Utah Gov. Spencer Cox warned Americans to steer clear of disinformation about Kirk’s killing and suggested that bots from Russia and China were seeding ideas to incite violence.
“There is a tremendous amount of disinformation we are tracking,” Cox said during a Thursday press conference. “What we’re seeing is our adversaries want violence. … We have bots from Russia, China, all over the world that are trying to instill disinformation and encourage violence. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, pulled out of a planned appearance in New York commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, instead traveling with Kirk’s casket and family from Utah to Arizona to pay their respects.
The Utah Valley University Police Department had deployed six officers to work on the event, in addition to Kirk’s security detail, officials said.
President Donald Trump announced he would posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
