Top Stories — Thursday, September 11, 2025
What is trending in the USA today? Here is Breaking News:
- Business leaders react to shooting death of Charlie Kirk — Fox Business
- Charlie Kirk's assassination latest case of conservatives being targeted for murder — Fox News
- Dozens of Democrats mutiny must-pass defense bill over GOP priorities — Fox News
Business leaders react to shooting death of Charlie Kirk
Source: Fox Business • Published: 9/11/2025, 3:55:40 AM
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk died after being shot at an event on Wednesday afternoon at Utah Valley University. He was 31 years old.
Kirk's death was confirmed by President Donald Trump.
"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!"
Kirk campaigned for Trump heading into the 2024 election.
Charlie Kirk stands among attendees during Day 3 of the Republican National Convention on July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Video posted from the event appeared to show Kirk being shot as he spoke to the crowd from under a white pop-up tent.
Turning Point USA is a nonprofit that empowers students to support and advocate for free markets and limited government.
Business leaders and business groups reacted to the news.
The advocacy group connected to deceased billionaire philanthropist Foster Friess, who was an early funder and supporter of Turning Point USA, posted a message from Lynn Friess.
"'Erika, and the entire Kirk family are in our prayers. I still remember the day when Foster first encountered Charlie at 18, and told me about the wise young man who wanted to save America. Foster was excited to write a check to help start Turning Point. Foster knew then that Charlie would move the culture and change history… and he did! He's gone to be with the Lord. We are devastated by this news.'"
"No words," Ackman wrote on X.
"RIP Charlie Kirk," Portnoy wrote on X. "It doesn't matter what your opinion is of Charlie or his politics if you don't view this as one of the darkest days in American history than you are part of the problem."
"Charlie Kirk was an incredible patriot — brave, tough as hell, and a dear friend to our entire family," Trump wrote on X. "In his honor, all @Trump properties will fly their flags at half-staff. We will always celebrate his life, strive to make him proud, and pray that God watches over Erika and their precious kids."
"Rest in peace to my friend, Charlie Kirk. My heart is with his loved ones at this devastating time," Bessent wrote on X. "This inexcusable violence belongs nowhere in a civilized society. Charlie was a brave man, a devoted husband, a loving father, and a great patriot. Please join me in praying for his family and our country."
FOX News Digital's Sarach Rumph-Whitten contributed to this report.
Read the full story at Fox Business.
Charlie Kirk's assassination latest case of conservatives being targeted for murder
Source: Fox News • Published: 9/11/2025, 3:35:23 AM
The horrific assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk Wednesday is the latest entry in a grim and growing tally of conservative figures and institutions being targeted for violence, vandalism and murder.
The fatal shooting follows a lengthy recent history of conservatives and Republicans facing violence, a Fox News Digital review of the last four years found, including two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump in a roughly two-month span in 2024.
Kirk was speaking at Utah Valley University as part of his "American Comeback Tour" when shots rang out and he collapsed on stage. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The 31-year-old husband and father was a staunch ally of President Donald Trump's, and toured the nation promoting right-of-center ideology to youths, most notably on college campuses. He founded his conservative group more than a dozen years ago.
Conservative commentator Benny Johnson believes the political left lacked sympathy after President Donald Trump was shot during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
Conservatives and pro-life nonprofits have been targeted with shootings, arson, and vandalism in just the past four years.
Trump himself has faced two assassination attempts, including on July 13, 2024, when he was shot in the ear while joining a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooting rocked the election cycle as Trump rose, bleeding and defiant, and urged the crowd to "Fight, fight, fight." The assassination attempt came just two days before the Republican National Convention was set to kick off in Milwaukee.
Trump appeared at the convention while wearing a bandage on his ear, and noted how he "had God on my side" during the attempt. The motive of the would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service sniper, remains unclear. The FBI has pointed to a complex web of personal grievances, mental health issues and a desire for notoriety as leading to the act, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Just weeks later on Sept. 15, 2024, Trump was rushed off of his golf course in Florida when shots rang out. The suspect in that assassination attempt case, Ryan Routh, posted prolifically about Trump, the 2024 election and politics in the lead up to the attempt, Fox News Digital previously reported.
Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh was seen being taken into custody Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in bodycam footage released Monday. (Martin County Sheriff's Office )
Routh is going on trial Thursday over the case, and described the president as an "insecure ego idiot-mad fool" in court documents in September, the New York Post reported.
Attacks on conservatives have unfolded at the grassroots level, as well, including this year when the New Mexico Republican Party's headquarters faced an arson attack. The attack destroyed the entrance to the headquarters, while graffiti reading "ICE=KKK" scrawled on the building.
The suspect in that case, who also allegedly attacked a Tesla Albuquerque Showroom, was hit with federal charges as Attorney General Pam Bondi pointed to the incident as a disturbing case of political violence.
The Republican Party of New Mexico's headquarters in Albuquerque were part of an alleged arson attempt, according to the organization. (@NewMexicoGOP/X)
TPUSA chapters around the nation have also faced other incidents of violence this year, including when a group of students with Turning Point USA at UC Davis were attacked by masked individuals in April, Fox Digital reported at the time.
The conservative group was in the midst of hosting a "Prove me Wrong" event with a guest speaker when protesters destroyed camera gear, a tent, event signage, flipped tables, and assaulted group staff, TPUSA said at the time.
Looking back at 2023, former NCAA swimmer and conservative political activist Riley Gaines was also attacked and barricaded in a room at San Francisco State University following a speech to students promoting a ban on biological males from playing in women's sports. The event was part of a Turning Point USA and Leadership Institute forum on campus.
Churches and pro-life groups have also faced dozens upon dozens of attacks beginning in 2022 in response to the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, which effectively ended the recognition of abortion as a constitutional right.
The attacks included a pro-life center that was "firebombed" in Buffalo, New York, in 2022, Catholic churches that were vandalized and set on fire, and pro-choice protesters interrupting church services and Catholic masses. The attacks followed a radical pro-choice group declaring in a public letter that it was "open season" on pro-lifers.
Charlie Kirk hands out hats before speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)
In 2017, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was shot along with three others when James Hodgkinson, a deranged supporter of Bernie Sanders, sprayed an Alexandria, Virginia, baseball field with gunfire as Republican lawmakers practiced for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Scalise nearly died, but recovered and remains in office.
The fatal shooting of Kirk on Wednesday has not yet yielded a suspect, with the FBI and ATF on the ground and investigating, according to Bondi.
Trump, as well as members of his Cabinet, have offered an outpouring of support to Kirk's family following the tragedy.
"The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead," Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday. "No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!"
Fox News Digital's Louis Casiano, Stepheny Price, and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
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Dozens of Democrats mutiny must-pass defense bill over GOP priorities
Source: Fox News • Published: 9/11/2025, 3:31:41 AM
The House of Representatives passed its version of Congress' annual defense bill on Wednesday evening, albeit along stunningly partisan lines.
For decades, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has seen support from a majority of Democrats and Republicans. That's changed in recent years, however, and the trend appears to have continued with the fiscal year (FY) 2026 bill.
The legislation passed 231-196 after a lengthy series of votes, with 17 Democrats voting in favor and 192 against. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other top Democrats opposed the bill.
Democratic lawmakers had spent hours beforehand railing against GOP-led amendments on mainly transgender issues, including several which were successfully voted into the bill.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., are pictured at the U.S. Capitol in 2024. (Getty Images)
Multiple amendments by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., for instance, placing limits on spaces that transgender service academy cadets can access, passed along mostly partisan lines.
Another amendment by Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., aimed at eliminating the preference for motor vehicles using electric or hybrid propulsion systems and related requirements of the Department of Defense, passed with mostly Republicans – although six Democrats joined in approving it as well.
Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., introduced an amendment aimed at preventing pride flags or other ideological banners being displayed on military installations, which also passed along nearly partisan lines.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, announced on Tuesday that he would vote against final passage of the bill if certain GOP-led amendments made it into the final piece.
Smith also ripped Republicans for not allowing House-wide votes on solely Democrat-led amendments in the bill, all of which were filtered out when the House Rules Committee was considering the legislation earlier this week.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, warned he would vote against the bill. (Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
"There are a number of problematic amendments included in the rule that focus on divisive topics rather than strengthening our national security. Should these amendments be adopted, I will vote against final passage of the bill," Smith said in a statement.
"For 65 years, the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act has been a testament to shared respect for the duty of Congress to provide for the common defense and to place the needs of America's national security and national defense above politics. The rule undermines this long-standing tradition by failing to include meaningful amendments offered by Democrats to address critical issues."
Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., earlier spoke out against the amendments targeting transgender issues as well.
"Many people in this body have received gender-affirming care. Filler is gender-affirming care. Boob jobs is gender-affirming care. Botox is gender-affirming care," Jacobs said.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announces that she will run for governor of South Carolina during a news conference at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, on Aug. 4, 2025. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
It prompted an angry response from Mace, "That is ridiculous! You are absolutely ridiculous."
Four Republicans voted against the bill in addition to the dozens of Democrats, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., longtime skeptics of foreign aid funding in the NDAA.
Democrats who voted in favor of the bill include Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., Don Davis, D-N.C., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas.
The NDAA is an annually passed bill that sets defense and national security policy goals for the U.S.
The Senate is expected to consider its own version of the bill as well, after which the two chambers must compromise and consider them again before they get to President Donald Trump's desk for a signature.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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