The Phone Call That Started It All: How a Texas Surgeon Ignited the Charlie Kirk Conspiracy Machine

The Night of September 10

Hours after Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, his executive producer Andrew Kolvet was still at the hospital where Kirk's body lay. He took a phone call. On the other end was Keith Rose — an occasional guest on the Charlie Kirk Show, a Texas plastic surgeon, former military doctor, and self-described geopolitical and intelligence commentator on conservative podcasts.

According to Semafor's reporting, which cites Owens and two other people familiar with the content of the conversations, Rose told Kolvet that he had "picked up information" suggesting that Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens had been the assassin's original targets — and that they could still be in danger. Kirk's killer had not yet been identified or apprehended.

Kolvet, according to Semafor, took the warning seriously. He passed it on to Owens that same night, and to Carlson the following day. That single phone call, new reporting now makes clear, was the ignition point for a months-long spiral of conspiracy theories that fractured the American right and drew in figures from Elon Musk to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Who Is Keith Rose?

Keith Rose describes himself as an internationally recognized plastic surgeon and tactical medicine physician. According to Apple Podcasts, he hosts a show called "The Scalpel with Dr. Keith Rose" and lists two decades of surgical work in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa, and Central and South America as part of his background. He has appeared as a guest on the Charlie Kirk Show and other conservative media outlets.

When Semafor contacted Rose for comment on his role in spreading the warning that other conservative media figures might be targets, Rose replied that he had "no idea what you are talking about" and later declined to comment further, according to the outlet's reporting.

Kolvet told Semafor he later met Rose in Washington, D.C., and saw a written dossier further detailing Rose's allegations — a document Rose indicated would be passed to aides of President Donald Trump. "I confirmed it was being given to the authorities for them to chase down, but was later told they couldn't corroborate any of it," Kolvet said in a statement to Semafor.

An administration source confirmed to Semafor: "The allegations made by this individual were handed to the administration, and every actionable lead was run down and could not be proven."

How the Theories Spread

Within weeks of Kolvet's call to Owens, Owens began amplifying claims suggesting a potential Israeli government role in Kirk's assassination — suggesting without evidence that Tyler Robinson, who prosecutors say confessed to the killing and faces aggravated murder charges, did not act alone. That progression was reported by The Guardian in September 2025.

Owens told Semafor: "Kolvet called me from the hospital and said it was supposed to be me, and I was on his list, and so was Tucker Carlson." She said Kolvet did not tell her where he had obtained the information.

Kolvet later acknowledged, according to Semafor, that he sent Joe Kent — who was then Trump's National Counterterrorism Center Director before resigning over his opposition to the Iran war — group text messages in which Kirk had complained about pro-Israel donors. Kent has since faced an FBI leak investigation, according to separate reporting by Forbes and CNN.

On September 18, 2025, just eight days after the shooting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was compelled to publicly address and deny what he called "insane" claims of an Israeli connection to Kirk's death, according to reporting from Jewish Louisville. Law enforcement concluded that the killing was the sole act of Robinson.

The Guardian reported in September 2025 that prominent voices including Steve Bannon, Laura Loomer, and Joe Rogan had amplified conspiracy theories in the weeks following the assassination. Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire publicly accused Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson of "poisoning the movement with conspiracy theories and antisemitism" in a widely noted address, as reported by ms.now.

The Bullet Mismatch — New Fuel, Old Fire

The conspiracy ecosystem received fresh oxygen in late March 2026. Court documents filed in the case against Robinson — the 22-year-old charged with Kirk's murder — revealed that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives examiners were unable to conclusively match bullet fragments recovered from Kirk's autopsy to the Mauser Model 98 rifle allegedly tied to Robinson, according to Forbes.

Robinson's attorneys cited a summary of the ATF's report in court filings, stating the agency was "unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr. Robinson." The ATF report itself has not been made public. The defense team indicated it may try to use the analysis as exculpatory evidence and asked for a delay in a preliminary hearing scheduled for May.

Prosecutors, according to Forbes, have separately presented evidence against Robinson that includes alleged text messages, confessions, surveillance footage, witness accounts, and DNA evidence described as linking him to the trigger.

Robinson's attorneys wrote in their filing, as quoted by Forbes: "The defense may very well decide to offer the testimony of the ATF firearm analyst as exculpatory evidence."

After the filing became public, Owens posted widely-viewed commentary suggesting it supported her position that no convincing evidence exists against Robinson, according to Forbes reporting from March 31, 2026.

What the Conspiracy Theories Claim

According to Forbes, the dominant theories circulating online and in conservative media claim either that a second shooter killed Kirk, that his death was an "inside job" carried out by people close to him or by powerful figures looking to silence him, or that law enforcement agencies are covering up a broader crime. Some theories have also claimed the shooting was staged — a claim characterized as entirely unsupported by fact by the Australian Associated Press FactCheck unit.

Kirk's own security chief disputed claims that Robinson fired from an implausibly long range, according to reporting by The Salt Lake Tribune in November 2025. Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk founded, also publicly disputed those claims, according to Yahoo News.

Wikipedia's article on the assassination cites conspiracy theory expert Joseph Uscinski as calling the conspiracy contentions into question, and criminal law expert Steven B. Duke as stating: "There is nothing in those messages making it even plausible that they were written by law enforcement."

The Fracture on the Right

Semafor's investigation characterizes the conspiracy theory ecosystem as having consumed and divided the American right in the months since Kirk's death. The Iran war, which began shortly after the assassination, deepened those rifts as figures who had pushed conspiracy theories also became vocal critics of Trump administration policy.

Joe Kent — who received the group texts from Kolvet containing Kirk's complaints about pro-Israel donors — resigned from his counterterrorism role in the Trump administration over his opposition to the Iran war. In March 2026, Kent told Tucker Carlson that his department had been prevented by the FBI from investigating whether a foreign country played a role in Kirk's death, according to CNN reporting. Kent's claims could not be independently verified, and he is separately facing an FBI leak investigation, according to Forbes.

The sequence from Rose's phone call through Kolvet to Owens and Carlson — and from there to Musk's social media amplification and Netanyahu's forced denial — illustrates how a single unverified tip, passed in grief and chaos on the night of an assassination, can generate a self-sustaining information ecosystem resistant to correction or evidence.

What's Actually Known

Law enforcement has concluded that Tyler Robinson acted alone in the September 10, 2025 killing of Charlie Kirk, according to Semafor. Robinson faces aggravated murder charges. Prosecutors have presented evidence including an alleged confession, alleged text messages, surveillance evidence, witness accounts, and DNA material. No law enforcement agency has publicly concluded that any foreign government or second actor was involved. The administration source quoted by Semafor confirmed that all actionable leads from Rose's claims were investigated and could not be proven.