Virginia GOP calls out Don Scott over misinformation on Charlie Kirk murder

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia Republicans are calling out House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) after he posted misinformation about Charlie Kirk's murder on social media.

On Wednesday, Sept. 10, 31-year-old Charlie Kirk -- a well-known conservative influencer -- was shot and killed. There has since been significant discussion online about Kirk's life, his divisive viewpoints and political violence.

This local controversy surrounds a post on X in which Scott originally said that Kirk was killed by a “Trump supporter,” despite court documents telling a different story. 

Authorities continue to investigate the shooting, but in text messages obtained by prosecutors, Robinson reportedly said the following about Kirk: "I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out," as reported by the Associated Press.

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Additionally, investigators who spoke with Robinson's family report that they described him as someone who had "turned left politically in the last year," AP said.

So what happened?

Scott was responding to a post from Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who criticized Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger for failing to “renounce the endorsement of Dot Heffron,” a Chesterfield County School Board Member who announced that she would resign following a controversial post she made about Kirk's murder. Scott said the following:

"Spare us the sanctimonious selective outrage -- you should be ashamed of yourself. You said nothing when a sitting GOP member of the Va House of Delegates said 'Democrats killed [Charlie] Kirk' -- a blatant lie that was never corrected even after learning a Trump supporter actually killed him. Thank God, this Governor and his hateful politics will be gone in 120 days."

Scott is referring to a post on X from Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) from the day Kirk was killed, in which Freitas said “the other side murdered him,” before authorities had released any information on the suspect or his motives.

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Less than 20 minutes after the original post was made, Scott edited it to say the following:

"Spare us the sanctimonious selective outrage -- you should be ashamed of yourself. You said nothing when a sitting GOP member of the Va House of Delegates said 'Democrats killed [Charlie] Kirk' -- a blatant lie that was never corrected even after learning he was shot by a man from a family of Trump supporters. Thank God, this Governor and his hateful politics will be gone in 120 days."

Scott changed the part of his post where he described the man accused of killing Kirk, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, as a supporter of President Donald Trump. Now, the post describes the suspect as "a man from a family of Trump supporters."

The edited post drew backlash from the Republican Party of Virginia, which released the following statement on X:

"Democrat House Speaker Don Scott spreads blatant misinformation, falsely implies Charlie Kirk’s assassin is a Trump supporter because his parents are."

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8News reached out to Scott's team for comment on this controversy and received the following statement:

"The Tweet that is up speaks for itself. I will always stand up for disinformation and inflammatory rhetoric whether it is from Republicans and Democrats. The Governor's statement was using a tragic moment to further incite division during a political election. Others may just stay silent while the Governor does this, but I am the Speaker of the House of Delegates, my duty is to speak truth to power."