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In today's issue:

▪ Nation reels after Kirk shooting

▪ Trump threatens to call emergency in DC

▪ Fed poised to cut interest rates

▪ Rubio touts US-Israel ties in Jerusalem

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The assassination of conservative influencer and Trump ally Charlie Kirk is focusing the national dialogue on political polarization and safety for public figures.

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot Wednesday at an event at Utah Valley University. His alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident, will be formally arraigned Tuesday on state charges.

Kirk’s death reverberated widely across the political spectrum — but it especially touched the White House and President Trump, who found a long-standing supporter in Kirk, Turning Point USA and his younger, conservative audience.

The president’s response to the news of Kirk’s death reflected the widespread feelings at the White House: shock, anger and disbelief that someone many considered a personal friend had been killed.

White House staff who spoke with The Hill following the shooting said the mood inside the building was somber, and a number of officials have publicly recounted the effect Kirk had on the MAGA movement or themselves personally. Vice President Vance credited Kirk with playing a key role in supporting his own political rise.

The relationship between Trump’s team and Kirk grew in recent years to become more than a political alliance, with the conservative activist serving as a key outside adviser to many top officials.

The president on Sunday warned that left leaning groups will be investigated after Kirk’s death, though he offered no details.

“If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right, like some people like to share the right, the problem we have is on the left,” Trump told reporters. “And when you look at the agitator, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that’s the left. That’s not the right.”

▪ The Washington Post: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said authorities still do not know the motive in Kirk’s shooting but said interviews revealed new information, including that Robinson has a “leftist ideology.”

▪ The Hill: Trump’s suggestion that Robinson should face the death penalty adds to his administration's increasingly aggressive approach toward capital punishment.

TURN DOWN THE TEMPERATURE: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that Kirk’s death could be "a turning point" for the country, urging leaders to "turn down the rhetoric" amid a divisive political climate.

Johnson said on CBS’s “Face The Nation” that lawmakers should stop treating policy differences as an "existential threat to democracy or the Republic," while urging them to stop "calling one another names."

The Speaker added he's "heartened to know" that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle "are stepping up and saying that and addressing it."

White House officials, Cabinet members, GOP lawmakers and others packed inside the Kennedy Center on Sunday for a vigil honoring Kirk. A public memorial service is scheduled for Sunday in Arizona at State Farm Stadium, where the Arizona Cardinals play.

Johnson remarked on the “mixture of unspeakable sadness and grief and anger and even fear” following the shooting, noting, “Even on Capitol Hill, the leaders of the nation have been shaken.”

“It’s as if the ground was shifted beneath us. We all felt it deep, deep inside,” he said. “And in spite of that, we remember that our dear friend Charlie would never want us to be overcome by despair. He would want exactly the opposite.”

▪ The Hill: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called the shooting “an attack on a political movement.”

A NEW NORMAL? A number of lawmakers are voicing increased concern that the myriad calls to turn down the national temperature after Kirk’s death will ultimately be for naught.

The Hill’s Al Weaver reports that lawmakers are worrying if anything can be done to fix a problem that is only getting worse — or that the uptick in violence may be a new normal.

“What’s so alarming to all of us is it’s getting baked in,” said Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). “It’s getting more and more [entrenched]. How do you reverse it? It’s not like you can pass a law to reverse it.”

Kirk’s murder was the latest in a lengthy string of politically-based attacks in recent years — including two assassination attempts against Trump last year — as they become increasingly frequent.

Less than three months before the Kirk shooting, Melissa Hortman, the Democratic ex-Speaker of the Minnesota House, and her husband were shot and killed at their home.

In April, a man attempted to burn down the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and his family were inside.

According to the U.S. Capitol Police, more than 9,400 direct threats and concerning statements were made against members of Congress, their families and staff in 2024 — more than double the amount made in 2017.

▪ NewsNation: The White House requested $58 million to increase security for the executive and judicial branches after Kirk’s shooting.

UNPLUG: Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Sunday appeared together on “Face the Nation” to make an appeal for bipartisanship amid the divisive political climate, with Coons pointing to the role of the internet in driving polarization.

Coons said the killing of Kirk "in such a grotesque and public way has to bring us to reflect about how hard it's getting, because the internet is an accelerant — it is driving extremism in this country."

Cox went further, calling social media a "cancer on our society" in the aftermath of the shooting. The Utah governor encouraged people to "log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community."

The governor built on the sentiment Sunday, saying on NBC's "Meet the Press" that social media has "played a direct role in every single........

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