CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss hired ABC News reporter Matt Gutman, who called Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin’s text messages with his transgender boyfriend “touching,” to become a chief correspondent.
Gutman apologized for making the remarks about the text messages, in which he described during a Sept. 16 segment that Tyler Robinson, who is alleged to have killed Kirk, expressed his love to his trans-identifying lover, Lance Twiggs. He will now leave ABC News to report for “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Evening News,” serve as a lead correspondent for “48 Hours” and contribute to “60 Minutes,” according to CBS News’ press release.
Gutman is expected to start his new role on Jan. 5, according to the release.
Inbox: ABC News correspondent Matt Guttman will become Chief Correspondent for CBS News. Quote from Bari Weiss: pic.twitter.com/zI5uKhxPtM
— Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) December 9, 2025
Weiss and CBS President Tom Cibrowski expressed excitement about Gutman’s upcoming role.
“Matt Gutman goes there. He brings the audience along with him to whatever story he is covering, and he approaches his work with the qualities we look for in all our journalists: fearlessness, energy and relentlessness,” Weiss said. “I cannot wait for him to get started.”
“I have worked with Matt for decades and I have seen his innate ability to take viewers into a story,” Cibrowski said. “Whether he’s on the frontlines of a conflict or the scene of a rescue mission, he has the power to connect with people in a way that informs and engages. He has a sharp news sense, an acute ability to deliver immersive storytelling and a deep appreciation of history that will be an asset to all of us.”
Gutman’s remarks about Robinson came after authorities released the text messages where the alleged assassin confessed to murdering Kirk and told Twiggs he “had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred.” After he told Twiggs of his plan to turn himself in, Robinson added, “You are all I worry about, love.”
Following his statement on-air, Gutman wrote on X that he regretted his words and added that he condemned the violence.
Gutman has covered national and international news from the ground for three decades, including the Russia-Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas wars, according to the press release. He was one of the first journalists to arrive in Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack and was on the ground when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
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