Matt Gutman said he regrets that his words did not make clear that he condemned the murder of Charlie Kirk.
An ABC reporter apologized on Sept. 17 after describing text messages authorities say were exchanged between Charlie Kirk’s alleged murderer and the man’s boyfriend as “very touching.”
“Yesterday I tried to underscore the jarring contrast between this cold blooded assassination of Charlie Kirk – a man who dedicated his life to public dialogue – and the personal, disturbing texts read aloud by the Utah County Attorney at the press conference,” Matt Gutman wrote on X.
“I deeply regret that my words did not make that clear. But let there be zero doubt here: I unequivocally condemn this horrific crime and the pain it caused Charlie Kirk’s family, those who were forced to witness it at UVU [Utah Valley University], and the millions of people he inspired.”
A spokeswoman for ABC did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
After Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray on Tuesday outlined the evidence supporting the charges against Tyler Robinson, who is accused of murdering conservative commentator Kirk in Utah on Sept. 10, Gutman said during the ABC broadcast that the messages were “very touching, in a way, that I think many of us didn’t expect—a very intimate portrait into this relationship between the suspect’s roommate and the suspect himself, with him repeatedly calling his roommate, who is transitioning, calling him ‘my love.’ And ‘I want to protect you, my love.’”
Robinson never told his boyfriend that he wanted to protect him, according to messages released by authorities.
“So it was this duality of someone who the attorney said not only jeopardized the life of Charlie Kirk and the crowd, but was doing it in front of children, which is one of the aggravating circumstances of this case,” Gutman continued. “And then, on the other hand, he was speaking so lovingly about his partner.”
Later in the day, Gutman said on ABC that Kirk was brutally murdered but that “on the other hand, there is this duality … a portrait of a very human person, a very human experience from this entire family.”
