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.

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.’

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.

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.’

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.

Pastor Jack Hibbs, a close friend of Charlie Kirk, told Fox News Digital he was in disbelief when he heard the conservative firebrand had been assassinated after having spoken to him just hours earlier.

‘My initial thoughts, of course, like everyone else, is what is going on in our country?’ Hibbs said. ‘But then quickly, I think my second thought, which is the prevailing thought, is Charlie was obviously a young man of not only profound intellect, he had a great faith in Jesus.’

Kirk, 31, was shot and killed Wednesday at the kickoff of his ‘American Comeback Tour’ at Utah Valley University. He leaves behind his wife, Erika, and two young children, ages 1 and 3.

Hibbs, pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Southern California, said Kirk had ‘a love for the Bible’ and the pair ‘spent the last several years going through the Scriptures together.’

Kirk’s assassination made him an ‘American martyr’ that will encourage an entire generation of ‘untold Charlies who will follow in his footsteps,’ he said. 

Hibbs and Kirk have collaborated over the last five years on their podcast shows and culture events. Kirk was invited several times over the years to speak at Hibbs’ church, born out of the Jesus People movement, on topics ranging from gender identity, abortion and school choice to biblical prophecy. 

Just hours before Kirk kicked off his American Comeback Tour, where he planned to travel across the U.S. to college campuses and invite liberal students to debate and ask him questions publicly, Hibbs reached out asking if he could get his brother entry into the Utah event.

‘Charlie was so kind and generous to let this stranger have a front row seat,’ Hibbs said. ‘And I know that that was Charlie loving on me by loving on my brother. And that’s just who he was, extremely, extremely generous.’

‘My brother sent me pictures of him and Charlie, standing together before the event started and everything looked great,’ Hibbs said. ‘And then my brother called me immediately during the shooting, I could hear people screaming and running, and my brother was about 25 to 35 feet away from Charlie.’

Hibbs urged Kirk’s supporters to remember his killing was ‘not the end of Charlie,’ because he had immense faith. 

‘This just galvanized an entire generation of not only those who follow Charlie, but those who criticized him. They watched a young man lay down his life for his cause,’ Hibbs said. ‘And I do believe that the result of today is going to backfire on anyone who had nefarious plots to silence Charlie.’

One of the last appearances of Kirk at Hibbs’ church was in March, an event titled, ‘A Christian or Pagan Nation.’

‘What a lot of people don’t realize is they see the Charlie Kirk, so to speak, in his armor, right on stage or on the university campus, but Charlie was a very tender-hearted young man, very, very empathetic,’ Hibbs said.

Kirk rose to prominence during the 2016 election cycle, emerging as one of the most influential voices in the MAGA movement and cultivating a close relationship with the Trump family. As the founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), he built a nationwide platform that amplified the voices of young conservatives and brought them into the political arena.

Through large-scale TPUSA events, Kirk positioned himself as a bridge between lawmakers and grassroots youth activists, creating direct connections between the political establishment and a new generation of conservative leaders. His efforts extended to specialized gatherings such as the Black Leadership Summit, where young participants were even invited to the White House during President Donald Trump’s first term, offering them a rare opportunity to engage face-to-face with the president.

Below are live updates from inside the federal trial of Ryan Routh, accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump in September 2024 at his West Palm Beach golf club. The proceedings are closed to electronics and not televised, with Fox News reporters providing firsthand accounts from the Federal Courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Secret Service agent describes ‘textbook ambush’ — 11:52 a.m. ET

The government’s first witness, Special Agent Robert Fercano, testified Thursday that Ryan Routh aimed a rifle directly at his face while lying in wait at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15, 2024.

Fercano, now with Homeland Security Investigations – but at the time a Secret Service agent – said he was scanning the sixth hole while Trump played 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,’ he told Department of Justice prosecutor Maria Medetis Long.

Fercano said he tried to make contact: ‘Hey sir,’ he called out. Moments later, he noticed the rifle barrel starting to move, heard ‘what sounded like a groan,’ and saw the man smile, he testified.

At first, Fercano said, he thought it could be a homeless person. But Fercano claimed the barrel followed his movement and he saw plates hanging from the fence that looked like makeshift bulletproof shielding.

‘This appeared to be a textbook ambush scenario,’ Fercano testified, saying he drew his weapon and fired as he walked backward.

Jurors also heard Fercano’s frantic radio calls:

‘Mogul on 5 green,’ at 1:24 p.m., alerting colleagues Trump was on the fifth hole.

Just 11 seconds later: ‘Shots fired, shots fired, shots fired.’

‘Be advised it looked like an AK-47 style rifle pointed through the fence.’

Prosecutors then presented the Chinese-made SKS rifle they say Routh used. Wearing black gloves, Fercano demonstrated for the jury how 1–2 inches of the barrel protruded through the fence that day.

Representing himself, Ryan Routh spent about 15 minutes questioning Special Agent Robert Fercano before the court broke for lunch.

Routh began with an unusual opener: ‘Good to see ya. First question, is it good to be alive?’

‘Yes, it is good to be alive,’ Fercano replied.

Routh followed up: ‘I’m sure your family is happy you’re alive and well?’ Prosecutors objected, and the agent did not answer.

Throughout the exchange, Fercano repeatedly identified Routh as the man he saw that day. ‘I saw you in the bushes… you smiled at me,’ he said. Routh did not dispute the identification.

Routh asked why Fercano moved off the golf cart path and onto a service path. Fercano said he was ‘thinking like a criminal’ and noticed Routh along the fence line.

When Routh asked if a tree limb blocked his view, Fercano said, ‘The path was unobstructed.’

Pressed on whether the suspect was concealed, Fercano answered: ‘Yes, you were concealed.’

Routh asked, ‘You happened to see the individual driving by?’ Fercano replied, ‘There was no individual driving by.’

In a final series of questions, Routh pressed Fercano about sniper tactics: ‘As far as being a sniper, what would be the best stance to shoot people? Standing, crouching, laying down?’

Fercano responded: ‘I wasn’t a sniper… it depends.’

Court recessed for lunch until 1:05 p.m., when prosecutors will decide whether to follow up with additional questions for Fercano.

Routh delivers rambling opening statement — 11:23 a.m. ET

Ryan Routh, representing himself in his federal trial where he is accused of attempting to assassinate Trump last year, spoke to jurors for just seven minutes before Judge Aileen Cannon cut off his opening statement, saying it had ‘absolutely nothing to do with this case.’

Routh began by apologizing to the jury: ‘Sorry to take your time and disrupt your lives…I’m so sorry.’ He then launched into a meandering monologue, citing everything from prehistoric human history to world leaders.

‘What is intent?… Why are we here? What is our intent? To love one another… Is this so difficult?’ Routh asked. He went on to reference Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Putin, Sudan’s civil war, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

After four minutes, Judge Cannon interrupted, dismissed the jury, and warned Routh his remarks ‘go beyond any relevance in the case.’ When he returned to similar themes, she stopped him again.

‘We have limited patience, and you don’t have unlimited license to go forward and make a mockery of the dignity of this courtroom,’ Cannon told him.

When the jury came back in, Routh grew emotional, choking up as he invoked Henry Ford and the Wright brothers, before saying: ‘This case means absolutely nothing. A life has been lived to the fullest.’

At that point, Cannon ended his opening remarks and allowed prosecutors to call their first witness.

Trial begins with prosecution’s opening arguments — 10:15 a.m. ET

Federal prosecutors opened their case against Routh on Thursday, telling jurors he came ‘within seconds’ of assassinating Trump during a round of golf in West Palm Beach last year.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley read Routh’s own words to the jury — ‘Trump cannot be elected’ and ‘I need Trump to go away’ — before laying out what he described as a ‘deadly serious’ plan to kill a major presidential candidate.

Shipley said Routh traveled from Hawaii to the mainland with a Chinese military-grade assault rifle, 20 rounds of ammunition, 10 burner phones, three aliases, stolen license plates, and ‘a trail of lies from Honolulu to Florida.’

Jurors were shown photos of the golf course perch where prosecutors say Routh hid for 10 hours with his rifle chambered, safety off, and pointed at a Secret Service agent clearing the hole for Trump.

That agent, Fercano, testified Thursday. Shipley told jurors Fercano spotted Routh’s face in the bushes and saw ‘the muzzle of a rifle pointed directly at his face’ before returning fire.

‘Had he not seen that rifle,’ Shipley said, ‘the defendant would have succeeded in killing Trump.’

Routh has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer. Prosecutors say he was armed with an AK-style rifle when Secret Service agents stopped him near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach in September 2024. The attempt came just months after Trump was shot and narrowly survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.

Routh’s opening statement also began Thursday morning. He was given 41 minutes for his opening arguments, right after prosecutors finished their opening presentation. 

This is a developing story. Check back here for live updates.

The White House issued a rare public rebuke of Israel for its strikes on Hamas leaders in Qatar, putting Washington in an awkward position between two key allies.

The Trump administration almost never breaks publicly with Israel on military campaigns. But analysts say the deeper question is how much the U.S. knew in advance — and whether it quietly offered its blessing.

Hamas said the strike killed five of its members but failed to assassinate the group’s negotiating delegation. A Qatari security official also died, underscoring the risk of escalation when Israeli operations spill into the territory of U.S. partners.

‘There’s a lot of opaqueness when it comes to exactly what the United States knew and when,’ said Daniel Benaim, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. ‘But the President has been pretty clear that he was unhappy with the substance and the process of what happened yesterday. This kind of public statement by a U.S. president in the wake of a strike like this is already very notable in its own right.’

Just days before the strike, Trump issued what he called a ‘last warning’ to Hamas, urging the group to accept a U.S.-backed proposal to release hostages from Gaza. The timing has fueled speculation about whether the strike was connected to Washington’s frustration with Hamas and whether Israel acted with at least tacit U.S. approval.

‘It just seems like the Israelis wouldn’t have done this without him knowing,’ said Michael Makovsky, CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. 

‘They’ve got a U.S. base right in that country with everything going on with the hostage talks. I got a sense that he knew, and it’s hard to understand exactly what happened — that if he knew, he sat on it, and then he told the Qataris only when the missiles were flying.’

But Trump on Tuesday had harsh words about the strike, writing on Truth Social that it ‘does not advance Israel or America’s goals.’

The White House claimed it learned from the U.S. military that missiles were on the move, and gave warning to the Qataris. Qatar has denied getting any sort of advanced warning. 

If Washington knew in advance, why issue the rebuke? If it didn’t, how could Israel act so freely in airspace dominated by the U.S. military? Either option raises uncomfortable questions about America’s leverage.

‘Israel would not do what it did without some sort of an approval by the U.S.,’ said Dr. Yoel Guzansky, senior researcher and head of the Gulf program at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. ‘The Trump administration wants to distance itself, and it’s understandable, because it has good relations with the Qataris.’

That relationship is anchored in hard power. The U.S.’s biggest overseas air base, Al Udeid, sits on Qatari soil and hosts more than 10,000 American troops. Qatar is a top buyer of U.S. weapons and recently gifted the administration with a new Air Force One jet. Yet none of that deterred Israel’s strike. ‘If indeed the U.S. wasn’t aware, then we have a big problem, because Israel surprised the U.S., and it might cause damage to U.S.-Qatari relations,’ Guzansky said.

Others argue the U.S. may have been more aligned with the operation than its rhetoric suggests. ‘The fact that U.S. defenses at Al Udeid were not used against Israeli jets is a great indicator that Washington was not opposed to the strike,’ Ahmad Sharawi, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. 

But Qatar’s international Media Office called claims that Qatar was re-evaluating its security partnership with the U.S. ‘categorically false.’ 

‘It is a clear and failed attempt to drive a wedge between Qatar and the U.S.’

Strains on Gulf relationships

The reverberations extend beyond Washington and Doha. The strikes risk unsettling the delicate outreach between Israel, the U.S., and Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, which has been under quiet but sustained pressure to join the Abraham Accords — the U.S.-brokered normalization deals between Israel and Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates.

‘Regional power dynamics are shifting,’ said Benaim. ‘Gulf states are a bit less concerned about the threat from Iran, which was pushing them closer to Israel, and they’re seeing that Israel is engaged in activities across the region, whether it’s Syria or inside Iran or now inside Doha.’

The divergence is stark. Gulf leaders want de-escalation and stability to rebrand their states as hubs of investment, tourism, and economic recovery. Israel, meanwhile, is pursuing a strategy of direct confrontation with Iran across multiple fronts.

‘Gulf states that are really focused on their own economic recovery don’t like the image of smoldering, smoking Gulf cities subject to bombs because they’re trying to attract investment and create an image of common stability,’ Benaim said.

That mismatch could slow normalization, even if it doesn’t derail it. ‘Israel is probably underestimating the power of Gulf solidarity and the barrier being crossed when you see Israel striking inside of a GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] state,’ one former senior State Department official added. ‘I don’t think that means their relationships are going to fall apart or unravel, but these things cast a long shadow.’

Sharawi counters that Gulf outrage may be less about Israel itself than about the precedent of a strike on GCC soil. ‘It was an Israeli action against a fellow GCC partner, despite the hostile relationship that countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE had with Qatar in the past,’ he said. ‘But Gulf leaders are also deeply critical of Qatar for hosting Hamas. Privately, many will understand why Israel acted, even if publicly they condemn it.’

Qatar’s balancing act

For Qatar, the strikes open up both a vulnerability and an opportunity. On the one hand, it cannot allow itself to appear passive in the face of foreign attacks on its soil. Analysts expect Doha to respond through diplomatic channels, critical media coverage, and perhaps limited economic measures against Israel.

But Qatar also has a long history of turning crisis into relevance. ‘Qataris want to be again the mediator, because they earn a lot of points internationally — especially from the U.S.,’ said Guzansky. ‘It’s in their DNA.’

That means Qatar’s public outrage may coexist with a return to shuttle diplomacy, positioning itself once more as indispensable to ceasefire negotiations.

Sharawi argues that Qatar’s victim narrative also obscures its complicity. ‘The leadership of a terrorist organization has failed to bring in a sustainable ceasefire, and Qatar has empowered Hamas by hosting them,’ he said. ‘Even though Gulf leaders won’t say it publicly, they are very anti-Hamas. That context matters for how normalization prospects are viewed after this strike.’

Earlier this week Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade told a Qatari spokesperson it sounded more like the nation was ‘taking Hamas’ side’ than playing mediator. 

‘When one of the parties decides to attack our sovereignty in a residential neighborhood where my countrymen, the residents of Qatar, live in schools and nurseries right next door. Believe me, it’s very difficult to maintain a very calm voice,’ foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said. 

A different reaction than Iran

The Doha strikes also highlight an asymmetry in Gulf reactions. When Iran struck Al Udeid Air Base earlier this year, Gulf solidarity with Qatar was muted. This time, condemnations poured in minute by minute.

‘You didn’t see Gulf leaders coming and hugging the Qataris after Iran’s strike,’ Guzansky noted. ‘But with Israel, the reaction was much louder, with strong rhetoric across the Arab world.’

Sharawi agrees but frames it differently: ‘They were overly critical of Israel compared to Iran. The Jordanian king even said Qatar’s security is Jordan’s security — a very strong statement. The Arabs don’t hesitate to latch onto anything that criticizes Israel, and that showed yesterday, even in comparison with Iran.’

The contrast underscores a regional reality: Gulf leaders fear escalation with Tehran, but criticizing Israel carries little risk. For Qatar, the difference offers a chance to rally sympathy and spotlight its sovereignty — even as its neighbors quietly question its choice to host Hamas.

A shadow over normalization

Israel’s military reach is undeniable. But by striking inside Doha, it may have paid a hidden diplomatic price — reinforcing perceptions of Israel as a destabilizing actor at a time when Gulf states seek calm.

The fact that Hamas leaders survived while a Qatari security official was killed may further complicate fallout, heightening anger in Doha while leaving Israel’s core objective incomplete.

Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz has promised to strike ‘enemies everywhere.’

‘There is no place where they can hide,’ Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X, raising questions about whether a sovereign nation like Turkey, a NATO ally, which houses Hamas senior leaders, may be next. 

The Secret Service has its hands full combating an unprecedented level of political threats, an issue underscored in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. 

While the Secret Service is initiating a series of changes to bolster its security practices following two assassination attempts on President Donald Trump last year, the agency is now operating at an extremely heightened state amid an unprecedented level of threats, according to experts. 

‘The Secret Service now has to play at a level of enhanced security that they’ve never dreamed of before. I think [Secret Service Director Sean Curran] is doing a good job in leading that effort,’ Tim Miller, who served as a Secret Service agent during Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s administrations, told Fox News Digital on Thursday. ‘But here’s the bad news for the Secret Service: They don’t have time. This threat is now. Can you imagine – they already shot our president once. Can you imagine if they’re able to kill him?’ 

Kirk, 31, died after he was shot in the neck during his ‘American Comeback Tour’ at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. The assassination comes a year after two attempts to take the president’s life. 

Twenty-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on Trump from a rooftop during a campaign rally in July 2024, and one of the eight bullets shot grazed Trump’s ear. The gunman also shot and killed Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, father and husband attending the rally, and injured two others. 

Likewise, Ryan Routh was apprehended and charged with attempting to assassinate Trump at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September 2024. Routh was charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, among other things, and his trial kicked off on Thursday. 

Both assassination attempts against Trump are under investigation.

Bill Gage, who served as a Secret Service special agent during Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s administrations, said that even though the agency didn’t provide security during the Kirk event, it would conduct a review of the assassination like it does for others all over the world. As a result, the agency would perhaps consider enhancing smaller security details for members of Trump’s family, like the president’s son Barron, in response to Kirk’s death, Gage said. 

‘I think they will probably be taking another look at probably beefing up those smaller details that sometimes might only have two, maybe three agents on it, okay?’ Gage told Fox News Digital on Thursday. ‘And so once again, it’s going to increase that pressure where the agency’s already stretched thin.’ 

Miller, who now heads up Lionheart International Services Group, which provides security support and training, said that Kirk’s assassination was not a ‘one-off’ incident, and that the agency should adopt a similar mindset to the Department of Defense to train up warfighters. 

‘The Secret Service should be the biggest, baddest, meanest people on the planet,’ Miller said. ‘They ought to have the experience and a skill to where, when it goes bad, there’s none better.’

Miller has previously described the attack in Butler to Fox News Digital as a ‘wake-up call’ for Secret Service, and noted that the incident served as the impetus for reform within the agency. 

A bipartisan House task force that investigated the attack found that the attempted assassination was ‘preventable,’ and concluded multiple mistakes were not isolated incidents.

Former Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe told lawmakers in December 2024 that immediate changes to the agency following Butler, Pennsylvania, included expanding the use of drones for surveillance purposes, and also incorporating greater counter-drone technology to mitigate kinetic attacks from other drones. 

The agency also overhauled its radio communications networks and interoperability of those networks with Secret Service personnel, and state and local law enforcement officers, Rowe said. 

Although Miller said the Secret Service is working hard to implement changes, he said he worries it might not be fast enough to keep up with threats the president faces. Additionally, he said that in light of Kirk’s assassination and the attempts against Trump last year, there is additional pressure on the agency to sharpen its skills. 

‘After yesterday, I am sure every Secret Service agent recognizes that every day that they go to work could be the day,’ Miller said. 

The Secret Service extended its condolences to the Kirk family, but declined to comment on any specific changes to Trump’s security detail. 

‘President Trump receives the highest levels of U.S. Secret Service protection and the agency adjusts our protective posture as needed to mitigate evolving threats,’ a Secret Service spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Thursday. ‘Out of concern for operational security, we cannot discuss the means and methods used for our protective operations.’