| | | |  | | By Eli Okun | With help from Rachel Umansky-Castro
|  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, FBI Director Kash Patel and other officials said they believe Tyler Robinson acted by himself to fatally shoot Charlie Kirk. | Lindsay Wasson/AP | LATEST IN UTAH: Law enforcement announced today that they have a suspect in custody for the killing of Charlie Kirk, 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson. He is facing multiple felony counts including aggravated murder, obstruction of justice and a weapons charge, and has been held without bail. What we know: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, FBI Director Kash Patel and other officials said they believe Robinson acted by himself to shoot the conservative activist at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, an act of violence that has left the political world reeling. Robinson was taken into custody overnight. CNN reports that Robinson’s father had seen the publicly released photos and confronted him, and that Robinson confessed to him. Cox said a Robinson family member had told a friend, who reached out to authorities. The county sheriff’s office in southwestern Washington County, Utah, where Robinson lived, said he turned himself in. More from POLITICO’s Gigi Ewing What we don’t know: Not many details about the suspect have emerged yet. Cox called the killing a “political assassination” and said one family member had described Robinson as having “become more political in recent years.” That person told authorities Robinson had recently criticized Kirk. Cox also said casings found near a rifle recovered close to campus included inscriptions like “Hey fascist! Catch!” and “If you read this, you are gay, lmao.” Other references appear to be steeped in gaming and meme culture. From the administration: “I hope he gets the death penalty,” President Donald Trump said in a “Fox & Friends” interview this morning, when he shared the initial news that a suspect had been apprehended. He also made clear where he thinks the blame should lie: “The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.” At the Utah press conference, Patel commended Robinson’s arrest as “historic” and spoke directly to Kirk: “I’ll see you in Valhalla.” Lowering the temperature: In an emotional speech, Cox appealed to the nation, especially young people, to find a better way than the politics of rage and violence. “Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now,” he said. “This is our moment. Do we escalate or do we find an off-ramp?” Cox, who has long advocated for bipartisanship and respectful debate, likened America’s current moment to the 1960s and said political violence threatens the country’s foundations: “It is an attack on all of us, it is an attack on the American experiment, it is an attack on our ideals.” Cox’s tech warning: “Social media is a cancer, and I would urge people to log off, turn off, and touch grass,” the governor added. Instead, he said, “We get to make decisions. We have agency, and I desperately call on every American, Republican, Democrat, liberal, progressive, conservative, MAGA, all of us to please, please, please, follow what Charlie taught me” about free expression, forgiveness and human connection. Where Trump turns now: The administration is working through its policy response, but initial conversations include cracking down on those who advocate for violence, WaPo’s Emily Davies and Michael Birnbaum report. Officials told them “of a broad plan to focus on public speech and rhetoric, declaring that those who speak in violent terms about Trump and his allies will face consequences. Some suggested a more expansive campaign, calling out schoolteachers and college instructors who have made public statements criticizing Kirk since his death, and promising to deport noncitizens who do the same.” Separately, speaking on Fox today about protesters, Trump indicated he might look into a racketeering probe against the Soros family. Unease across the nation: After a series of political violence incidents and killings that have afflicted both Republicans and Democrats, Americans of all sorts tell NYT’s Shawn Hubler and colleagues that they fear a deep sickness in a country that “seemed to be spinning out of control.” There’s intense online fury among Kirk’s MAGA supporters, including people seeking vengeance, Reuters’ Joseph Tanfani and colleagues capture. And parents are struggling with how to handle children who’ve already watched the video of Kirk’s death, WaPo’s Tatum Hunter and Will Oremus report. Spotlight on Patel: The White House reaffirmed its faith in Patel’s leadership, telling NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell in a statement, “Anyone who doubts his resolve and dedication — especially when Charlie was such a close friend to him — simply is using this extremely sad moment in [a] disgusting act of political gamesmanship.” But some allies are more critical: Christopher Rufo posted on X that “it is time for Republicans to assess whether Kash Patel is the right man to run the FBI,” as Rufo called for the feds to take action against domestic terrorism across the country. “He performed terribly in the last few days,” he said. Good Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | | 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. PAGING BILL CASSIDY: “Trump officials to link child deaths to covid shots, alarming career scientists,” by WaPo’s Lena Sun and colleagues: “The findings appear to be based on information submitted to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which contains unverified reports of side effects or bad experiences … The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes that the database is not designed to assess whether a shot caused a death … “Trump health officials plan to include the pediatric deaths claim in a presentation next week to an influential panel of advisers to the CDC that is considering new coronavirus vaccine recommendations, which affect access to the shots and whether they’re free. The plan has alarmed some career scientists who say coronavirus vaccines have been extensively studied, including in children, and that dangers of the virus itself are being underplayed.” More on MAHA in power: Amid reporting that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. intends to list pregnant women’s use of Tylenol as a possible autism cause, its makers raced to wave him off this week, WSJ’s Peter Loftus scooped. Kenvue interim CEO Kirk Perry met with Kennedy, as he and other company leaders argued that science has not proven a clear connection between autism and acetaminophen. 2. SENDING IN THE TROOPS: Trump announced this morning that Memphis will be the next city where National Guard are deployed. On Fox News, Trump said the “deeply troubled” city needs help tackling crime and claimed that both the Democratic mayor and Tennessee’s Republican governor were on board, per the Commercial Appeal’s Brooke Muckerman. (That hasn’t been publicly confirmed yet.) Trump said New Orleans and cities in blue states were also potential future targets, though local opposition in Chicago had stopped him from choosing it next. In Memphis, local leaders have acknowledged that they have work to do on crime, though it has already fallen to multi-year lows. Capital punishment: The crackdown on D.C., which ended up targeting immigrants as well as criminals, has now strained local ICE detention centers, WaPo’s Teo Armus and colleagues report. Attorneys for detainees argue that intense overcrowding at a processing center in Chantilly, Virginia, has made “dangerous conditions” with lengthy stays that violate people’s constitutional rights. DHS disputes any problems with the conditions. The national problem: “White House’s immigration blitz runs up against ICE bed capacity,” by POLITICO’s Myah Ward 3. IMMIGRATION FILES: “Trump administration plans push at UN to restrict global asylum rights,” by Reuters’ Ted Hesson and Jonathan Landay: “State Department officials sketched out plans for an event later this month on the sidelines of the U.N.’s annual general assembly meeting that would call for reframing the global approach to asylum and immigration to reflect Trump's restrictive stance … Under the proposed framework, asylum seekers would be required to claim protection in the first country they enter, not a nation of their choosing … Asylum would be temporary and the host country would decide whether conditions in their home country had improved enough to return, a major shift from how asylum works.” More South Korea fallout: Nearly all of the hundreds of South Korean workers detained at an ICE raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia went back today, per NBC. A stunned and angry South Korean public welcomed them home with a mixture of emotions after a week that has shaken ties between Washington and Seoul. In one case, ICE forcibly deported a worker even though he was working in the U.S. legally, NYT’s Lydia DePillis and Hamed Aleaziz report.
| | | | Introducing Global Security: POLITICO’s weekly briefing on the policies, regulatory fights and industrial shifts shaping defense and security across continents. We connect what happens in Washington, Brussels and beyond to what gets funded, what gets built and who benefits. Subscribe this week for daily coverage from DSEI. | | | | | 4. SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is holding firm on health care demands for a government funding deal with Republicans, telling AP’s Mary Clare Jalonick and Semafor’s Burgess Everett that unlike in March, he’s willing to risk a shutdown if the GOP doesn’t offer concessions. That comes as some Republicans join Dems to support extending Affordable Care Act tax credits, which could be the foundation for an agreement, Reuters’ Bo Erickson writes. Schumer now has strong support from his caucus, per Everett, strengthening his hand — but “even close allies doubt that Schumer will get the bipartisan budget bill he wants in the end.” Pressure from the left: MoveOn is urging Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to “hold the line” and shut down the government and extract health care policy wins in this fight, POLITICO’s Holly Otterbein scooped. Keep dreaming: Trump doesn’t sound remotely ready to strike a deal with Democrats. “Don’t even bother dealing with them,” he said on Fox News. “They want to give away money to this or that and destroy the country. If you gave them every dream, they would not vote for it.” Reminded that the Senate has to get Democrats on board to reach a 60-vote threshold, Trump simply waved the math away. More from POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill 5. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Secretary of State Marco Rubio will head to Israel tomorrow, the State Department announced, to show support as many other Western allies turn on PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s war in Gaza and recognize a Palestinian state. He’ll then travel to join Trump in the U.K. More from Bloomberg … U.S. Ambassador to Syria Tom Barrack and Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, today met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, per the AP. 6. WAR IN UKRAINE: In his Fox News interview, Trump continued to talk tough about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, warning that his patience is “running out fast.” To pressure Moscow toward peace, he threatened “sanctions to banks and having to do with oil and tariffs also.” But Trump didn’t make any firm commitments and continued pushing the situation off, emphasizing that “this is a Europe problem, much more than our problem.” At a G7 meeting today, the U.S. also plans to urge allies to “create a legal pathway to seize immobilized sovereign Russian assets,” Bloomberg’s Hadriana Lowenkron and Alberto Nardelli report. 7. CLIMATE FILES: “In the Pacific, Unkept U.S. Promises on Climate Cut Deep,” by NYT’s Victoria Kim in Honiara, Solomon Islands: “[M]any of those U.S. promises have been scrapped or hang in limbo. The Trump administration abruptly shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, pulled back on a host of climate policies … and gutted other aid and development programs. That about face stings more in a part of the world that years ago described climate change as its ‘single greatest threat.’ In private, one senior Pacific official called the fickle U.S. engagement in the region the ‘yo-yo’ policy. … China, on the other hand, has consistently been investing in relationships in the region.”
| | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Donald Trump’s 39 percent tariffs on U.S. imports from Switzerland have led Swatch to reverse the 3 and 9 on a special-edition watch. The Swiss-exclusive model is named, “WHAT IF...TARIFFS?” TRANSITIONS — Charles Oldaker is now a state-level research director at American Bridge 21st Century. He previously worked at the DNC and the DLCC. … Miranda Dabney will be comms director for the House Appropriations Committee. She previously worked for Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla). … … Colin Carroll has co-founded Atropos Group, a defense autonomous aviation company. He previously worked for the deputy secretary of Defense. … The Bank Policy Institute is adding Kristin Royster as SVP of technology, security and resilience strategy, Devina Khanna as a VP of government affairs and Jeffery Luther as a VP of regulatory affairs. Royster previously worked at Bank of America. Khanna previously worked for Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.). Luther previously worked at Covington & Burling. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook PM misstated what Democrats are demanding from Republicans for a deal to avoid a government shutdown. Democrats are asking that any shutdown-averting deal needs to include health care provisions such as an extension of soon-to-expire insurance subsidies.
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