SHOCK IN UTAH

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk, one of Donald Trump’s closest allies, died after being shot at a college campus event in Utah. He was 31.

• Charlie Kirk earned a name for himself as one of the most influential voices for young conservatives in America, shaping the MAGA landscape with constant speaking tours, podcast appearances, TV punditry, polarizing social media posts, books and political organizing. He was shot in the neck while speaking to a large crowd at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, shortly after noon today. President Donald Trump announced Kirk’s death in a social media post soon after.

• Videos circulating online show Kirk perched on a chair under a tent. He was engaged in a conversation about mass shootings in America when, suddenly, a gunshot rang out. Graphic videos of the incident show Kirk’s body jerking to the left, and falling to the ground. He later died at the hospital.

• “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote on social media, ordering American flags to fly at half mast until Sunday. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”

• The shooter targeted Kirk from a building 200 yards away, according to a university spokesperson. FBI Director Kash Patel posted on social media that a suspect is in custody.

Kirk leaves behind a sweeping and controversial legacy of conservative activism.

• The 31-year-old influencer was “the most successful MAGA media personality of his generation,” media analyst Brian Stelter said on CNN after the shooting, comparing him to longtime radio host Rush Limbaugh. He founded the young conservatives group Turning Point USA in 2012 when he was only 18 years old.

• Kirk was a key player in Trump’s re-election efforts, working to convince younger voters to choose MAGA and often speaking at Republican conventions. Kirk had a close relationship with Vice President JD Vance, and recently called for young conservatives to support him for the 2028 presidential election. Kirk also positioned himself as a fervent opponent of Democrats.

• “The Left is the party of murder,” Elon Musk, a Kirk ally, tweeted after the shooting. Katie Miller, the wife of Trump aide Stephen Miller, also chimed in: “It’s a real treat to see all these Liberals condemn political violence now. You called us Hitler. You called us Nazis. You called us Racists. You have blood on your hands.”

• Others called for calm. “Political violence has become all too common in American society, and this is not who we are,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said. “It must stop.”

Many online urged a turn away from violence. “Political violence is evil and indefensible. It’s a cancer that will feed off itself and spread,” Crooked’s Tommy Vietor tweeted. “Harming him or anyone else for their political views is disgusting and will rip this country apart and hurt everyone.”

WHAT ELSE?

Shortly after Kirk’s shooting, news broke of another horrific event: Three students are in critical condition after a shooting at Evergreen High School in Colorado. One is thought to have been the shooter, according to CBS News.

Poland shot down Russian drones that flew into its territory this morning, in what Warsaw described as an “unprecedented violation” of its airspace. “Putin laughs at President Trump’s peace efforts,” Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said. “He has only intensified the war. I hope that [Trump] backs his words with action.”

Yeah… about that: “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!” Trump wrote on social media afterwards. Uh… “here we go”? What is this, the kickoff to a “Seinfeld” comedy bit? What’s the deal… with Russian aggression?

The Venezuelan drug boat that the U.S. military sank last week had reversed its course when it noticed that an American aircraft was stalking it, according to the New York Times. That adds to skepticism over the Trump administration’s claims that the deadly strike was justified because the smugglers might’ve brought drugs to the U.S. “If they turned back, then that threat has gone away,” said Rear Adm. James McPherson, former top judge advocate general for the Navy.

FBI Director Kash Patel knew that he shouldn’t have fired three top FBI agents last month, but he did so anyway to appease Trump and keep his job, the former agents allege in a lawsuit. Brian Driscoll, one of the agents, said that Patel told him that “the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.”

The National Guard knows that city residents despise its presence in the nation’s capital. The mission is “leveraging fear,” driving a “wedge between citizens and the military,” and creating “shame” among troops and veterans, according to an internal Guard assessment. Hilariously, these documents were “inadvertently emailed” to the Washington Post last week. Good work, guys! Have you considered using the Signal app to send secret docs to a reporter? Secretary of War Pete Hegseth prefers it!

CBS News hired a Trump loyalist — who donated $20,000 in support of Trump’s presidential campaign last year — to review its news coverage. It’s part of a broader conservative trend at Paramount, the owner of CBS News, which is on the verge of hiring a controversial anti-woke, pro-Israel writer to oversee its news coverage. That’s not to mention the 60 Minutes drama, and that $16 million settlement to Trump.

The CIA has been secretly working with the Mexican military for years to hunt down the most-wanted drug kingpins in Mexico, according to Reuters. The CIA trains these Mexican units, gives them equipment, and pays for their travel, and makes them take polygraph tests. One of the people captured includes Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s son. So… when is the Netflix series about these guys coming out?

Light at the End of the Email…

A district judge ruled that Donald Trump’s bid to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is likely illegal, and ordered her reinstated immediately. Trump is appealing the decision, which will probably end up being decided by the Supreme Court.

A federal appeals court ruled that Trump also can’t fire a top official at the Library of Congress, in a significant blow to his attempts to broaden the executive branch’s power.

Let’s be clear: The world’s richest people shouldn’t be allowed to hoard so much money. That being said, it was therapeutic to watch Oracle’s Larry Ellison depose tech freak Elon Musk as the wealthiest person on earth today. Now Musk is just another rich guy, technically, and not the richest guy. Awesome.

Protestors confronted Trump at a seafood restaurant in Washington, D.C. last night. “Trump, you are not welcome here,” they chanted, while he appeared visibly angry.

NASA’s Mars Rover discovered signs of ancient microscopic life on the red planet, which one NASA official described as being “the closest we’ve actually come to discovering ancient life on Mars.”