Instant Reaction: Conservative Activist Charlie Kirk Fatally Shot

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1:35Joe Mathieu:This is a breaking news update from Bloomberg. Instant reaction and analysis from our 3 ,000 journalists and analysts around the world. I'm Joe Matthew alongside Kreeti Gupta in Washington where we come to you with breaking news this evening. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has been confirmed dead by the president of the United States. President Trump's posting, quote, the great and even legendary Charlie Kirk is dead, unquote.

2:01Kristen Hawn:Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University when he was shot on stage. Prominent Republican Jason Chaffetz saying he only heard a single shot ring out, the shot that presumably struck and, according to the president, killed Kirk. Moments before the president confirmed his death, House Speaker Mike Johnson said this from Capitol Hill.

2:18Michael Shepard:This is detestable what's happened. Political violence has become all too common in American society, and this is not who we are. It violates the core principles of our country, our Judeo-Christian heritage, our civil society, our American way of life, and it must stop. We need every political figure. We need everyone who has a platform to say this loudly and clearly. We can settle disagreements and disputes in a civil manner, and political violence must be called out, and it has to stop.

2:50Joe Mathieu:This is a fast-moving story, and we have our reporters covering it with much more tonight. Bloomberg's Kate Sullivan joins us from the White House, and Bloomberg's Mike Shepard is with us here in our Washington bureau. Shep, let's start with you right now as someone who's covered politics for a long time around here and the element of political violence that has crept back into our culture over the past couple of years, something hard to ignore with regard to this young man, someone who started a movement as a teenager and helped to lift Donald Trump into the White House. What do we make of this latest turn?

3:21Kriti Gupta:Well, this is, Joe, as you pointed out, really does point to this fear many have had about an increase in political violence. We've seen the rhetoric over the past decade or so really intensify and an edge creep into the conversation when it comes to, you know, the core cultural and political and social and policy issues that surround daily life in the U.S. And we've seen flashes of this violence actually manifest itself. Of course, more than a year ago, then-candidate Donald Trump himself was the target of two assassination attempts, the one, of course, in Butler, Pennsylvania, that was so high profile when he emerged to say, fight, fight, fight.

4:03Kriti Gupta:But then more recently, in June of this year, we saw two Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota who were targeted in their homes at night by a gunman who was politically motivated, according to authorities there. So this is the kind of incident that stokes the concern that the rhetoric and the intensified back and forth between the various and quite divided sides here in this country can spill over into violence. And that's something that we just heard the House Speaker address moments ago.

4:36Kristen Hawn:Mike, I think I'm going to ask you the question that a lot of people around the country are asking, which is, is there a policy response and policy fallout that we can expect off the back of this?

4:46Kriti Gupta:Well, for the immediate moment, there will be calls for prayer for Charlie Kirk and for his family in the wake of this terrible incident, and calls from both sides really to step back from the brink of violence. But then the actual policy steps, that always gets more tricky. And sad to say, in many respects, it is to be expected that each side will fall back on the norm, with Democrats perhaps urging more control of firearms and access to firearms, and Republicans, you know, pointing to questions about extremism on the left. And so when it comes to a policy prescription emerging from this or from, for example, the incident in Minnesota just weeks ago, the school shooting at a Catholic school in Minnesota, it is more of the same that we're likely to hear on this.

5:44Kriti Gupta:And really, the whole issue, is the question of political rhetoric and people now willing to take that next step and follow on their worst instincts and urges, as we have seen fomented and promoted on social media for several years now.

6:02Kristen Hawn:Bloomberg's Mike Shepard, we thank you so much for bringing us up to speed. I want to go to Kate Sullivan, who's at the White House for us. Kate, just bring us up to speed on the reaction where you are. So we're seeing an outpouring of messages of prayer and condolences from across the White House and the broader Trump administration. The president called Charlie Kirk legendary. He said nobody understood or had the heart of the youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. Charlie Kirk was a fixture on the campaign trail. I saw him at countless events across many different battleground states when I was covering the Trump campaign last year.

6:38Kristen Hawn:the president has credited him with really boosting his voter, his turnout among young people and getting young people excited about his campaign. You know, he founded, Charlie Kirk founded Turning Point USA, which specifically advocates for conservative politics on high school and college campuses. So we saw Charlie Kirk post many, many events across college campuses, particularly during the campaign season. You know, before news came out that he had actually died, J.D. Vance posted three different times on social media, you know, posting a photo of himself and Kirk saying Kirk would answer any question and talk to everyone.

7:13Kristen Hawn:So you're seeing, you know, the close ties that Kirk has with many people in the White House, many different Republican officials. We're all just reacting to this horrific news right now.

7:23Joe Mathieu:Somewhat unusual to have this announcement come from the president of the United States himself. Kate, is the press office or communications office saying anything about the fact that the commander in chief told us this as opposed to Kirk's family?

7:38Kristen Hawn:No, and that's a great point and question. All we know is what Trump has posted. And we're seeing, you know, after he posted, then J.D. Vance posted. And so a lot of people are, of course, taking cues from the president and reacting to this news that, as you're completely correct, that Trump broke on true social himself.

7:58Joe Mathieu:Bloomberg's Kate Sullivan at the White House. Kate, thank you, as always. We just heard from the president again on social media. He was typing while we were talking. In honor of Charlie Kirk, he writes, a truly great American patriot, I am ordering all American flags throughout the United States, lowered to half-mast until Sunday evening at 6 p.m. Our political panel is with us here in studio. Kristen Hahn, our Democratic strategist, partner at Rock Solutions, joins us alongside Maura Gillespie, BlueStack Strategies. It's great to see both of you a Republican strategist. I'll start with you in this case, Maura.

8:34Joe Mathieu:Talk to us about the significance of what this means for the Republican movement, if not the MAGA movement, and why the White House is so deeply involved. Why did we learn this from the president?

8:43Kate Sullivan:Well, I think it's no surprise the president feels pretty strongly about his loyalists, those who have been his champions. And And I think that the biggest takeaway for me is to say that this isn't about being Republican. This isn't about being Democrat. This is about political violence in this country and why it's so prevalent here. That's a problem. And I don't know how we screen for it. I don't know how we, you can't really necessarily see hate in someone's heart. And so we have a bigger conversation to have here because this is a man, whether you agree with him or not or vehemently disagree with him, this is a husband, a father, someone's son.

9:17Kate Sullivan:And I just think that we have lost sight of really our humanity when it comes to our political discourse in this country, whether it was from Gabby Giffords to Steve Scalise to what happened in Minnesota to the president himself and to watch this now. And for anyone who has been on social media and those videos are playing, whether you wanted to see it or not, it is truly I mean, I'm sitting here. I'm sure you're all feeling the same, but sick to my stomach about what this means, but also just seeing it. But we have to get a handle on it. And I don't know what that answer is, but it's not Republican or Democrat.

9:52Kate Sullivan:It is us as Americans, and we have a problem here. Kristen, just weigh in your immediate reaction.

9:57Kristen Hawn:I mean, this, obviously, I totally agree. This is not a one-party problem or the other, as we've clearly seen throughout the years. And, you know, I was on Capitol Hill working for the Blue Dog Coalition, of which Congresswoman Giffords was a member. And, you know, you're a communications person trying to write statements. I remember just breaking down crying and then trying to gather myself and pull myself together. I think an element, you know, it's hard to figure out exactly how to get at this, but an element is the rhetoric that's coming out of, you know, both sides of the aisle sometimes.

10:28Kristen Hawn:And toning that down, treating people like humans and your leaders. And it starts with the president of the United States. People listen to what he's saying. And, you know, I mean, and members of Congress and members of the Senate. And having an honest dialogue that's civil with your next-door neighbor, I think, is really important. I don't think that maybe fixes everything because, like you said, you can't see hate in somebody's heart. You can't necessarily tell what they're going to do. But it can definitely start there.

10:59Joe Mathieu:Maura reminds us of the Steve Scalise shooting that was years ago. The Capitol Police shooting was, what, 1999? This has been a conversation in Washington for years. years and whether we should provide more security for lawmakers who in many cases are dipping into allowances to to find private security and protection for themselves you worked for a former speaker in john boehner mora does that need to happen you know i think it's a conversation

11:25Kate Sullivan:to be had about how much members make currently you know i know that that's not necessarily a popular conversation but when you look at their salary if they are you know in a situation where they need to get security their salary is not really going to cover that plus their housing here in D.C. So you think about that, that may be a conversation to have, some built-in funding for security needs. But I think that's Kristen's point there about talking and how we use our words, referring to our political opponents as enemies, that's a problem, right? We can do better. And I think that for every member of Congress, anyone who's running for office and anyone who sits talking on politics on TV should try and do better and make a promise to try and do that.

12:06Kate Sullivan:because I think that our words have impact and how we talk to one another as a Republican talking to a Democrat and being on a panel together, that makes, I do think that people at home watch that and how we handle our discourse here really could make an impact at home.

12:21Kristen Hawn:Well, and as far as the security needs go, just look at the members of the January 6th committee. They started getting, they didn't have Secret Service or Capitol Police security 24-7 until they all started getting death threats. A lot of them on both sides of the aisle. And people were going to their houses at home when they were here in Washington, D.C. and going to their kids' schools. And so, you know, we afforded them the protection of the Capitol Police who do such a wonderful job at protecting our officials. But, you know, this is all members of Congress. I think, you know, the move to give them a little bit of money out of their current allotment to provide some of that security for themselves and their family was probably a good thing.

13:04Joe Mathieu:The result is, unfortunately, fewer people wanting to run for elected office when we're having conversations like these. Kristen Hahn and Maura Gillespie, I thank you so much for the immediate response now as we turn to Capitol Hill. Joining us now live from the Capitol, Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator, it's good to have you here. It's not what we expected that we would be talking about this evening. But can you weigh in on this, your reaction to what took place, how we got here, and whether we need to have a serious conversation about Capitol Police security for lawmakers like yourself.

13:37Michael Shepard:Well, let me begin just by offering my condolences, my thoughts, my prayers to Charlie's family, to his spouse and to their children. This is not something that any of us on either side of any political aisle want to see happen ever. And so this is simply very, very unfortunate. And we offer our thoughts and our prayers. and, you know, look, this is just a bad, bad message from what we would hope otherwise would have been an opportunity for peaceful discussion on specific issues, talking about, you know, our differences in a very, very normal way, a way in which people can have a discussion having differences, having differing points of view and still remaining as friends and as colleagues.

14:25Michael Shepard:And so to see Charlie Kirk in this particular method, I mean, this is just a terrible, terrible day for America. And once again, it is something that I think with regard to what we do here in the capital of the United States and the way that we treat one another is something that should be an example that you don't have to have violence in the middle of political discussions.

14:50Kristen Hawn:Senator Rounds, do we need to hear from the president in a call for unity to end some of this political violence? Is that what we're waiting for?

14:58Michael Shepard:You know, I think the first thing that the president did was to offer his thoughts, his prayers, his condolences to Charlie's family. I think that's, you know, the first thing that we all want to do. And then along with that, it is an opportunity for us to once again tell the rest of America and the rest of the world that we can have different points of view and not be violent about it. And so anything that any of us can do to offer as an example the way that we should treat one another with respect, that's a positive thing. I think that's what Charlie Kirk would have wanted to have had happen.

15:37Michael Shepard:And most certainly that's something that I think we should continue to carry on, which is peacefully discuss. Have your differing points of view. Argue it. Debate it. It's healthy for America. But our founding fathers wanted that to be done in such a fashion that we could still be one strong, unified nation, even if we have differing points of view. And there's nothing wrong with having differing points of view.

16:03Joe Mathieu:Well, I appreciate your point of view on that, Senator. We were looking at some polling from Ipsos from back in July that asked voters about political extremism and threats to our democracy. This poll with Reuters showed 27 percent of Americans ranked political extremism as the most important problem facing the U.S. How about you?

16:27Michael Shepard:I can just tell you from personal experience here in Washington, And we work across some of the most polarized areas in terms of ideas and ideologies. But if you talk to members of the Senate, Republican and Democrat alike, we get along with one another. We have visits with one another. We go to lunch together. We have a prayer breakfast together. We have Bible studies together. We are not enemies. We may have different points of view. But that doesn't get across very often. And so the example that we should be able to offer is one of unity in terms of making America better than what it is today.

17:04Michael Shepard:Our founding fathers said that they wanted to create a more perfect union. They didn't say our union was perfect to begin with. They wanted it more perfect. That's what we should be focused on here. Sometimes in the middle of our strong emotions here, we forget to finish with that particular part of the message, which is regardless of our points of view, we're Americans first. And we treat each other with respect and with dignity. And here in the Capitol, in the offices that we have, I can tell you personally and behind closed doors, Republicans and Democrats alike get along. We respect one another.

17:43Michael Shepard:We consider each other as colleagues and friends. And we would hope that across America, whether it's a coffee clutch or whether it's a political meeting, a city council meeting, or a state legislative body, that we remember that we are all Americans and that we have a whole lot more in common than we'll ever disagree on.

18:04Joe Mathieu:Senator, it's great to have you. And I appreciate your candor in talking about this very sensitive issue because I've been on that rotunda and I have seen Republican members like yourself get along quite well with Democrats. And I wish more people saw that side of the Capitol. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, thank you for being with us.