The sparks flew on CNN this week, and not the kind the network was hoping for. In a fiery exchange with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), anchor Kaitlan Collins found herself on the receiving end of a blistering fact-check over her insistence that law enforcement has not yet established a motive in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Cruz wasn’t buying it.
“We don’t have a motive yet? Really? That’s CNN’s position?” he scoffed, cutting in as Collins tried to frame her position as cautious journalism. “He just happened to fire the gun in celebration? You can’t tell the motive here?”
The senator had reason to press. Prosecutors and investigators have already pointed to 22-year-old Tyler Robinson’s left-wing radicalization and his own words as evidence of motivation. Messages released this week show Robinson telling his transgender partner: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” He also admitted in texts that he was seizing the chance to “take out Charlie Kirk.”
Even Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, declared it “very clear” that Robinson was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology. The FBI, too, has laid out communications where Robinson openly discussed his plan and his loathing for Kirk. As FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News, “There was a text message exchange where he specifically stated that he had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and he was going to do that.”
And yet, Collins stood her ground, insisting prosecutors had not filed a “concrete motive” in court. That may be technically correct—since prosecutors generally save formal motive arguments for trial—but Cruz wasn’t having it.
“That statement is false. What you just said is false. What you just said is false, Kaitlan,” Cruz hammered. “CNN should not be engaged in misinformation.”
Collins attempted to redirect the conversation toward the broader problem of political violence, but Cruz refused to let the “both sides” narrative take hold. “There is some violence on both sides, but it is the left that overwhelmingly celebrates this,” he said, citing the grotesque celebration of Kirk’s murder on leftist platforms like Bluesky.
Collins, visibly frustrated, tried to close the loop: “Senator, I don’t think that anyone should celebrate someone’s murder regardless of what that person believes in.”
The facts, however, are stark. Robinson texted about his hatred. He targeted Kirk at a public event. He was motivated not by some nebulous impulse, but by political ideology and personal vendetta. The evidence is overwhelming, even if prosecutors haven’t yet packaged it neatly for trial.
