Matt Robinson, the father of Charlie Kirk’s shooting suspect, Tyler Robinson, played a key role in his son’s arrest. Matt Robinson tipped off the FBI on his son’s identity after he recognized Tyler from the suspect photo the FBI released.
There was a huge reward for information leading to Tyler Robinson’s arrest. As per CNN, the FBI announced a $100,000 reward, Starbucks and billionaire Alex Bruesewitz announced $25,000 each, while billionaire Bill Ackman pledged $1 million. There were additional rewards as well, potentially taking the amount close to $1.5 million.
But since Robinson was tipped off by his father, rumors about whether he would get the reward spread. One such rumor claimed that Matt Robinson has pledged to donate the $1.5 million reward to the family of Charlie Kirk.
But fact-checking website Snopes reported that neither Matt Robinson nor any source close to him said that he will donate the reward to Kirk’s family. Thus, posts claiming such are outright false.
Where Did The Rumor Originate?
As reported by Snopes, the rumor that Matthew Robinson will donate the $1.5 million reward started with a Facebook account named Cowboys Fan Hub. While the donation bit was mentioned in the caption of the post, it also contained a photo of Kirk and his father with a fabricated quote from Matt Robinson.
The supposed quote read: “This is what a father is supposed to do. My son wronged the Kirk family, and it’s my responsibility to help him face that mistake. The money is enormous, but it’s not meant for me. I want it to go to the Kirk family instead.”
Amid a massive interest in news on Tyler Robinson, this false claim also spread like wildfire. It had thousands of shares at the time of this writing.
Bill Ackman Breaks Silence On Reward
While questions remained around the eligibility of Matt Robinson to receive the reward, billionaire Bill Ackman noted on X that Matt can get the bounty. He said in a post on X that “the rewards need to be paid even if the recipient is a crook or worse. The FBI and other parties who announced rewards did not make any statement on this issue.
Bill Ackman said: A number of people have reached out and/or posted expressing concern that Tyler Robinson’s father may collect a $1.2m reward for turning in his son, which inspires a few thoughts.”
“First, in order for rewards to be effective in finding criminals, the rewards need to be paid even if the recipient is a crook or worse,” he added. “That said, in this case, if Tyler’s father is found to have been involved or otherwise acted negligently in contributing to Charlie’s death, civil litigation or criminal prosecution will reverse any unjust compensation.”
More than $1 million was offered for the capture of Charlie Kirk’s killer hours after the influencer was assassinated, and the big question now is whether suspect Tyler Robinson’s own father could collect — or even if he would try to.
Robinson, 22, was turned over to authorities by his dad Matt on Sept. 11, the day after Kirk’s killing, when the father and his wife recognized their son from pictures released by the FBI showing the suspect on surveillance footage.
Questions online have swirled about whether Robinson’s father would be eligible for the reward, given his offspring is accused of the heinous killing, if he even attempted to net it.
The paying out of reward money to crime and terrorism tipsters is usually managed by Rewards for Justice, a program under the US State Department.
An interagency committee then evaluates the info provided by the agency who nominated the awardee.
The merits of paying the reward are discussed, and the committee presents a recommendation to the secretary of state.
But the committee’s recommendation is not binding — the secretary of state has “complete discretion” over whether to authorize a reward and can also change its amount.
In June, the bureau offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Vance Boelter for the targeted shootings of Minnesota lawmakers and their families.
At the end of last year, the FBI, along with the NYPD, also offered a $60,000 reward for the capture of accused UnitedHealthcare assassin Luigi Mangione.
But the McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pa., whose tip led to his arrest has reportedly never been paid.
The original $100,000 offered by the FBI for the capture of Kirk’s killer has ballooned to over $1 million as private supporters lent their own funds to the search effort, including Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz, conservative activist Robby Starbuck and billionaire Bill Ackman.
Bruesewitz and Starbuck each pledged to kick in $25,000, while Ackman peeled off a cool $1 million from his bankroll, bringing the total reward to $1.15 million.
In a social-media post following Robinson’s arrest, once it came to light that his father turned him in, Ackman said he still planned on paying the reward “if it is earned to whomever the FBI indicates provided the information that led to Tyler’s arrest.”
He said that if Matt Robinson’s father was ever found to have “been involved” or “acted negligently” in contributing to Kirk’s death, “civil litigation or criminal prosecution will reverse any unjust compensation.”
Reached by text message, Starbuck told The Post he hasn’t yet heard from the FBI regarding payment of the reward but said Matt Robinson should turn it down if it’s offered.
“If he does try to claim it, he should absolutely donate it to Erika Kirk or TPUSA. Assuming he has the honor to not claim the reward, I will be donating that pledge and a bit more directly to a fund for the Kirk family,” he said.
Reached by email, the FBI told The Post it “typically does not comment on whether or not reward money is paid, or to whom.”