MSNBC fired senior political analyst Matthew Dowd after he suggested on air that slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s own radical rhetoric may have contributed to the shooting that killed him.

During his appearance on Katy Tur Reports, Dowd suggested that Kirk’s rhetoric may have contributed to the violence that claimed his life. Kirk, 31, had a history of rightwing provocation and Christian nationalism, and frequently espoused bigoted rhetoric about Islam, women , LGBTQ+ communities and people of color.

“Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,” Dowd said, adding: “You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.”

Dowd also speculated about the circumstances of the shooting, saying: “We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration. So we have no idea about this.”

The network issued an apology and announced Dowd’s dismissal, which came shortly after Kirk was shot dead during a question-and-answer session at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, where he was kicking off a nationwide campus debate tour. MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler described Dowd’s comments as “inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable” in a statement posted to social media.

“We apologize for his statements, as has he,” Kutler wrote. “There is no place for violence in America, political or otherwise.”

The network almost immediately severed ties with Dowd, with Deadline reporting that MSNBC had cut its relationship with the analyst citing “furor over remarks he made in the aftermath of the shooting”.

Dowd, who served as chief strategist for George W Bush’s 2004 presidential campaign and was formerly a political analyst for ABC News, issued his own apology following the controversy.

Writing on Bluesky, he said: “My thoughts & prayers are w/ the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. On an earlier appearance on MSNBC I was asked a question on the environment we are in. I apologize for my tone and words. Let me be clear, I in no way intended for my comments to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack. Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind.”

Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA and a prominent figure in conservative youth politics who had been credited with boosting the Maga youth vote during the 2024 election, was fatally shot in the neck during the campus event on Wednesday afternoon, with multiple videos of the moment spreading across social media.

Federal authorities are investigating the shooting, with two persons of interest initially taken into custody before being released. Both were briefly detained but released without charge, and a suspect is still at-large.

The killing has drawn sharp criticism from across the political spectrum.

Washington — Senate Republicans are expected to move Thursday on changing Senate rules to make it easier to confirm President Trump’s nominees amid a blockade from Democrats, who are warning against the move to go “nuclear.”

For months, Republicans have criticized Democrats’ efforts to slow the confirmation process, which they have taken to new extremes in recent months in protest to the president’s policies. And after weeks of discussion among Senate Republicans, Senate Majority Leader John Thune kickstarted the rule change process earlier this week, announcing a proposal to consider non-cabinet executive branch nominees in groups. 

“We’ve got a crisis, and it’s time to take steps to restore Senate precedent and codify in Senate rules what once was understood to be standard practice, and that is the Senate acting expeditiously on presidential nominations to allow a president to get his team into place,” Thune said as he announced he would take procedural steps to change the rules. 

Thune, a South Dakota Republican, has touted the proposal as one with “a Democrat pedigree,” citing a 2023 proposal to codify en bloc nominations of up to 10 nominees in Senate rules. Thune argued the GOP measure is “not as extensive,” noting that it applies to subcabinet level nominees and not judicial nominees. “But the proposals share the same objective — and that is providing for confirming groups of nominees all together so the president can have its team in place and so the Senate can focus on the important legislative work in its charge.”

The majority leader filed a resolution Monday to authorize the “en bloc,” or all at once, consideration of 48 nominees. On Thursday, the Senate is set to take a procedural vote on the resolution, which is expected to fall short of the 60-vote threshold needed to advance most measures in the upper chamber. Senate Republicans are then expected to move to overrule the chair, lowering the threshold to a simple majority.

Because the Senate often relies on unanimous consent to speed up floor consideration, any single senator can delay the process. And in recent years, both Democrats and Republicans have made pushes to change the confirmation process, including by cutting down the time requirements for the nominations and reducing the number of votes needed to a simple majority. 

Still, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has pushed back on the GOP effort, telling Senate Republicans to “think carefully before taking this step.”

“If you go nuclear, it’s going to be a decision you will come to regret,” Schumer said. 

The minority leader has repeatedly criticized the White House for walking away from a deal before the August recess involving the release of already appropriated funds in exchange for cooperation from Democrats to swiftly approve a group of nominees. Schumer has said Democrats were working “in good faith with Republicans” on a nominations package, noting that Thune was very involved and seemed willing to come to an agreement, before Mr. Trump torpedoed the talks. 

“Now, rather than giving those talks another chance, Republicans would rather change how the Senate operates to weaken this chamber’s traditional and powerful sense of deliberation, Schumer said. “And if Republicans go nuclear, the historically bad nominees we’ve seen so far under Donald Trump will get only worse.”

With more than 1,000 positions requiring Senate confirmation, the process is an arduous one that has become more cumbersome in recent years. According to the Center for Presidential Transition, the average time to confirm a president’s nominee has nearly quadrupled during the last six administrations. 

In 2023, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine introduced a proposal that would have allowed up to 10 nominees reported by the same Senate to be quickly confirmed. Senate Republicans have repeatedly cited the legislation in recent days as they pursue their rule change, and Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, attempted to secure passage of a similar resolution on Tuesday under unanimous consent, saying “if Democrats were really interested in solving the problem… they wouldn’t object, they would agree — it’s their idea.” But one Democrat, Sen. Alex Padilla of California, objected, suggesting the effort should take effect in the next administration.

King told CBS News that his and Klobuchar’s legislation was intended for future administrations, saying “we designed that for the next president.”

“That would take it out of the politics of the moment,” King said. “Now, all of a sudden, they’re dusting it off for use today.”

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Belarus freed 52 political prisoners on Thursday, as the United States announced it was lifting sanctions on the isolated country’s national airline.

Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has been repeatedly slapped with Western sanctions both for its authoritarian government’s crackdown on human rights and its role in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its president, Alexander Lukashenko, has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and allowed the Kremlin to use Belarusian territory to send troops and weapons into Ukraine.

But for more than a year, Lukashenko has sought to mend ties with the West in the hopes of easing the sanctions and the country’s international isolation. He has regularly released prisoners as a way to win favor.

In June, Belarus freed Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a key dissident figure and the husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and 13 others following a visit by a senior envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Shortly before the release became public on Thursday, Belarusian state media posted a video of U.S. envoy John Coale announcing that Washington had lifted sanctions on Belarus national air carrier, Belavia. The airline was sanctioned by the European Union, the U.S., and others after Belarusian flight controllers ordered a commercial jet traveling from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk. Once the plane landed, authorities arrested Raman Pratasevich, a dissident journalist who was on board.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The concession from the U.S. comes a day after Poland denounced an incursion of Russian drones into its territory — some from Belarus — in what Western officials called an act of aggression. NATO jets were scrambled and shot some of the drones down. Russian and Belarusian troops have been gathering for war games scheduled to start Friday.

Trump, whose country is the major military power in NATO, offered an ambiguous initial response to the incursions, posting, “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!” on his Truth Social platform.

Tsikhanouskaya, Belarus’ opposition leader in exile, warned that lifting sanctions could create new leverage for both Minsk and Moscow, whose aviation industry has been heavily sanctioned.

“We understand that this is part of the deal,” she told The Associated Press. “But lifting sanctions without systemic changes in the country could open loopholes that both the Lukashenko regime and Russia will use to circumvent the sanctions.”

Among those released Thursday was Ihar Losik, a journalist for U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, according to human rights group Viasna. The 33-year-old was convicted of “organizing mass riots, taking part in mass disorder, inciting social hatred,” and several other charges that remain unclear, according to the broadcaster. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2021.

Also among those freed were 14 foreigners — six Lithuanians, two Latvians, two Poles, two Germans, one French national and one U.K. national — according to the Belarusian presidency’s press service.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said the prisoners safely crossed into his country and left “behind barbed wire, barred windows and constant fear.”

“I am deeply grateful to the United States and personally to President @realDonaldTrump for their continued efforts to free political prisoners. 52 is a lot. A great many. Yet more than 1,000 political prisoners still remain in Belarusian prisons and we cannot stop until they see freedom!” Nauseda wrote on X.

Almost 1,200 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus, according to Viasna.

Lukashenko has relentlessly cracked down on the opposition and independent media, especially after tens of thousands of people poured into the streets to protest his reelection in August 2020, in a vote widely seen as rigged. They were the largest protests in the country’s history.

In the ensuing crackdown, tens of thousands were detained, with many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned.

Lukashenko has since extended his rule for a seventh term following a January 2025 election that the opposition also called a farce.

Trump and Lukashenko spoke last month about the release of more prisoners, as the Belarusian leader sought to mend ties with the West.

Coale, Trump’s deputy Ukraine envoy, met Thursday with Lukashenko in the Belarusian capital, where he announced the lifting of sanctions against Belavia.

Founded in 1996, Belavia is Belarus’ only national air carrier. In addition to imposing sanctions after the plane diversion to arrest Pratasevich, outraged EU leaders barred Belavia from EU airspace and airports and directed European carriers to avoid Belarus’ airspace.

As a result, Belavia slashed its fleet from 29 to 14 aircraft.

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Karmanau reported from Barcelona, Spain. Associated Press writers Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed.