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COMMENTARY by Benny Johnson — "🚨Don Jr. Just SNAPPED! Blew The DOORS Off Charlie Kirk Murder From INSIDE Court: 'They're Lying…’" (published 2026-07-08).
This is third-party opinion/analysis ABOUT State of Utah v. Tyler James Robinson — NOT the court record. It is indexed for comparison against the primary transcripts/filings. Transcript is the YouTube auto-caption track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbzKjQ6Q_DQ) — verbatim ASR.
We all know that Charlie Kirk was like a son to President Trump. He was often called President Trump's fourth son. But what we weren't counting on was Donald Trump's first son showing up surprisingly inside of the courthouse in the first and second days of Charlie Kirk's murder trial. Donald Trump Jr. flanked by an army of Secret Service, sat next to Erica Trump and the Kirk parents and has for the first time broken his silence about what he learned in that courthouse watching the prosecution of Tyler Robinson. Here we go. >> You're a friend of Charlie Kirks. He was close to you. You were close to him. I can't imagine this was easy to be there. >> 100% I I'm there to uh not only honor Charlie's legacy to support Erica uh his parents who were there uh you know seated all in the row with us. It was uh it was just important to be there. It's a legacy that really needs to be preserved. The the impact that Charlie had on so many Americans, on so many youth uh is, you know, frankly generational. Uh it it could have been so much more. Um, but it was important to be there and to see the actual facts laid out, Bill, because there was so much stuff that, you know, amidst the noise and the internet chatter uh that was laid out that, you know, I had never heard uh and makes this case very cut and dry to me. >> Don Jr. there saying that there was an op in order to deceive the American public and there certainly was. There was a lot of internet chatter. Uh there was a total and complete blackout on evidence in this trial and the judge put a gag order on everybody involved in order to preserve and by the way this is something that is normal process to preserve uh the institution of his courthouse so that the evidence can be presented in an orderly and factual way and that's of course what we've seen but Don Jr. saying we well I haven't seen any of this evidence and to see it laid out brought Don Jr. to this conclusion >> based on I'm listening to all the legal analysts who were in court as well and they're suggesting the evidence is overwhelming and how did the prosecution's case sound to you in court? >> Uh very strong and the defense sounded very weak. The defense's only real tactic was seemingly to either stall or try to not admit essentially any evidence whatsoever because I guess it would be too damning uh to their client. It it was truly uh crazy. But you see the video, you know, this is someone who lived 4 and 1/2 hours south who importantly and you know most people didn't know this was not in a a student at uh Utah Valley University. He came up 4 and 1/2 hours away very distinctly. I guess it was a Dodge Challenger in a car with very distinct rims. So they're able to identify the vehicle. They see him coming in early. He interacts with some turning point people apparently asking them, you know, you know, what was happening here, who were the speakers, what was the timing, whatever that may have been, it seems. Uh he then leaves uh but he's wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He comes back wearing long pants uh with a limp that magically somehow developed. Uh is seen on video going up to this rooftop, which was the perfect vantage point uh to make, you know, this shot. uh you know then jumps off the building carrying a long object that looked like the shape of a gun according to one of the witnesses wrapped up in something. Uh, and there was a screwdriver left, which to me, you know, leads me to believe that he walked up there with a limp. I had disassembled the gun, uh, you know, put both the stock and the barreled action, uh, I guess down his pants, walked up there, put the gun together. That takes 30 seconds. Uh, made his shot. They saw evidence of the indents of where, you know, there would have been a sniper hide, uh, the indents from his knees and elbows where he would have lain prone uh, to make this shot. The shot happens and within seconds he's seen uh the limp has disappeared and he's seen, you know, jumping off the building uh and and running into the nearby woods. Then there's ring cam footage of him pulling up again in this very distinct car at 12:30 a.m. again on a university campus that he does not go to. Uh lives 4 hours away. Uh to me that seems like he's there to retrieve the weapon that was stashed earlier in the day. you know, other minor details like, you know, he turned himself in in these kinds of things, but uh it it's just been very tough to watch some of I haven't frankly opined and I've taken a lot of heat from people because I haven't opined on a lot of the uh stuff that's been out there because I didn't know that any of it had any basis in fact. But once this hard evidence was laid out to me in a courtroom before my very eyes, uh and seeing the reaction of the defense, uh you know, this thing is is much more cut and dry than I I would have ever even imagined. So, let's just go off the top of the dome here. What is the case against Tyler Robinson that we now know? Obviously, there's been uh some little pieces of evidence that could be gathered and put together and a constellation that points to Tyler Robinson being the killer. But after 3 days of trial reveals, now we know, here we go. Tyler Robinson was on campus four times the day that Charlie Kirk was murdered. He doesn't go to this campus. There's no reason for Tyler Robinson to be there. He was stalking his prey and trying to retrieve the firearm that he stashed there. He's caught on security camera. There's 20 minutes of security camera footage of Tyler Robinson lurking around the campus driving his vehicle. You can see the license plate, the make of his car. Uh you can also see his backpack, his limp, and you can see him on the rooftop walking across the rooftop getting in a prone sniper position before the turning point. USA Charlie Kirk event. As soon as the shot is fired, you can see him then running and jumping off the roof. That's what was revealed yesterday. We have that footage. What else do we have? Well, we have the DNA evidence of Tyler Robinson's DNA on the chambered bullet inside of the boltaction rifle and the screwdriver along with Lance Twigs, the transgender roommate lover. What else? Well, we also have Tyler Robinson confessing that he killed Charlie Kirk in a Discord chat and in text messages and in handwritten notes and to his parents and to law enforcement. So, there's that. Uh, we also have a medical examiner saying that Charlie Kirk died of a gunshot wound to the neck. We also have Turning Point USA turning over all of the highde footage to law enforcement. Some of that footage was played in the court yesterday, by the way. We also have the defense for Tyler Robinson effectively uh having no defense. It is indefensible. All they're trying to do is effectively say, please don't show that clip to the media. Never once did we hear in court yesterday, you made up that clip. That's AI. That's fake. >> Got one more minute here. Some of the video that was played in court is something that we have never seen before and the public's seeing it for the first time. It's my understanding on Monday uh there was some video that was played and Erica chose to get up and leave the courtroom at that time uh for obvious reasons when that fatal shot was fired. >> How's she doing? What does she want Erica to know? >> Uh listen, she is doing as well as she can be under the circumstances. She was obviously very grateful that Patina and I were there to support her. You know, obviously I've been friends with her as long as she's known Charlie. Uh, and she's just a a great person, uh, a mother trying to get by, trying to, you know, fulfill her husband's legacy. Uh, there's obviously a lot of sadness in all of this. I think there's a lot of frustration, frankly, that this could have ever happened. I mean, one of the things I did here that was sort of shocking was that there were only six officers on duty, uh, you know, on this campus event. No briefing beforehand, uh, no real set game plan and six officers for a turning point event. And anyone who's watched the news in the last, you know, decade or so would realize there'd be thousands of people on this campus. Um, so, you know, I imagine there's some frustration with that, but I think, uh, she just wants justice. Uh, she's doing, uh, an an incredible job just holding it together given the circumstances and the, you know, sheer brutality of how this all happened and, you know, frankly, some of the sheer noise uh, that has come after her and attacked her and the organization uh, and all of that, which is, again, I I've stayed quiet. I've supported her. we've talked, you know, regularly ever since. Uh I haven't been that vocal because I haven't known what's real and what's not. But having literally been there in the room, seen the evidence with my own eyes, um you know, it's very clear to me that Tyler Ladies and gentlemen, please be on the right side of this. Perfectly fine for everyone to ask questions. And there was a 10-month period where the prosecution was getting all the evidence together and nothing was released to the public. And so there was little fragments of bits of information here and there. And there were gaps in information. And when there's a gap, when there's a vacuum, then people are obviously going to try and fill that gap. That's fine. I mean, honestly, like at this point, I don't care if somebody's acting in good faith. Now, the good faith level of evidence uh that has been reached in order to put this on Tyler Robinson, including but not limited to DNA evidence, hours of security footage, the actual video of the shot being taken by Tyler Robinson, Tyler Robinson's own confessions, the confessions of his parents, the confessions of his transgender roommate, the confessions of those next I mean, the trial hasn't even gotten started. They haven't even been called a witness. And it's already been utterly devastating and every conspiracy theory has gone up in smoke. So echoing exactly what Don Jr. just said there, like now is the time to snap back to reality and to accept the evidence in front of our face, accept truth, maybe some apologies are in order. Oh, one other thing. Tyler Robinson went and used his credit card at a Chick-fil-A on campus. You know, that's going to be really hard to fake that transaction for everybody saying that it really Okay? It's against my religion to lie. It's against my religion to deceive. It's against my religion to attack a a widow. And so, we won't be doing any of that on this channel, but we will be presenting you all of the evidence as it comes in. So, expect regular Tik Tok updates on uh what's going on. You can argue it out in the comment section. Everybody's entitled to their opinion and to ask questions. Uh, and we're also entitled to get the answers to those questions. And that we pray for. It's your boy Bann. Like, share, and