By Daily Caller News Foundation

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CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings shut down a panelist who claimed on Tuesday that the suspected assassin of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was motivated by his love for his transgender boyfriend.

Left-wing activist and talk show host Montel Williams said on “CNN NewsNight” that 22-year-old Tyler Robinson was simply a “love-torn child” who was “emotionally” motivated to kill Kirk because he was supposedly “disparaging the person that he loved.” Jennings disputed Williams’ claims by pointing to the evidence that contradicts everything he had previously said.

“Talk about a love-torn child. A kid. This is probably his first real relationship and somebody was disparaging the person that he loved. He sat on that building for thirty minutes before he took the shot. Why did he wait until the word trans came up, and then he took the shot? I think he could hear it, I think he also, I don’t think he was motivated politically, I think he was motivated emotionally,” Williams said.

“Guys, the evidence here is overwhelming. He said ‘Charlie Kirk, I can’t stand his hate anymore. I’m gonna take him out.’ The testimony and the statements from his family, he had become more left-wing. He etched the statements that are made by the left that are made about Republicans and conservative and called Charlie Kirk a fascist on the bullet casings,” Jennings said.

Williams then said Robinson was just making a “joke” about Kirk. Jennings pointed out that clearly Robinson was not joking because he actually went through with murdering Kirk.

“It doesn’t sound like a joke to me because someone’s dead and about to be buried,” Jennings continued. “So it doesn’t sound like a joke to me. So I’m just telling you there is an effort, there was an effort all weekend long on the left to make this guy sound like he was a conservative. That failed. That was passed around all over the weekend. That has now failed. The evidence has now come out, he was motivated by hate, he was motivated by left-wing radicalism, he got mixed up with some trans ideology in his life. More and more about that about sure when evidence and testimony comes out. We are looking around the edges of this for something other than what’s staring us in the face! Left-wing radicalism got this kid, he went up to a roof, he murdered our friend and that’s what happened.”

The media and many figures rushed to claim that Robinson is a conservative Republican based on his family background. However, his parents later told authorities that he had become more political and “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.” He told his parents that “there is too much evil and [Kirk] spread too much hate” after confessing to the murder.

The suspected assassin texted his transgender boyfriend, Lance Twiggs, that he had committed the assassination and that he “had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred.” After he told Twiggs of his plan to turn himself in, Robinson added, “You are all I worry about, love.”

Robinson is charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and committing a violent offense in the presence of a child. Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said on Tuesday that Robinson targeted Kirk based on “political expression” and that the political targeting is an “aggravating factor” that could lead to increased penalties.

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