The horror that unfolded at Utah Valley University is still hard to process. A few minutes into a joyous meeting before thousands of people, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down in cold blood. 

As they tried to make sense of this senseless murder, the broadcast networks roughly suggested that Kirk was shot because he was ‘polarizing.’ ABC correspondent Kyra Phillips explained that Kirk was ‘known for his outspoken views on politics, culture, religion, often taking his messages to colleges and universities, sparking sometimes pretty heated debates on campus.’ 

Reporter Aaron Katersky added, ‘there were people on both sides debating whether he should even be allowed to bring his message, often loyal to the agenda of President Trump, to campus.’ White House reporter Mary Bruce doubled down: ‘It’s no secret that Kirk has said a number of controversial things over the years, in particular about DEI, Jews, women, LGBTQ community, people of color.’ 

As Kirk was bleeding out, ABC News was suggesting this was how ‘pretty heated debates’ ended on campus, and that maybe it wouldn’t have happened if Kirk’s ‘controversial’ appearance hadn’t been ‘allowed.’ 

Leftists surely found Kirk’s conservative arguments ‘polarizing’ ‘divisive,’ and ‘controversial.’ But they seem to lack any introspection inside the liberal bubbles of their ‘news’ networks. Spreading their leftist arguments on DEI or LGBTQ or abortion or Trump — often implying that dissent is unacceptably hateful — somehow never polarizes people and is somehow the opposite of controversy. How can their sweet reason be ‘controversial?’ 

By the time the Wednesday evening newscasts came on, there was an appropriate tone of horror at the shooting. But on Thursday, ‘CBS Mornings’ co-host Nate Burleson told former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that Kirk’s speech was ‘offensive to specific communities’ and asked if Republicans needed to watch their mouths. ‘Speaking of this tragedy, is this a moment for your party to reflect on political violence? Is it a moment for us to think about the responsibility of our political leaders and their voices and what it does to the masses as they get lost in misinformation or disinformation that turns into and spills into political violence?’ 

McCarthy tried to stay on a unifying message, but Burleson’s question was ‘offensive to specific communities,’ in this case the Trump-voting half of America. Everyone who agreed with Kirk on many issues felt like this could have been the violent fate of any conservative speaker out in public, especially on ‘progressive’ campuses. 

Kirk’s alleged assassin was not a Republican. CBS didn’t wonder if the shooter had been influenced by wild leftist rhetoric from any kind of media or political figure. The rhetoric of the Left is somehow always above scrutiny. 

The morning after the murder, NPR turned to Kyle Spencer, a leftist author of a 2022 book about ‘The Untold Story About America’s Ultraconservative Youth Movement And Its Plot For Power.’ She claimed ‘Charlie really positioned himself as somebody who was supporting Whiteness, White people, White culture and the White culture of this country against what he saw as efforts that were efforts to create equity in the country and to support the disenfranchised.’ 

‘Public’ broadcasting is deeply suffused with the ‘DEI ethic’ that they must ‘center the marginalized,’ and so anyone who opposes the Black left should be marginalized as a far-right racist fringe. But they loved Black Lives Matter and their racial ‘reckoning’ in 2020. 

As news bubbled up that there were political markings on the shooter’s ammunition, on Thursday’s ‘World News Tonight’ on ABC, they took the reports of ‘anti-fascist’ and pro-transgender messaging and dumbed them down. Matt Gutman could only say law-enforcement sources found ‘a high-powered rifle wrapped in a towel, and three unspent cartridges inscribed with words and symbols. Tonight, authorities [are] working on what the markings might mean.’ 

Leftists surely found Kirk’s conservative arguments ‘polarizing’ ‘divisive,’ and ‘controversial.’ But they seem to lack any introspection inside the liberal bubbles of their ‘news’ networks. 

On Friday, authorities revealed one shell casing read: ‘Hey fascist! Catch!’ Another said ‘O bella ciao, bella ciao,’ which refers to a leftist song celebrating the end of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, but the left still uses it against the current conservative Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. 

The news networks have spent the last 10 years wildly using terms like ‘fascist’ and ‘authoritarian’ to describe not just President Donald Trump, but Republicans and conservatives in general. By contrast, the radical left ‘Antifa’ movement has largely escaped any critical scrutiny and in recent years, the media have pretended that this is some sort of kooky invention of conspiracy theorists. 

When the network newscasts casually allow Democrats to compare Trump to Adolf Hitler and suggest he and his voters are an ‘existential threat’ to democracy, they are the ones raising national tensions. Not conservatives.

The FBI’s success in apprehending Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin came one day after Director Kash Patel initially misreported that a suspect was in custody, a move that sparked consternation and criticism as the nation reeled over Kirk’s violent death.

Patel’s misstep during the fast-moving investigation was overshadowed Friday by the breakthrough news that a 22-year-old Utah man had been detained and will face charges for the deadly shooting. But the flaws during the whirlwind 33-hour manhunt did not go unnoticed.

Patel on Thursday announced — then quickly retracted — that authorities had detained the person responsible for killing Kirk.

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham responded ‘unreal’ to Patel’s revelation that the gunman was still at large. Conservative activist Chris Rufo said Friday he was ‘grateful’ authorities arrested a suspect but that it was ‘time for Republicans to reassess’ whether Patel was fit for the job.

‘He performed terribly in the last few days,’ Rufo wrote on social media Friday, adding that he has been talking with conservative leaders who are questioning the FBI’s leadership structure, which includes Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and, as of next week, Andrew Bailey, who is taking on the unprecedented role of FBI co-deputy director.

The backlash began after Patel said Thursday that ‘the subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody,’ before saying less than two hours later that he had the wrong person.

‘The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement,’ Patel said, adding the investigation was ongoing.

At the same time that Patel said the killer had been caught, Utah law enforcement officials were giving a news conference saying the gunman was at large, leading social media users to convey confusion over the mixed messages.

The blip during the manhunt for the person responsible for Kirk’s killing also put a spotlight on Patel’s and Bongino’s apparent fixation on social media, a point that a lawsuit against Patel and the Department of Justice laid out in thorough detail days prior.

The lawsuit was brought by three top FBI officials who alleged their constitutional rights were violated when they were fired without explanation. One of the fired officials said Patel and Bongino lamented the ‘political capital’ they had to spend to keep the official on the job, a reference to pressure Patel and Bongino were getting on social media about the official. Patel’s and Bongino’s actions were often dictated by social media comments, the lawsuit said.

Also fueling the fire was a delayed news conference on Thursday that offered little new detail as the investigation was underway. Patel appeared at the news conference but did not speak. Upon announcing the suspect’s arrest Friday morning, the FBI director gave remarks of gratitude to the agency, local law enforcement, the media and public for contributing to the arrest. Patel made clear that he had been directing the FBI behind the scenes during the past couple days.

‘Warroom’ podcast host Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser, said on his show that he didn’t ‘know why Kash Patel flew out there, thousands of miles’ merely to thank people. Bannon suggested he wanted more details about the suspect and any possible accomplices.

At this stage, the Trump administration has shown no outward signs of wavering on Patel. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the FBI for comment.

The White House did not respond. One source familiar said Patel’s social media posting during the Kirk case could have been handled better but that his initial erroneous message and the surrounding criticism of it came during the ‘fog of war,’ as the investigation was rapidly evolving and emotions were high. The source said the focus should be on the success of the FBI’s operation and the ‘good police work’ involved.

A spokeswoman for Patel pointed to a statement she posted online highlighting that the FBI’s mission to identify Kirk’s assassin was a success and that Patel was intentional every step of the way.

‘Over these last few days, what has mattered isn’t ignorant criticism or petty assumptions — it’s been the pursuit of justice. Justice that was promised, justice that has now been delivered,’ spokeswoman Erica Knight said.

One retired FBI agent who worked at the bureau for two decades said Patel’s premature post seemed ‘reckless’ and ‘too quick to the draw,’ but the retired agent also said he viewed it as a problem that went beyond Patel.

‘It’s becoming a popularity contest,’ the retired agent told Fox News Digital. ‘It’s not necessarily something that’s new either, because J. Edgar Hoover was big about leveraging the press to make the FBI look good. I mean, he was notorious for that. That tradition in the bureau has continued, but now it’s sort of like that on steroids.’

Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told House investigators that she did not see a change in former President Joe Biden’s competency over several years, but she acknowledged that he was ‘not the same speaker he was when she met him.’

Jean-Pierre was the latest in a string of former Biden White House officials to be interviewed by House Oversight Committee investigators over an alleged cover-up of the ex-president’s mental acuity.

She did not speak to reporters on her way into the interview just off Capitol Hill, nor did she speak after the nearly five-hour, closed-door transcribed interview.

But a source familiar with the interview shared with Fox News Digital that Jean-Pierre told investigators that while working for Biden in various capacities from 2009 to 2025, ‘she did not see a change in President Biden’s competency.’

‘She did acknowledge President Biden is not the same speaker he was when she met him,’ the source noted.  ‘She does not know why his speaking changed and never asked him.’

Jean-Pierre, who is one of the most high-profile figures from the Biden administration to appear before the committee, was among those who publicly defended Biden after his June 2024 debate against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

During the debate, Jean-Pierre said she was told by ‘senior staff that President Biden had a cold,’ the source said.

Shortly after the debate, she told reporters at a press briefing in early July that Biden was ‘as sharp as ever.’

Jean-Pierre told investigators that talking points were entered into her binder for press briefings by ‘various advisors,’ but specifically ones related to Biden’s health and mental acuity ‘were handled exclusively at the senior level.’

She cited the ‘cheap fakes’ talking point, which at the time, Jean-Pierre charged were people online manipulating videos of Biden to mislead the public on his health and cognitive ability. She told investigators that point in particular ‘appeared as a talking point in her binder, but she does not know specifically who added it.’

She also said that she never spoke with anyone in the White House ‘personally concerned about President Biden’s health.’

Jean-Pierre began her role as White House press secretary in 2022, shortly after former White House press secretary Jen Psaki left the position, and she stayed on until the end of Biden’s presidency in January.

But her relationship with Biden-world became estranged after her departure from the Democratic Party earlier this year, which was announced in a press release for her forthcoming book, ‘Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.’

Jean-Pierre’s appearance before investigators came as House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said earlier this week that his panel’s ongoing probe into Biden’s use of an autopen was coming to its conclusion.

The focus in particular was whether top officials engaged in a cover-up of Biden’s mental and physical state in the White House, and whether any executive actions or a litany of pardons were approved via autopen without the then-president’s full awareness.

Comer said heading into the hearing that one of the questions at the top of his mind were whether ‘these pardons and executive orders [are] legal?’

‘I don’t think anyone’s going to argue that the process that was used for these autopens is the ideal process,’ Comer said. ‘And what we’ve seen with the emails that have surfaced in the last week — even the Merrick Garland Department of Justice was very concerned about how this administration was using the autopen.’

‘When people in the Department of Justice email people who they believe were the ones making the decisions on the autopen,’ he continued. ‘And asked the question via email from the Department of Justice, ‘Does the president even know who they just pardoned?’ I mean, that’s very concerning.’ 

Fox News Digital reached out to Jean-Pierre’s lawyers and Biden’s office but did not immediately receive a response.

On Day 5 of Ryan Routh’s federal trial, jurors heard from prosecutors who presented evidence they said connected Ryan Routh’s clothing and belongings to the alleged sniper’s nest at Trump International Golf Club during the alleged assassination attempt last year.

FBI Special Agent Jose Loureiro walked jurors through photos they argued tie Routh’s clothing to the scene. Images showed Routh in a long-sleeve pink shirt, pants and leggings. 

Prosecutors highlighted a red stain on the pants and compared it to red paint on a bag recovered at the sniper hide, suggesting a direct link between the defendant and the site. They also displayed a blue Harbor Freight flashlight recovered from the area.

Routh’s cross-examination was brief. 

‘Fortuitous that the blue flashlight with the name on it landed straight up on it?’ he asked.

‘I wouldn’t know,’ Loureiro replied. Routh asked no further questions.

Also on Friday, Lt. William Gale, commander of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s bomb squad, testified he was monitoring radio traffic when he heard a panicked voice yell, ‘Shots fired, shots fired, shots fired!’ 

He said he crawled through hedges near the sixth hole of Trump International Golf Club and found ‘two backpacks hanging on the fence, a rifle leaning on the fence and a GoPro-type camera zip-tied to the fence.’ 

On the ground nearby, he said, were Vienna sausages, the same brand prosecutors said they tied to a selfie Routh allegedly took hours before. Routh declined to cross-examine him.

Sgt. Kenneth Mays, a tactical officer with the sheriff’s office, also took the stand and described forcing his way into ‘pretty thick’ brush and finding a rifle and bags clipped to the fence in a spot that ‘looked like someone had been in there.’ On cross-examination, Routh quizzed him on how AK-47 rifles function, repeatedly interrupting with, ‘right, right, right.‘

Before the lunch break, jurors also heard from FBI Special Agent Kathryn Rose, who spent about an hour on the stand. Prosecutor Maria Medetis Long walked her through a series of exhibits, including the rifle itself, which was still sealed in its evidence box and cut out with scissors, as well as the magazine, the single bullet left in the chamber, the black metal plates, two bags that had been spray-painted a different color and the GoPro-style camera. 

When Judge Aileen Cannon asked jurors if they wanted a closer look at any of the evidence, they declined. 

The day began with FBI forensic specialist Erin Casey, who guided jurors through drone footage, laser scans and animated ‘fly-through’ reconstructions of the alleged sniper nest. She testified the hideout was ‘126 feet and 10 inches from the flag on the sixth green.’ 

Routh has pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including attempted assassination of a former president, assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon and multiple firearms offenses. U.S. prosecutors allege he plotted for months, traveled from Hawaii to Florida and positioned himself at Trump International Golf Club with a rifle chambered and ready to fire on Sept. 15, 2024.

Court was still underway Friday afternoon, with additional FBI witnesses expected. Cannon told jurors proceedings are scheduled to run until 5:30 p.m. daily. Court will resume Monday with prosecutors expected to continue calling FBI witnesses as they build their case.

Lawmakers are divided on whether to tone down heated rhetoric after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, reigniting debate over the role fiery language plays in America’s surge of political violence.

Political violence has been a steady constant in recent years, including a pair of assassination attempts against President Donald Trump in 2024 and the slaying of a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota earlier this year.

Kirk’s death has again reignited the discussion on what role political rhetoric, be it inside the walls of Congress or around the country, has to play in political violence in the U.S.

‘This is on all of us, right?’ Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., told Fox News Digital. ‘I mean, you know, everyone’s been ramping up the rhetoric, right?

‘If the left is going to blame the right, and the right is going to blame the left, and we’re going to continue to say ‘It’s your fault,’ and we’re not collectively going to try to bring it down together, then this cycle is just going to continue to go on.’

And Republican leaders are hoping to turn the temperature down in Congress in the wake of Kirk’s death.

‘I’m trying to turn the temperature down around here,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said. ‘I always do that. I’ve been very consistent.’

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital he believed reining in hostile or divisive rhetoric is ‘always a conversation with people in leadership.’

‘And it should be in both parties to make sure that you don’t incite this kind of an activity,’ he said.  ‘And you just don’t know somebody, and based on their mental health, what kind of activity they may — what role that may play in this. We still don’t know what’s happened here.’

Some lawmakers fear that the escalation in political violence has America returning to the violent and chaotic time of the 1960s, which saw the assassinations of civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, John F. Kennedy and his brother and presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy, among others.

‘The message was love and not violence,’ Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., said of the turmoil in the 1960s. ‘So, you know, returning to a message like that could be good, but it didn’t change the outcome of the assassinations during that era. So, I don’t know that there’s an easy answer.’

Still, emotions were running high on the Hill in the days following the shooting at Utah Valley University, which resulted in a two-day manhunt and the eventual arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson.

When asked how much of a role rhetoric had to play in Kirk’s slaying, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said, ‘A lot.’

‘You say you’re a Nazi and a fascist and a threat to democracy, how does that help? If you disagree on issues, that’s one thing, but [you’re] not saying that,’ Norman said. ‘The left is a poster child.’

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital he had known Kirk for a decade and noted that the late founder of Turning Point USA ‘stood for the open exchange of ideas.’

‘I think what we have to learn from that is that we need to go back to the principles that built this country, which is that it is actually a positive and healthy thing to debate ideas,’ Moreno said. ‘We don’t have to be mad at each other because we have a different point of view, let alone escalate the violence.’

But Moreno noted that for the last decade, Trump and Republicans like himself have been compared to Adolf Hitler, Nazi sympathizers and fascists, ‘which the Democrats do every single day.’

‘What’s the problem?’ Moreno said. ‘Like, you signed up for politics, you got to be able to have a thick skin. It’s not about that. It’s about that you send a message to crazy people, that says, ‘You’re actually doing a good deed if you kill somebody who would otherwise be a Nazi and a fascist who will end our democracy.”

Trump put the blame, in part, on Democrats in an address to the nation on Wednesday night, where he charged that ‘those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals.’

He repeated that sentiment during an appearance on ‘Fox & Friends’ Friday morning when he was asked about radical elements on the conservative side of the aisle.

‘I’ll tell you something that’s gonna get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less,’ Trump said. ‘The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime. The radicals on the left are the problem.’

When asked for his response to Trump’s address, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, ‘This is a time that all Americans should come together and feel and mourn what happened.

‘Violence affects so many different people, so many different political persuasions,’ he said. ‘It is an infliction on America, and coming together is what we ought to be doing, not pointing fingers to blame.’

The rifle that federal investigators believe was used in the shooting that killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk contained ammunition inscribed with anti-fascist messaging, shedding light on the suspect’s motive.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed the messaging at a news conference Friday, saying investigators discovered inscriptions on casings found with a bolt-action rifle near the Utah Valley University campus, where Kirk was killed during an event.

One used casing and three unused casings contained the writings, Cox said.

News of the ammunition inscriptions was first shared on social media Thursday morning in a preliminary bulletin attributed to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

According to the bulletin, circulated on X by political commentator Steven Crowder, federal officials recovered a .30-06 caliber Mauser rifle in the woods that contained ‘engravings,’ including messaging expressing anti-fascist ideology and other messages.

Fox News Digital confirmed the veracity of the ATF bulletin through talking to multiple sources, but the sources stressed on Thursday that the information was preliminary.

The information about the firearm surfaced nearly 24 hours after Kirk, 31, was shot and killed during a speaking engagement in Utah. Both his graphic death and the scant public information revealed in the early hours of the investigation into his killing left the nation reeling and revived heated debate about political violence in the U.S.

Law enforcement officials worked frantically in the aftermath of Kirk’s death to track down and arrest the gunman, who they announced Friday was Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah man.

Cox on Friday called the shooting a ‘political assassination.’

‘This is certainly about the tragic death, assassination, political assassination of Charlie Kirk, but it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual,’ Cox said. ‘It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment.’

FBI Director Kash Patel laid out the timeline of the investigation Friday, saying it took the FBI and Utah law enforcement 33 hours to make an arrest. Patel said authorities made ‘historic progress’ in such a short duration of time.

The FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office released an image Thursday of a man they had said was a ‘person of interest’ in Kirk’s death and asked the public for help identifying him. The bureau also announced it was offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture. Cox said a tip from a family friend of Robinson’s led to his arrest.

After the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk sent shockwaves through the political landscape this week, Fox News Digital spoke to several high-profile conservative speakers about the future of the movement and the influence Kirk’s legacy and style will have on it. 

‘Conservatives will not be silenced,’ Heather Mac Donald, Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal, told Fox News Digital, adding that Kirk ‘would not have been silenced’ so conservatives should ’emulate his courage.’

Columnist and commentator Bethany Mandel told Fox News Digital that Kirk’s assassination was ‘absolutely an effort to try to silence conservatives’ and that ‘we have to resist the temptation to allow that.’

‘We need to keep speaking out and double down on not only Charlie’s message, but his methodology,’ Mandel said.

Kirk was assassinated on Wednesday while speaking to thousands of students at Utah Valley University when a gunman positioned on a nearby roof fired a single shot, striking Kirk in the neck.

Kirk was rushed to Timpanogos Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, prompting an outpouring of support from conservatives across the globe, including President Trump who called the killing a ‘dark moment for America.’

On Friday, authorities announced that they had arrested a suspect, 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson.

‘Charlie Kirk was a good man,’ John Ashbrook, co-host of the conservative podcast Ruthless, told Fox News Digital. ‘And his legacy will endure because none of us will ever forget his leadership nor the voice he provided for millions of regular people across this country.’

Mac Donald told Fox News Digital that it is ‘hard to imagine’ Kirk was killed for ‘any other reason than that he was breaking the stranglehold of anti-Western ideology on college campuses and beyond.’

‘It was sadly fitting that he was killed at a college campus, and not even one known for its leftward leanings, since colleges are the seed bed of modern day speech suppression and the false equations that political contrarian speech = hate speech and that hate speech may be snuffed out—apparently by any means necessary,’ Mac Donald said. 

‘The killer apparently agreed with those would-be censorers.  The self-centeredness and historical and moral ignorance of coddled American students has bloomed into something more pernicious, as the beatification of Luigi Mangione already showed.’

Going forward, in terms of security at events for prominent conservative speakers, Mandel called on campuses and cities that ‘claim to care about the future of America and civil discourse’ to step up and ‘ensure adequate security.’

‘We should not have to pay tax in the form of security in order to safely share our political opinions,’ Mandel told Fox News Digital. 

Conservatives have rallied around Kirk’s style of speaking out publicly and exchanging ideas with those who disagree, including prominent influencer Ben Shapiro who wrote on X that ‘we will never stop debating and discussing.’

‘We will never stop standing up for what America is and what she should be,’ Shapiro said, adding that he intends to continue speaking at colleges across the country despite the inherent dangers. 

Mac Donald told Fox News Digital, ‘It is a cliché and self-serving to say: they fear us because we are winning, but presumably, there is less of a perceived need to efface someone who is losing a cause anyway. Kirk was feared because he was winning.’

Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is appearing before the House Oversight Committee on Friday for a high-profile interview on whether senior staffers worked to obscure signs of mental decline in then-President Joe Biden.

Jean-Pierre is one of the highest-profile figures so far to appear before the committee, having been the most public-facing spokesperson for Biden from May 2022 until the end of his term.

The longtime Democrat-turned-Independent did not speak to reporters on her way into her closed-door transcribed interview with House investigators, which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and is likely to last into the afternoon.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is investigating whether there was a cover-up of Biden’s mental and physical state in the White House, and whether any executive actions were approved via autopen without the then-president’s full awareness.

Of particular interest to committee investigators are the myriad clemency orders Biden signed, including about 2,500 toward the end of his presidency that were executed via autopen.

Biden himself told The New York Times recently that he made every clemency decision on his own. His allies have also blasted the Republican-led probe as a partisan exercise.

Jean-Pierre was among those who publicly defended Biden in the wake of his disastrous June 2024 debate against then-candidate Donald Trump. She told reporters at a press briefing in early July that Biden was ‘as sharp as ever.’

But unlike other ex-Biden administration aides who have appeared ahead of her – many of whom still hold close ties and fierce loyalty to Biden – Jean-Pierre had a very public falling out with their world earlier this year.

In June, Jean-Pierre announced she was writing a book titled ‘Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.’

She also announced she was leaving the Democratic Party in a press release for that book, expected in October 2025.

A summary for her book suggests it is about ‘the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandonment of his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision.’

The announcement was reportedly met with scorn by others in Biden’s orbit.

‘The hubris of thinking you can position yourself as an outsider when you not only have enjoyed the perks of extreme proximity to power — which…bestows the name recognition needed to sell books off your name — but have actively wielded it from the biggest pulpit there is, is as breathtaking as it is desperate,’ one former official told Axios.

Another person told the outlet she ‘was one of the most ineffectual and unprepared people I’ve ever worked with.’

Comer sent a letter to Jean-Pierre in late June asking her to appear for an interview, in which he pointed out she was ‘a trusted inner-circle confidante’ and ‘near the president daily.’

‘Your assertion, on multiple occasions, that President Biden’s decline was attributable to such tactics as ‘cheap fakes’ or ‘misinformation’ cannot go without investigation. If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition — or to perform his duties — Congress may need to consider a legislative response,’ Comer wrote.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the U.S. would respond after former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power after his loss in the 2022 election, although the secretary did not go into detail about what a U.S. response would look like.

‘The political persecutions by sanctioned human rights abuser Alexandre de Moraes continue, as he and others on Brazil’s supreme court have unjustly ruled to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro,’ Rubio wrote on X.

‘The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt,’ he continued.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry argued that Rubio’s comment represented a threat that ‘attacks Brazilian authority and ignores the facts and the compelling evidence in the records.’

The ministry said Brazilian democracy would not be intimidated by the U.S. government.

Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison when he was convicted by the country’s Supreme Court on Thursday on charges of plotting a coup to stop President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office in January 2023.

The former Brazilian leader was a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration.

‘Well, I watched that trial. I know him pretty well. I thought he was a good president of Brazil, and it’s very surprising that could happen very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all,’ Trump told reporters, noting the legal cases against the U.S. president in recent years at the state and federal level, which included his conviction in New York.

‘But I can always say this: I knew him as president of Brazil. He was a good man,’ he added.

Trump has criticized the Brazilian judicial system and threatened tariffs on the country for its case against Bolsonaro.

In July, the U.S. president placed 50% tariffs on most Brazilian goods in response to a ‘witch hunt’ against Bolsonaro. He later exempted some Brazilian exports, including passenger vehicles and numerous parts and components used in civil aircraft.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, his unspecified allies on the court and his immediate family members will face visa revocations, according to Rubio, who criticized what he called a ‘political witch hunt’ against the former president.

That same month, Rubio announced visa revocations on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over Bolsonaro’s criminal case, and his unspecified allies on the court after the court issued search warrants and restraining orders against Bolsonaro.

The U.S. Treasury Department had also sanctioned the judge over allegations of authorizing arbitrary pre-trial detentions and suppressing freedom of expression.

Bolsonaro’s son, Brazilian Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, said he anticipates additional U.S. sanctions against Brazilian justices following his father’s conviction.

‘We are going to have a firm response with actions from the U.S. government against this dictatorship that is being installed in Brazil,’ he told Reuters on Thursday.

He warned that justices who voted to convict the former president could face sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, which was previously used by the Trump administration against de Moraes.

‘If these Supreme Court justices keep following Moraes, they also run the risk of facing the same sanction,’ he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The fifth day of trial is slated to kick off in Fort Pierce, Florida on Friday for the case of Ryan Routh, who faces charges for attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club in September 2024.

On Thursday, then-Secret Service Special Agent Robert Fercano testified on behalf of the government that Routh pointed a rifle at his face while hiding out in shrubbery at the golf course. 

Fercano, currently assigned to Homeland Security Investigations, said he was scanning the sixth hole while Trump was playing the fifth when he ‘noticed several abnormalities on the fence line.’ 

‘There appeared to be a face, a barrel of a weapon and what I perceived to be plates, like Humvee plates like I saw in the Marine Corps,’ Fercano told Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Medetis Long on Thursday. 

Fercano said that he initially thought he may have spotted a homeless person, but then noticed the barrel followed him and that the weapon was ‘pointed directly at my face.’ 

‘This appeared to be a textbook ambush scenario,’ Fercano said. 

Routh also questioned Fercano – and used his time to ask a series of questions regarding sniper tactics. 

‘As far as being a sniper, what would be the best stance to shoot people? Standing, crouching, laying down?’ Routh asked. 

‘I wasn’t a sniper … it depends,’ Fercano said. 

Others who testified Thursday included Tommy McGee, a government witness and a civilian who heard gunshots break out the day of the alleged assassination attempt and took a photo of Routh and his car. 

‘He looked frantic,’ McGee said Thursday. ‘He ran right in front of me. We looked at each other… it looked like he was trying to get away.’

When Justice Department prosecutor John Shipley asked McGee if Routh was the same man he saw the day of the alleged assassination attempt, McGee said yes. 

According to prosecutors, Routh laid out the groundwork to kill Trump for weeks, and hid out in shrubbery on Sept. 15, 2024, when a Secret Service agent, Fercano, identified him pointing a rifle at Trump while the then-presidential candidate played golf. Although Routh pointed his rifle at the agent, he then abandoned his weapon and the scene after Fercano opened fire.

Routh was later apprehended by the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office on the I-95 interstate in a black Nissan Xterra. 

According to the Justice Department, he is charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate; possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence; assaulting a federal officer; felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition; and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh also faces state charges related to terrorism and attempted murder. 

Routh, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, was previously convicted of felonies in North Carolina in 2002 and 2010. 

Routh, 59, is representing himself in his trial – a process known as ‘pro se.’ Routh sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in June notifying her of his decision to represent himself. 

‘I will be representing myself moving forward; it was ridiculous from the outset to consider a random stranger that knows nothing of who I am to speak for me,’ Routh said in the letter. ‘That was foolish and ignorant, and I am sorry-a childlike mistake.’ 

Cannon approved the move in July, although she said that she believes it’s not a good idea for Routh to represent himself in this case. Routh has said he went to college for two years after receiving a GED certificate and told Cannon he was prepared to navigate any challenges that could come from representing himself. 

Despite Routh’s decision to act singularly, court-appointed attorneys are still on call to provide standby counsel. 

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph, Jake Gibson, Olivianna Calmes, Heather Lacey and The Associated Press contributed to this report.