Fake pictures. False claims. Wild conspiracy theories.
The public murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah, captured in ugly footage that unfold round the world, has set off an avalanche of misinformation. Bogus assertions have been unfold on social media by Americans throughout the political divide and by foreign adversaries.
Prominent members of President Donald Trump’s administration, in the meantime, have made conspiratorial statements that may’t at present be referred to as false – the investigation into the killing continues, and extra info may nicely emerge – however that go far past the proof that has to date been made public.
Here is a take a look at a few of the inaccurate or unsupported claims.
Soon after a Utah man named Tyler Robinson was named as the suspect in the killing, some social media customers on the political left started claiming he was a donor to Trump. They cited federal election data displaying {that a} Utah man named Tyler Robinson had contributed to Trump’s 2020 presidential marketing campaign.
But that was a different Tyler Robinson. The 22-year-old charged with the murder has no file of federal election donations.
Other social media customers described the accused man as a registered Republican. That can also be false. Robinson is registered as unaffiliated with a political party and is listed as “inactive,” which means he didn’t vote in both of the final two basic elections.
While Robinson “does come from a conservative family,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said on NBC on Sunday, “his ideology was very different from his family.” Cox specified to The Wall Street Journal that it’s clear to him and to investigators that Robinson “was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.”
Cox and investigators haven’t immediately defined what which means. But in prosecutors’ charging documents, they paraphrased Robinson’s mom as having mentioned that “over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political and had started to lean more to the left – becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.” Prosecutors wrote that “Robinson accused Kirk of spreading hate” in a dialog along with his father earlier than the killing.
Both earlier than and after the authorities alleged that Robinson leaned to the left, quite a few left-leaning observers promoted the concept that Robinson was a right-winger affiliated with the “groypers,” a free assortment of White nationalists that had an oft-antagonistic relationship with Kirk. But as of Friday, no proof had publicly emerged to recommend Robinson was certainly a groyper – and a chunk of supposed proof, Robinson’s Halloween costume in 2018, just isn’t really proof in any respect.
Some social media customers have claimed it’s clear or doubtless that Robinson was a groyper partially as a result of he was shown in a 2018 Halloween photograph squatting on the floor whereas carrying a darkish tracksuit. His mom wrote in a social media caption that he was dressed as “some guy from a meme”; there are memes of a distinguished groyper image, a cartoon frog, squatting in a tracksuit.
But right here’s the key: Robinson may very nicely have been dressed as a man from a foolish non-political meme relatively than as the frog from the White nationalists’ meme.
That’s as a result of the squatting-frog meme is definitely a takeoff on a earlier lighthearted meme that has circulated for greater than a decade and is not an indicator of affinity for the far proper – the “squatting Slav” or “Slavic squat,” which is predicated on pictures of males in Eastern Europe in squatting positions. Robinson’s Halloween outfit, which included a flat or newsboy-style cap, closely resembles those worn by males in numerous “squatting Slav” pictures.
That’s all other than the incontrovertible fact that this photograph was taken almost seven years in the past, lengthy earlier than the political shift prosecutors say Robinson’s mom mentioned.
As folks on each the left and proper tried to make use of Robinson to undermine the different facet, various doctored images circulated on social media of the suspect supposedly carrying political t-shirts – in assist of both Trump or his Democratic opponent in the 2024 presidential election, former vp Kamala Harris. In actuality, the political messages had been photoshopped into pictures of Robinson carrying plain t-shirts that didn’t point out any candidate.
In different circumstances, social media customers wrongly claimed that Robinson is the particular person pictured in actual pictures of different folks.
For instance, some right-leaning customers inaccurately mentioned Robinson was the particular person in a photograph of a person carrying a Democratic Socialists of America shirt; that was really another Utah man. In one other, some pro-Israel customers inaccurately claimed Robinson was seen carrying a keffiyeh, the scarf referred to as a pro-Palestinian image; it was really yet another different man in that 2019 photograph, and it wasn’t clear what the man’s garment was or why he was carrying it.
It’s potential, after all, that proof will emerge of Robinson having worn political messages or symbols. But that wouldn’t make these claims about these pictures authentic.
Nobody has offered any proof for his or her recommendations of a broader left-wing conspiracy
Prosecutors have to date charged solely Robinson with the murder, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has mentioned it’s clear Robinson acted alone. New details about Robinson’s relationships might be realized by means of the ongoing investigation – however some senior Trump administration officers and diverse on-line commentators have leaped far forward of that probe, saying or insinuating with out offering proof that different entities had been concerned in the killing.
White House deputy chief of workers Stephen Miller said throughout a Monday look on the late Kirk’s podcast, wherein Miller decried left-wing organizations he claimed are selling violence, that the Trump administration would “channel all of the anger that we have over the organized campaign that led to this assassination to uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks.” But Miller didn’t clarify how any specific “organized campaign” had supposedly led to the killing or how any “terrorist network” had been related to it, and no different official has carried out so thus far, both.
Then, on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News whereas speaking about the FBI throughout the Biden administration: “Maybe they should have been investigating the networks that motivated, inspired, and maybe even funded Charlie Kirk’s murder.” Vance didn’t specify which unspecified “networks” might need funded the killing, or how.
When Cox was requested in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier final week if the authorities had been assured that Robinson acted alone, he said, “Yes, Bret, they’re very confident right now. Obviously the investigation is ongoing, they’re still following every lead, we appreciate the public who has reached out – but every piece of evidence we have so far makes it very clear that the assassin acted alone.”
Influential far-right Trump ally Laura Loomer was even much less cautious in her assertions than Miller and Vance. After prosecutors mentioned Robinson’s roommate was “a biological male who was involved in a romantic relationship with Robinson,” Loomer speculated {that a} “trans terror cell with other targets as well” was behind Kirk’s murder. There was no obtainable proof to assist that conclusion, and Cox said Sunday on NCS that Robinson’s “partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening and is working with investigators right now.”
And whereas there’s nothing unsuitable with skepticism of claims from regulation enforcement, some observers have made wild allegations about the authorities investigating the murder.
Commentators on each the left and proper, notably including Trump ally and former White House official Steve Bannon, have solid doubt on the legitimacy of a text message conversation prosecutors allege Robinson had along with his roommate after the capturing. It’s clear from prosecutors’ use of ellipses of their charging paperwork that they launched excerpts relatively than the complete dialog, however that isn’t a sign that the elements of the dialog they did launch had been fabricated.
Conspiracy theorists’ claims have prolonged past US borders. Some social media accounts have hinted or flatly claimed that Israel was behind the killing of Kirk, although he had lengthy been a distinguished public supporter of Israel with only occasional criticism of the nation. There is not any proof in assist of the accusation, which has been pushed by entities linked to the authorities of Iran; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as “insane,” “false” and “outrageous” in a Wednesday video on social media.
Some anti-Israel commentators have promoted false claims that YouTube deleted a video wherein Kirk raised essential questions on the Israeli authorities’s dealing with of the Hamas assault on October 7, 2023. In truth, the video stays on-line. Others have pointed suspiciously to a condolence letter from Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi to Kirk’s household that was initially dated “September 2,” greater than every week earlier than the September 10 murder. But it was rapidly corrected to September 12; the rabbi’s workplace advised NCS that September 12 was the date the rabbi wrote the letter and that the preliminary “September 2” was merely an “error by the office in typing the date.”
Other critics of Israel have pointed, generally suggestively, to claims from some distinguished right-wing commentators that Kirk’s views on Israel had quietly been souring or that he had privately expressed frustration over supposed stress on him to keep away from public criticism of Israel. Even if any of that’s true, it’s nothing near proof that Israel was behind the murder.
The man in the white cap and the man with the prosthetic hand weren’t concerned
As with different stunning crimes caught on digital camera, together with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, some observers jumped to unfounded conclusions about bystanders who occurred to be current at Kirk’s capturing.
Some social media customers, for instance, alleged {that a} man standing close to Kirk in a white baseball cap was sending suspicious hand alerts to the shooter. There is not any foundation for that declare. The man in the cap is one of Kirk’s friends, Christian radio host and writer Frank Turek, who traveled to the hospital in the same vehicle as the mortally wounded Kirk.
“The viral accusations against Dr. Frank Turek are categorically false. Dr. Turek was at Utah Valley University as part of Charlie Kirk’s team, standing with him as a close friend and mentor,” Turek’s account on social media platform X posted two days after the murder.
Some right-leaning commentators additionally raised suspicious questions on a person in the crowd supposedly seen carrying a trench coat and a black glove; in actuality, the man was carrying a traditional go well with jacket, the supposed black glove was actually a prosthetic he has used after an amputation, and he’s a Kirk supporter who had nothing to do with the murder.