03:22] record and you cannot report off

[03:24] thereord information. That's all I'm

[03:26] going to say about it. I have worked for

[03:27] a long long time to get it on the record

[03:29] and I cannot get the permission. That's

[03:31] fine. But I I am guessing I've never

[03:33] spoke spoken to Joe Kent privately. None

[03:35] of my information comes from him. But I

[03:37] am guessing that Joe Kent knows of this

[03:40] thing. Um that does raise questions

[03:43] about Israelis. Again, not to impugn

[03:45] Israelis at all. I'm just saying it it's

[03:47] not completely made up out of whole

[03:48] cloth. There was at least one other

[03:51] suggestion that that should have been

[03:53] run down. That's all I'm going to say.

[03:56] I don't believe the Israelis killed

[03:58] Charlie. I think it was Tyler Robinson.

[03:59] I think if he had help, it was by

[04:01] Transifa, but I don't begrudge anyone

[04:05] asking these questions because I've read

[04:08] the Charlie text chain and I know some

[04:11] other things and I just think it's

[04:13] prudent. It's prudent given how

[04:14] important Charlie was to the

[04:16] conservative movement

[04:18] uh and to the Israel issue and his

[04:22] evolving state of mind on the issue

[04:23] which was a threat to Israel and those

[04:27] who support it you know politically I

[04:29] mean that you you would have to look

[04:31] into that you would he was assassinated

[04:33] by somebody so in any event that Joe

[04:37] Kent believes that too and Shelonburgger

[04:40] asked him about whether now he's made

[04:43] himself a potential witness for the

[04:46] defense, meaning Tyler Robinson, at

[04:49] Tyler's eventual trial for Charlie's

[04:53] murder. Listen here.

[04:55] >> I mean, have you thought about that the

[04:57] that Robinson's defense attorneys may,

[05:01] you know, call you an to be a witness?

[05:04] >> Yeah. No, I've I've I've considered it.

[05:06] I understand. Um

[05:07] >> I think it's just a lot of people that

[05:08] look at Tyler Robinson and go, "This is

[05:10] not shocking at all. There's no there's

[05:13] nothing missing from this. There's no um

[05:16] there's no evidence that he had

[05:18] accompllices

[05:19] and now you're just kind of speculating

[05:23] and and but more than because of who you

[05:26] are that that could actually end up

[05:28] derailing the the prosecution of the guy

[05:31] that murdered Charlie Kirk.

[05:33] >> Yeah, I'm sure that's fair criticism.

[05:35] Uh, I I just I from from my vantage

[05:38] point, I I don't see I did not see I

[05:43] should say I did not see the the

[05:44] investigation being thoroughly done. I I

[05:48] don't think what I'm going to say is

[05:49] going to knock the uh the defense's

[05:50] socks off or the juries. So, I am

[05:53] confident in in what I know and what I'm

[05:56] saying. And if I end up having to go

[05:59] play that role, then, you know, I'll do

[06:03] it. But it seems to me that, you know,

[06:05] your testimony,

[06:07] you know, will be incredibly important

[06:09] to the Robinson defense.

[06:11] >> Yeah. I mean, then then then honestly,

[06:12] so be it if it gets us to the truth.

[06:16] >> So he says he has no desire to testify

[06:18] for the defense in this prosecution, but

[06:20] if called to talk about what he knows in

[06:23] terms of whether the feds investigated

[06:25] this or not, um, he he'll do it. Now, I

[06:30] just want to follow up with we asked Joe

[06:33] Kent when he was on about this issue

[06:35] because the FBI was investigating this

[06:37] case along with the Utah authorities and

[06:40] kind of asked him what what he had to do

[06:42] with it. Why why was the National

[06:44] Counterterrorism Center involved?

[06:46] Because what happened was he apparently

[06:48] looked at some FBI file and got his hand

[06:50] slapped by Cash Patel reportedly who

[06:52] didn't want him butting in like a turf

[06:54] war kind of thing. And I asked him about

[06:56] that. Here's a little bit of that

[06:58] exchange when he sat down with me less

[06:59] than a week ago um in S 25B.

[07:04] Would that have been your job, Joe, to

[07:05] consider that piece or cash patells?

[07:09] >> Uh a combination, but if there is

[07:11] foreign involvement that that that's

[07:12] where the National Counterterrorism

[07:14] Center comes in because we have more uh

[07:16] robust and broad authorities to

[07:18] investigate the foreign angle. The FBI

[07:20] has the more broad and robust

[07:22] authorities to investigate the domestic

[07:24] angle. So, who has the ability to shut

[07:26] you down from that?

[07:29] >> So, really, the way it happened was

[07:31] initially it was just, hey, the FBI says

[07:32] you guys can't look into the case file

[07:34] when the case file is kind of where all

[07:35] the data is and uh you're done. You guys

[07:38] can't work here anymore. You guys can't

[07:39] work on this case anymore. Um, we argued

[07:42] that we should still be involved in that

[07:44] case and we we won the argument. We got

[07:45] kind of put back on the case. Um but

[07:49] then after a while uh the government has

[07:51] a great way of making things just die in

[07:53] process and so essentially all of our

[07:56] requests our ability to investigate it

[07:57] was cut off. Our request to investigate

[08:00] were kind of taken away and sort of died

[08:02] in the process.

[08:03] >> So you get it. It would have been his

[08:05] job to in investigate the international

[08:07] connection if any and cash Patel's job

[08:10] to to investigate what was happening

[08:12] domestically and he felt that there was

[08:15] a bit of a turf war going on and that

[08:16] they were slow rolled right out of the

[08:18] case even once they had been restored as

[08:21] having permission to look into it that

[08:23] the government has a way of making that

[08:25] very difficult for you and he felt that

[08:26] that was done to him. Clearly he's

[08:28] speaking about the FBI. Um I haven't

[08:31] spoken to Cash Patel. I'm sure he would

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[09:26] 989898 today. Andrew Kovvette and Blake

[09:29] Nef, who are also on this show two weeks

[09:31] ago, who worked for Charlie and are now

[09:35] doing Charlie's show in the wake of his

[09:37] death, were not happy with that exchange

[09:40] between Shelonburgger and Joe Kent. And

[09:43] here's some of their reaction yesterday.

[09:46] >> I'd be shocked if Robinson's attorneys

[09:48] don't use this.

[09:49] >> Well, of course, this is the obvious

[09:51] result of this. That's what infuriates

[09:53] me is he's like endlessly he's like

[09:55] someone who's vague posting on Facebook

[09:57] where he's like there's there's things I

[09:59] might know people should know I might

[10:01] but I can't tell you what those are what

[10:03] you actually think happened.

[10:05] >> This really does have a potential to not

[10:07] only taint a jury pool but to undermine

[10:10] the very prosecution of Tyler Robinson

[10:13] who I am 100% convinced pulled the

[10:16] trigger and killed Charlie Kirk. I am

[10:18] for asking questions. This is why I

[10:20] shared the group chat with Joe Kent in

[10:23] the first place. I'm not afraid of the

[10:25] answer to those questions. If Israel had

[10:27] a hand in killing Charlie, I want to

[10:29] know. What I am telling you is that

[10:31] we've had 6 months plus since that time

[10:34] to track down all those leads. None of

[10:36] which have been corroborated. None of

[10:37] which have actionable evidence behind.

[10:39] You have to have facts. And the

[10:41] recklessness with which these

[10:42] accusations are being thrown out now has

[10:44] real world implications.

[10:48] Okay, I completely understand Andrew and

[10:52] Blake being upset about this. They do

[10:54] not want to do anything to shore up

[10:55] Tyler Robinson's defense, and I grant

[10:58] them total and complete grace on that

[11:00] reaction. But as a legal matter, they

[11:05] really don't need to worry. Okay? And

[11:07] I'm going to get to why in one second,

[11:08] but before I do,

[11:11] taint to the jury pool.

[11:13] That's always something you have to

[11:14] worry about somewhat. But in case after

[11:17] case after case, we have seen very very

[11:20] ubiquitous media coverage and it can be

[11:23] handled in voadier by prosecutors. They

[11:26] that's what they will do. That's what

[11:27] they would have done in the Brian

[11:28] Coberger trial where they would have

[11:31] explored the many many media um exposees

[11:35] on the case and the many many theories

[11:37] that were circulating all over social

[11:39] media that Coberger didn't do it.

[11:41] There's a large faction that maintains

[11:42] that to this day, they were very loud on

[11:45] social media and had all sorts of

[11:46] theories and podcasts and so on about

[11:48] how he wasn't the killer. Now, he's of

[11:49] course admitted he was, but that that

[11:52] was something that the prosecutors were

[11:53] going to have to deal with. And

[11:54] prosecutors state-to-state in today's

[11:57] day and age have to deal with that

[11:58] anyway because it's a true crime

[12:01] community now. You know, like I was just

[12:03] talking to my well, I'll I'll reveal

[12:05] this news later, but we we may have a

[12:07] little true crime news for you uh coming

[12:09] up, but it's it's growing and it's very

[12:11] popular and it happens in cases that you

[12:13] know about and cases that you don't

[12:14] where there are very strong local um

[12:17] there's very strong local interest in it

[12:19] and becomes a podcast thing or internet

[12:21] fodder in some way, shape or form. It

[12:23] can be dealt with taint. But the notion

[12:26] that um it's it's going to go beyond

[12:29] that, that it's going to undermine the

[12:31] very prosecution of Tyler Robinson, as

[12:33] Andrew said, um and he said, who I'm

[12:35] 100% convinced pulled the trigger and

[12:37] killed Charlie. Me, too. Same. And

[12:38] Andrew and I have talked about it many

[12:39] times privately and publicly. Um the

[12:42] notion that it's going to undermine the

[12:44] prosecution, I think, is incorrect. And

[12:47] I think in Andrew and Blake's defense,

[12:48] they were set up to get to this point by

[12:50] the way Shelonburgger, who I love, um,

[12:54] presented this. He presented it as,

[12:56] "I've spoken with a constitutional law

[12:58] attorney." And that person says this is

[13:01] definitely going to play a role and this

[13:03] is going to potentially help Tyler

[13:04] Robinson at trial.

[13:07] I think Shelonburgger spoke to the wrong

[13:09] person. Um, he spoke to Sorry. Yeah, I

[13:13] spoke he spoke to the wrong person. He

[13:15] shouldn't have spoken to a

[13:15] constitutional con lawyer. He should

[13:18] have spoken to a criminal defense

[13:19] attorney or a prosecutor. Criminal

[13:21] prosecutor. Talk to an actual criminal

[13:23] prosecutor or defense attorney. This is

[13:25] not coming into evidence. It's not

[13:26] coming into evidence. It's just not. The

[13:30] only way this theory about whoever I

[13:32] don't even know who it necessarily would

[13:34] be. Is it Israel? Is it Jewish donors to

[13:37] turning point? If you go off the Charlie

[13:38] text, um I don't know who exactly the

[13:41] people who completely buy this theory

[13:43] think it is, but let's say it's one of

[13:45] those groups. The only way that's coming

[13:48] in is if there is actual evidence to

[13:50] support it. A a text expressing

[13:53] consternation by Charlie is not going to

[13:56] open that door. It is not. Now, Joe Kent

[14:00] saying there were six major leads that

[14:03] pointed to the Israelis that were not

[14:05] pursued. and here's what they were and

[14:08] and can get really specific at maybe a

[14:10] pre-trial hearing where they could get

[14:11] into that. Maybe that could open a door.

[14:13] That's not what he has. That's not what

[14:15] he has at all. In fact, Shelonburgger

[14:16] really pressed him on like what other

[14:18] evidence is there? And he didn't cite

[14:20] any. He wasn't able to say, "Trust me,

[14:22] there's a lot." He seemed to just be

[14:25] saying like, "I got shut down on the

[14:27] investigation. There was something

[14:28] there. I wanted to pursue it and I

[14:29] smelled something, but I wasn't allowed

[14:31] to do anything." Well, that's not going

[14:32] to be enough. I mean, I'm sure Tyler

[14:35] Robinson's attorneys are going to be sad

[14:37] that it's not enough, but my own

[14:39] instincts as a a lawyer for 10 plus

[14:42] years, a litigator, and I've tried

[14:44] cases. Um, and and then I check with

[14:46] Arthur Idala, who is a legit trial

[14:49] attorney, criminal defense, had one time

[14:51] been a prosecutor, and Matt Murphy,

[14:52] longtime criminal prosecutor. So, I've

[14:54] got both sides weighing in with me. and

[14:56] a couple of others who I called all

[14:58] agreed, not one wiggled at all, saying

[15:00] there is not a chance in hell that this

[15:03] gets admitted by the Robinson defense.

[15:06] And even less chance that Joe Kent gets

[15:08] called at a witness unless there's some

[15:10] treasure trove of other evidence that

[15:12] Joe Kent remembers, oh gee, there were

[15:15] those six clues. It were it was the

[15:17] Israelis that I I did send to cash and

[15:19] he didn't let me pursue that. That

[15:21] that's not what's happening though here.

[15:23] Okay. So, I don't think they need to

[15:25] worry about what's going to happen at

[15:27] the Charlie trial. And the last thing is

[15:29] though on this. I also don't think this

[15:31] settles the matter about whether some

[15:34] place said clues might be present and or

[15:38] why we haven't actually bothered to

[15:41] know. We haven't bothered to actually

[15:44] investigate because I believe Joe Kent

[15:47] that he was effectively shoved off of

[15:49] this. I don't know by whom. Um, I

[15:53] believe it for many reasons and I don't

[15:55] know why that happened. Um, but I'll

[15:59] tell you that, you know, when I talked

[16:01] to Joe Kent personally, he talked about

[16:04] there being additional leads that were

[16:06] not investigated. And that's why when

[16:08] Andrew says, "We've had 6 months plus

[16:11] since that time that I sent this to the

[16:14] FBI and well to Joe Joe Ken and maybe

[16:16] another Fed to track down all those

[16:19] leads, none of which have been

[16:21] corroborated. None of which has

[16:23] actionable evidence."

[16:26] um

[16:28] that that presumes facts not in evidence

[16:32] that that there has been an

[16:33] investigation of this angle of the

[16:35] story. And I would submit we just don't

[16:38] know whether that's true. What we know

[16:40] from Joe Kent is there wasn't.

[16:44] And um it's one of the many questions I

[16:46] think I still have about this case. Why

[16:48] why would you shut that down? It's not

[16:50] the only one. Where's the arrest of the

[16:52] Transifa mob that clearly knew about

[16:55] this beforehand? Who's investigating

[16:57] that? Why does it take six months to

[17:00] figure out whether all the people

[17:02] posting that Charlie Kirk was going to

[17:04] get shot on September 10th, whether they

[17:07] how they knew that? Like, at least come

[17:10] out and tell us why. Why hasn't there

[17:12] been an arrest? Have you investigated

[17:14] anybody? Who who have you spoken to? How

[17:16] did they know this? Did they all just

[17:18] get lucky?

[17:20] All right. So, it it's not to stop with

[17:22] like the is it anti-Semitic? It's not.

[17:24] look at Charlie's texts. All

[17:26] right. It's just let's let's just know

[17:30] nothing should be off limits. So, I love

[17:33] Andrew and I love Blake, but I I think

[17:35] that they're not right that everything

[17:37] has been investigated. And here's Joe

[17:39] Kent again less than a week ago to me

[17:41] directly 25A.

[17:43] And all I can really truly say is that

[17:46] there were additional leads that we

[17:48] needed to run down and fully

[17:50] investigate. And that's just simply was

[17:53] not done. Um, basically from the time

[17:55] that Tyler Robinson turned himself in

[17:57] and was arrested and his fingerprints

[17:59] were found on the um the rifle, they

[18:02] basically they being the FBI said, "Hey,

[18:04] this is now going to go over to the the

[18:06] Utah law enforcement and we are we are

[18:09] not investigating anything further." And

[18:11] there was a lot of back and forth about

[18:13] that because there were still and again

[18:15] not just my opinion in in the opinion of

[18:17] the National Counterterrorism Center,

[18:18] there was other leads for us to run

[18:20] down. Um, and I even spoke with members

[18:23] of of the FBI or kind of at the ground

[18:24] level and they they agreed with me and

[18:26] we wanted to continue uh to investigate.

[18:29] And so all I can say with with authority

[18:31] right now is that there were additional

[18:33] leads for us to run down the scope that

[18:36] we had of foreign involvement. um we did

[18:39] not get an opportunity to run down all

[18:41] of those potential leads and and I think

[18:44] Charlie Kirk deserves justice and I

[18:45] think people deserve the truth about

[18:47] what happened on that day. Not trying to

[18:49] be cryptic. What I'm saying is that

[18:51] there were things that we still needed

[18:53] to investigate that were not

[18:55] investigated.

[18:59] So to sum up, in my view, this is a

[19:02] matter of

[19:04] government accountability,

[19:06] responsibility,

[19:08] and open-mindedness to a real

[19:11] investigation that would cover any and

[19:14] all clues around who might have had

[19:16] involvement. But I do not think in any

[19:19] way, shape, or form, as it looks right

[19:21] now, this results in any help to Tyler

[19:24] Robinson. You cannot just say there were

[19:27] things the government should have run

[19:28] down in my view but they didn't and get

[19:31] that in front of a jury. That's not

[19:33] going to happen.

[19:35] So I think there was a level of alarm

[19:38] yesterday on this that was perhaps not

[19:40] warranted though completely sincere and

[19:43] understandable.

[19:45] And I think we should take a deep breath

[19:48] on the trial of Tyler Robinson which I

[19:50] think will be well handled. I think he

[19:52] will be convicted. There is a mountain

[19:54] of evidence against him and the only

[19:57] questions I have are what's been done to

[19:59] investigate Transifa

[20:01] and why haven't those leads that Joe

[20:03] Kent mentioned again at least one of

[20:05] which I've been told about not by him

[20:09] off the record aren't why aren't they

[20:12] being investigated?

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