Republican Utah Governor Spencer Cox stood before the country Friday morning with resolve and delivered a sobering reminder to the public about political violence.
He was flanked by local law enforcement and FBI Director Kash Patel, as all parties updated the nation on the killing of Charlie Kirk.
The suspected assassin was identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah.
Robinson allegedly murdered Kirk on Wednesday as the Turning Point USA founder spoke at Utah Valley University.
Cox showed true leadership in the hours and days since the assassination by daring to speak his mind.
“Investigators interviewed a family member of Robinson who stated that Robinson had become more political in recent years,” Cox said during Friday’s briefing, according to NBC News.
“The family member referenced a recent incident in which Robinson came to dinner prior to September 10. And in the conversation with another family member, Robinson mentioned Charlie Kirk was coming to UVU,” he continued.
Cox added, “They talked about why they didn’t like [Kirk] and the viewpoints he had.”
The governor promised Robinson would be charged and held accountable for his actions.
But Cox also issued a moral warning that went beyond Utah.
For years, the left has chanted slogans like “words are violence” and “silence is violence.”
Cox cut through that noise to speak the truth.
“I think we need more moral clarity right now,” he said. “I hear all the time that words are violence. Words are not violent. Violence is violence, and there was one person responsible for what happened here, and that person is in custody and will be charged soon, and will be held accountable.”
Utah Governor Spencer Cox slams the political Left for spreading the false notion that "words are violence."
"Words are not violence. Violence is violence."
He says that the sole person responsible for Charlie Kirk's assassination is Tyler Robinson pic.twitter.com/8Gpa6a0Ceh
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 12, 2025
Violence, Cox said, is a bullet tearing through a patriot’s body, and not words spoken in a debate.
It’s tragic that in 2025, a governor must remind people of such an obvious truth.
Yet this is the world the Democratic Party has helped create. To them, dissent is “violence,” and the dissenters deserve retribution.
Their twisted creed played out this week, robbing a 31-year-old visionary of his life.
Americans must rise to confront this rhetoric that dehumanizes us, blurs moral lines, and radicalizes unstable individuals.
The Democratic Party has become a death cult. Its violence is finally starting to spin out of control.
Kirk was the one who was murdered, yet his killer could have shot any one of us who shared his conservative values. Kirk was able to articulate those values better than most, and for that, he was killed.
Conservatives have spoken out — in good faith — for years. Instead of dialogue, we’ve been met with blood
We’ve been told our words can hurt people – that they amount to “violence.”
Kudos to the governor for calling out this nonsense and setting the record straight.
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