How Kirk’s death is animating Republicans

The Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

Politics, Government, Daily News, News

3.9 • 699 Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

As President Donald Trump travels to the U.K. this morning, the conversation in the U.S. remains focused on the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death. FBI Director Kash Patel is set to appear for a Senate hearing this morning, where he’ll likely face questions over his credibility in light of his response to the investigation. Meanwhile, Kirk’s death is spurring Republicans to go after what they have deemed the “radical left” over the response to Kirk’s death. Playbook’s Jack Blanchard and Adam Wren unpack the stakes and what to expect next. Plus, the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated meeting begins this morning.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on the Playbook podcast, President Trump heads to the UK, but all the focus here will be on big developments in the Charlie Kirk case.
0:14.4	There'll be all lines on the Senate this morning as FBI Chief Cash Patel comes in for questioning, and the Federal Reserve Board starts its big
0:21.7	interest rate meeting.
0:24.4	Hello, I'm Jack Blanchard.
0:26.6	And I'm Adam Wren, and it's Tuesday, September the 16th.
0:30.3	And this is the Playbook podcast.
0:32.3	Good morning, everyone.
0:33.6	Adam, hello, let's get into it today.
0:36.2	President Trump is headed off to the UK for a three-day state visit.
0:39.9	He'll be leaving in the next couple of hours.
0:42.1	We're not expecting much action on that front today.
0:44.6	The main events in Britain are Wednesday and Thursday.
0:47.0	We may see him this morning on the South Lawn.
0:49.1	We may hear from him on the plane, as we sometimes do.
0:52.7	But I think even the President of the United States is likely
0:55.2	to be overshadowed today by a development in the Charlie Kirk case. And that's because we are
1:00.8	expecting to see the chief suspect in the case, Tyler Robinson, in court this afternoon. And ahead of
1:06.3	that, we're expecting to hear from Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray, who will be filing charges against Robinson at 2 o'clock Eastern Time, and there's going to be a press conference at that point, laying out the case against the suspect.
1:18.3	And at that time, this afternoon, the expectation is we're going to learn a lot more about what the authorities actually know about this case, because, of course, the internet has been awash with
1:27.7	rumors and suspicion and accusation and hearsay, and this will be the first moment we really
1:32.6	get to see what the case against him actually looks like. And this really matters, Adam, because
1:38.5	as Dasher and I were discussing on the podcast yesterday morning, and in fact, as we've heard from
	...

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