Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) has told multiple news outlets that the man in custody for allegedly killing anti-LGBTQ+ activist Charlie Kirk was in a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate.

In an interview with ABC News, Cox described the roommate as “a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female” and used he/him pronouns. But Cox’s description presumably means they would actually identify as a transgender woman, not a “boyfriend.”

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He said they have not confirmed a motive but that they are exploring whether this relationship played a role in 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson’s hatred of Kirk, who regularly spouted vile insults about trans people, including calling them “an abomination” and saying trans identities are “against the natural law.”

Cox said the trans roommate, who has not been named, has been “incredibly cooperative” with law enforcement.

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“Had no idea this was happening and is working with investigators right now,” he added. He said Robinson, “has not been cooperating so far,” and as such, law enforcement has obtained all of its information on him from family and acquaintances.

That includes Cox’s earlier claim to the Wall Street Journal that Robinson was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.”

“That information comes from the people around him — his family and friends,” he explained during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Robinson’s parents are both registered Republicans, but he is not registered with a specific party. Cox said family members report he became more political over the past few years and did not share the opinions of his loved ones.

CNN anchor Dana Bash took Cox to task over his calls for unity and to “lower the temperature,” as Bash put it, while also talking about the alleged leftist radicalization of Robinson.

Cox – who vetoed an anti-trans sports bill in 2022 because he wanted to “err on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion” – claimed he does not “have a dog in this fight” and that if loved ones had said Robinson was a MAGA radical, he’d be sharing that, too. Cox said the charging documents will be filed on Tuesday, when much more information will come to light.

The governor also recently called social media “a cancer on our society” and said it’s important to understand the role the dark web plays in turning a seemingly well-adjusted and smart young man into a killer.

Despite Cox’s repeated claims that the trans partner “did not have any knowledge” of Robinson’s alleged plans to kill Kirk and “was shocked when they found out about it,” the revelation that a trans person was involved in the alleged killer’s life at all will no doubt be used as fuel by right-wing actors who have been desperately seeking any excuse to blame Kirk’s murder on trans people and liberals in general.

In contrast to many on the right who are calling to avenge Kirk’s death, Cox’s message has largely been one of unity, imploring Americans to engage in peaceful debate rather than continue to perpetuate a vicious cycle of political violence.

“Every one of us has to make a decision,” he told ABC News. “Are we going to hate our neighbor? Are we going to hate the other side? Are we going to return violence with violence, or are we going to find a different path?”

While Cox acknowledged on CNN that Kirk “said some very inflammatory things,” he also praised the white nationalist for preaching “forgiveness” and “reading scripture.”

But in addition to regularly making bigoted statements against marginalized groups, Kirk and his right-wing-funded organization for young conservatives, Turning Point USA, launched a Professor Watchlist, which inspired death threats and public campaigns to fire “radical” college educators “who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.”

Kirk also said some gun deaths are “worth it” for Americans to maintain the right to bear arms and that he “can’t stand the word empathy.”

Spencer Cox: "Charlie said some very inflammatory things, and in some corners of the web that's all that people have heard" pic.twitter.com/GVe9xN625O

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 14, 2025

Cox also appeared to try to absolve Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric from contributing to the country’s current issues, claiming individuals can’t base their decisions on how to feel and act on what a president or governor says and that everyone must decide for themselves if they are going help make things better or worse.

During his appearance on ABC, Cox gave a roundabout answer when asked about Trump’s silence on the assassinations of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband and his claims that most of the country’s violence is due to the radical left.

“President Trump is very angry,” Cox said, “and Charlie is his close personal friend. There is a lot of anger on the right, on my side of the aisle, and in this case, it does appear that that’s true. More information is coming… I don’t know that that matters as much as the radicalization piece.”

He said, “This person made a choice, and it was this person’s choice,” but that more must be done to figure out how people become radicalized in the first place and stop it from happening.

In contrast, out former Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, recently slammed Trump’s villainization of liberals in the wake of Kirk’s death.

“We’re not getting the leadership that we need to bring this country together from the White House and in order to turn the tide of political violence,” Buttigieg said. “Yes, we have to reject those who commit political violence; yes, we have to reject those who celebrate or promote political violence; but also, in order to deprive political violence of its power, we have to reject anyone who would try to exploit political violence. The response to this cannot be for the government to crack down on individuals or groups because of violence, but because they challenge the government politically.”

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