Miller continued: “We are going to channel all the anger that we have over the organised campaign that led to this assassination to uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks.
“The organised doxxing campaigns, the organised riots, the organised street violence, the organised campaigns of dehumanisation, vilification, posting people’s addresses, combining that with messaging designed to trigger and incite violence, and the actual organised cells that carry out and facilitate the violence.
The suspect Tyler Robinson, inset, is set to be charged on Tuesday over the assassination of activist Charlie Kirk.Credit: AP
“It is a vast domestic terror movement. And with God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people. It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name.”
US politics has been riven by Kirk’s assassination, with a debate under way about escalating political violence – in particular, the role of social media in fomenting hatred and anger.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said it is only left-wing radicals who pose a problem, arguing that radicals on the right are motivated by justified causes such as reducing crime.
The seismic event has galvanised hard-right activists and commentators to demand drastic measures against their political opponents.
Steven Bannon said the Antifa movement must be designated as a terrorist organisation and transgender movement investigated.Credit: Bloomberg
On his War Room podcast on Monday (Tuesday AEST), former Trump adviser, MAGA personality and influencer Steve Bannon said the left-wing movement Antifa must be designated as a domestic terrorist organisation – potentially alongside the transgender movement.
“The trans part of this is a subset of that. That is also a conspiracy, a terrorist organisation,” he said. “Needs to be investigated.”
Bannon rejected the calls for unity made by Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox, whose passionate pleas to find an off-ramp to spiralling anger and violence commanded headlines around the country.
“It’s time now to make a stand,” Bannon said. “No, Cox, we’re not looking for unity – we’re looking for victory. No unity. We have nothing to unite around in that regard. We’re not going to unite with that. You might. You can get on there and do your pronouns and all that. It’s a free country, do it. But we’re not going to do it.”
People hold candles and sing during a memorial and prayer vigil for Charlie Kirk at the Kennedy Centre in Washington.Credit: AP
One conservative blogger, Matt Forney, said Kirk’s assassination was “the American Reichstag fire” – the 1933 arson attack on the German parliament which the Nazis used as a pretext to suspend civil liberties and crush their political opponents.
“Every Democratic politician must be arrested and the party banned under RICO,” Forney wrote on X, referring to racketeering laws. “It is time for a complete crackdown on the left.”
Miller has already endorsed the use of organised crime, conspiracy or insurrection laws to target “radical left” activists for fomenting riots, doxxing people or committing violent acts.
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The accused Robinson held a “leftist ideology” and spent a lot of time online, Cox told US media outlets over the weekend, and lived with a romantic partner who was transitioning from male to female. While the roommate was co-operating with authorities, Robinson was not.
The 22-year-old is set to be charged on Tuesday, US time. Patel, meanwhile, outlined a strong case to be presented by police. He told Fox News that DNA collected from a towel wrapped around the gun, and from a screwdriver found on the rooftop where the shot was allegedly fired, matched the suspect in custody.
Patel also said investigators had obtained evidence of a note, allegedly handwritten by Robinson ahead of the shooting, in which he said he was going to kill Kirk.
“Even though it has been destroyed, we have found forensic evidence of the note, and we have confirmed what that note said because of our aggressive interview posture at the FBI,” Patel said.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, reported that Robinson appeared to have confessed to friends in an online chat on Thursday, shortly before he turned himself in, citing two people familiar with the chat and screenshots seen by the newspaper.
“Hey guys, I have bad news for you all,” said a message to a small private group of friends from an account belonging to the suspect on the online platform Discord. “it was me at UVU [Utah Valley University] yesterday. im sorry for all of this.”
“im surrendering through a sheriff friend in a few moments,” the message, posted at 7.57pm Utah time, said. “Thanks for all the good times and laughs, you’ve all been so amazing, thank you all for everything.”
Robinson was taken into custody about two hours later.
The New York Times reported on a conversation in a different Discord chat group earlier the same day in which Robinson joked that a “doppelgänger” was trying to get him in trouble. That followed the release of images of a suspect who resembled Robinson.
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Trump administration to unleash ‘righteous anger’ on NGOs, left-wing activists
