Fact check: The fake photos, false claims and wild conspiracy theories swirling around the murder of Charlie Kirk

By Daniel Dale, CNN

(CNN) — Fake photos. False claims. Wild conspiracy theories.

The public murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah, captured in gruesome footage that spread around the world, has set off an avalanche of misinformation. Bogus assertions have been spread on social media by Americans across the political divide and by foreign adversaries.

Prominent members of President Donald Trump’s administration, meanwhile, have made conspiratorial statements that can’t currently be called false – the investigation into the killing continues, and more information might well emerge – but that go far beyond the evidence that has so far been made public.

Here is a look at some of the inaccurate or unsupported claims.

The man charged with the murder wasn’t a Trump donor or a Republican

Soon after a Utah man named Tyler Robinson was named as the suspect in the killing, some social media users on the political left began claiming he was a donor to Trump. They cited federal election records showing that a Utah man named Tyler Robinson had contributed to Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.

But that was a different Tyler Robinson. The 22-year-old charged with the murder has no record of federal election donations.

Other social media users described the accused man as a registered Republican. That is also false. Robinson is registered as unaffiliated with a political party and is listed as “inactive,” meaning he did not vote in either of the last two general elections.

While Robinson “does come from a conservative family,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said on NBC on Sunday, “his ideology was very different from his family.” Cox specified to The Wall Street Journal that it is clear to him and to investigators that Robinson “was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.”

Cox and investigators have not directly explained what that means. But in prosecutors’ charging documents, they paraphrased Robinson’s mother as having said that “over the last year or so, Robinson had become more political and had started to lean more to the left – becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented.” Prosecutors wrote that “Robinson accused Kirk of spreading hate” in a conversation with his father before the killing.

Robinson’s Halloween tracksuit doesn’t mean he was a far-right ‘groyper’

Both before and after the authorities alleged that Robinson leaned to the left, numerous left-leaning observers promoted the idea that Robinson was a right-winger affiliated with the “groypers,” a loose collection of White nationalists that had an oft-antagonistic relationship with Kirk. But as of Friday, no evidence had publicly emerged to suggest Robinson was indeed a groyper – and a piece of supposed proof, Robinson’s Halloween costume in 2018, is not actually proof at all.

Some social media users have claimed it’s clear or likely that Robinson was a groyper in part because he was shown in a 2018 Halloween photo squatting on the ground while wearing a dark tracksuit. His mother wrote in a social media caption that he was dressed as “some guy from a meme”; there are memes of a prominent groyper symbol, a cartoon frog, squatting in a tracksuit.

But here’s the key: Robinson could very well have been dressed as a guy from a silly non-political meme rather than as the frog from the White nationalists’ meme.

That’s because the squatting-frog meme is actually a takeoff on a previous lighthearted meme that has circulated for more than a decade and is not an indicator of affinity for the far right – the “squatting Slav” or “Slavic squat,” which is based on photos of men in Eastern Europe in squatting positions. Robinson’s Halloween outfit, which included a flat or newsboy-style cap, closely resembles those worn by men in various “squatting Slav” images.

That’s all aside from the fact that this photo was taken nearly seven years ago, long before the political shift prosecutors say Robinson’s mother discussed.

Some images purporting to show Robinson are fakes or not of him

As people on both the left and right tried to use Robinson to undermine the other side, various doctored images circulated on social media of the suspect supposedly wearing political t-shirts – in support of either Trump or his Democratic opponent in the 2024 presidential election, former vice president Kamala Harris. In reality, the political messages were photoshopped into photos of Robinson wearing plain t-shirts that didn’t mention any candidate.

In other cases, social media users wrongly claimed that Robinson is the person pictured in real photos of other people.

For example, some right-leaning users inaccurately said Robinson was the person in a photo of a man wearing a Democratic Socialists of America shirt; that was actually another Utah man. In another, some pro-Israel users inaccurately claimed Robinson was seen wearing a keffiyeh, the scarf known as a pro-Palestinian symbol; it was actually yet another different man in that 2019 photo, and it wasn’t clear what the man’s garment was or why he was wearing it.

It’s possible, of course, that evidence will emerge of Robinson having worn political messages or symbols. But that wouldn’t make these claims about these images legitimate.

Nobody has provided any proof for their suggestions of a broader left-wing conspiracy

Prosecutors have so far charged only Robinson with the murder, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has said it is clear Robinson acted alone. New information about Robinson’s relationships may well be learned through the ongoing investigation – but some senior Trump administration officials and assorted online commentators have leaped far ahead of that probe, saying or insinuating without providing evidence that other entities were involved in the killing.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said during a Monday appearance on the late Kirk’s podcast, in which Miller decried left-wing organizations he claimed are promoting violence, that the Trump administration would “channel all of the anger that we have over the organized campaign that led to this assassination to uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks.” But Miller didn’t explain how any particular “organized campaign” had supposedly led to the killing or how any “terrorist network” had been connected to it, and no other official has done so to date, either.

Then, on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News while talking about the FBI during the Biden administration: “Maybe they should have been investigating the networks that motivated, inspired, and maybe even funded Charlie Kirk’s murder.” Vance didn’t specify which unspecified “networks” might have funded the killing, or how.

When Cox was asked in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier last week if the authorities were confident that Robinson acted alone, he said, “Yes, Bret, they’re very confident right now. Obviously the investigation is ongoing, they’re still following every lead, we appreciate the public who has reached out – but every piece of evidence we have so far makes it very clear that the assassin acted alone.”

Influential far-right Trump ally Laura Loomer was even less cautious in her assertions than Miller and Vance. After prosecutors said Robinson’s roommate was “a biological male who was involved in a romantic relationship with Robinson,” Loomer speculated that a “trans terror cell with other targets as well” was behind Kirk’s murder. There was no available evidence to support that conclusion, and Cox said Sunday on CNN that Robinson’s “partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening and is working with investigators right now.”

And while there’s nothing wrong with skepticism of claims from law enforcement, some observers have made wild allegations about the authorities investigating the murder.

Commentators on both the left and right, notably including Trump ally and former White House official Steve Bannon, have cast doubt on the legitimacy of a text message conversation prosecutors allege Robinson had with his roommate after the shooting. It’s clear from prosecutors’ use of ellipses in their charging documents that they released excerpts rather than the entire conversation, but that isn’t an indication that the parts of the conversation they did release were fabricated.

There is no basis for conspiracy theories about Israeli involvement

Conspiracy theorists’ claims have extended beyond US borders. Some social media accounts have hinted or flatly claimed that Israel was behind the killing of Kirk, though he had long been a prominent public supporter of Israel with only occasional criticism of the country. There is no evidence in support of the accusation, which has been pushed by entities linked to the government of Iran; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as “insane,” “false” and “outrageous” in a Wednesday video on social media.

Some anti-Israel commentators have promoted false claims that YouTube deleted a video in which Kirk raised critical questions about the Israeli government’s handling of the Hamas assault on October 7, 2023. In fact, the video remains online. Others have pointed suspiciously to a condolence letter from Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi to Kirk’s family that was originally dated “September 2,” more than a week before the September 10 murder. But it was quickly corrected to September 12; the rabbi’s office told CNN that September 12 was the date the rabbi wrote the letter and that the initial “September 2” was simply an “error by the office in typing the date.”

Other critics of Israel have pointed, sometimes suggestively, to claims from some prominent right-wing commentators that Kirk’s views on Israel had quietly been souring or that he had privately expressed frustration over supposed pressure on him to avoid public criticism of Israel. Even if any of that is true, it is nothing close to evidence that Israel was behind the murder.

The man in the white cap and the man with the prosthetic hand weren’t involved

As with other shocking crimes caught on camera, including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, some observers jumped to unfounded conclusions about bystanders who happened to be present at Kirk’s shooting.

Some social media users, for example, alleged that a man standing near Kirk in a white baseball cap was sending suspicious hand signals to the shooter. There is no basis for that claim. The man in the cap is one of Kirk’s friends, Christian radio host and author Frank Turek, who traveled to the hospital in the same vehicle as the mortally wounded Kirk.

“The viral accusations against Dr. Frank Turek are categorically false. Dr. Turek was at Utah Valley University as part of Charlie Kirk’s team, standing with him as a close friend and mentor,” Turek’s account on social media platform X posted two days after the murder.

Some right-leaning commentators also raised suspicious questions about a man in the crowd supposedly seen wearing a trench coat and a black glove; in reality, the man was wearing a conventional suit jacket, the supposed black glove was actually a prosthetic he has used after an amputation, and he is a Kirk supporter who had nothing to do with the murder.

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