ABC News’s chief national correspondent, Matt Gutman, who came under fire for describing messages sent between Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin and his romantic partner — a man who is transitioning to a woman — as “very touching,” now says he “deeply regrets” his comment.

Appearing before David Muir in a “special report,” Mr. Gutman was describing messages sent from the suspect, Tyler Robinson, to his transgender partner, who Mr. Gutman describes repeatedly as a “roommate” rather than, as law enforcement has repeatedly confirmed, a romantic partner. Mr. Gutman also doesn’t say the “roommate” is transgender, but just says the roommate “is transitioning” without explaining the term on-air.

The texts were released by law enforcement officials who say they show the suspect confessing to shooting Kirk. Mr. Gutman said the messages in which the suspect referred to his partner as “my love” were also “very touching in a way that many of us didn’t expect.”

“A very intimate portrait into this relationship between the suspect’s roommate and the suspect himself, with him repeatedly calling his roommate, who is transitioning, calling him ‘my love.’ And ‘I want to protect you, my love,’” the reporter said. “It was this duality of someone who the attorney said not only jeopardized the life of Charlie Kirk and the crowd, but was doing it in front of children, which is one of the aggravating circumstances of this case. And then, on the other hand, he was, you know, speaking so lovingly about his partner.”

Minutes later on ABC’s streaming platform “ABC News Live,” Mr. Gutman also said the texts showed a “duality” of a “very human person” as he noted Mr. Robinson “got a 34 out of 36 on the ACT,” and got a “full ride” to college and is now being accused of murder. During the streaming portion, Mr. Gutman said that the suspect’s “roommate” is “allegedly” his boyfriend and “identified as male at birth,” but “now identifies as female.”

Early Wednesday morning, Mr. Gutman posted an apology on Instagram, saying, “I tried to underscore the jarring contrast between his cold-blooded assassination of Charlie Kirk – a man who dedicated his life to public dialogue – and the personal, disturbing texts read aloud by the Utah County Attorney.”

“I deeply regret that my words did not make that clear,” Mr. Gutman said. 

Mr. Gutman’s original comments drew condemnation from conservatives and Republicans in Congress.

Senator Katie Britt wrote on X, “There is nothing ‘touching’ about the messages from the radicalized murderer who assassinated Charlie Kirk. And if you think otherwise, you are a part of the problem.”

One user called the remark “disgusting” and said that ABC should fire Mr. Gutman. 

A pastor, Scott Richards, wrote, “When you can say, ‘Obviously Charlie Kirk was brutally murdered..ON The OTHER HAND..’ you have officially broken your moral compass.”

The backlash to his comments comes as teachers, pilots, healthcare workers, and others have been suspended or fired after their social media posts celebrating Kirk’s murder were flagged. 

In a different case, a local anchor, Beni Rae Harmony, at a station affiliated with ABC, WICS-ABC20, resigned this week after she said she was suspended for airing a tribute to Kirk. 

It is unclear whether Mr. Gutman’s apology will spare him discipline from ABC News. The network has suspended him twice in the last five years. 

In January 2020, Mr. Gutman was suspended after he falsely reported that all four of Kobe Bryant’s children were on board a helicopter that crashed, killing the NBA champion, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven other people. 

A year later, ABC again suspended Mr. Gutman after it said he violated the network’s safety rules by entering a hospital for a story without getting permission beforehand. 

ABC News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Earlier this year, ABC News fired a veteran correspondent, Terry Moran, after he criticized President Trump and a top White House adviser, Stephen Miller. 

“Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater,” Mr. Moran wrote in a late-night post on X. “You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.”

Mr. Moran said Mr. Trump is also a “world-class hater,” but “his hatred only [sic] a means to an end, and that end his [sic] his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment.”

Mr. Moran later deleted the tweet, but has not apologized for the comment. Despite the deletion, ABC News fired him, saying it holds “all of our reporters to the highest standards of objectivity, fairness and professionalism, and we remain committed to delivering straightforward, trusted journalism.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump quipped that ABC News may need to be investigated after one of its journalists, Jon Karl, asked the president what he thought of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s vow to “go after” people who engage in hate speech.

“She’ll probably go after people like you,” Mr. Trump said. “Because you treat me so unfairly. It’s hate. You have a lot of hate in your heart. Maybe they’ll come after ABC.” Mr. Trump reminded Mr. Karl that ABC News had recently paid him $16 million for what the president called a hateful act. 

In late 2024, ABC News settled for $16 million in a lawsuit Mr. Trump brought against the Walt Disney Company after one of its premier news personalities, George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton operative, falsely and repeatedly said on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that Mr. Trump had been found “liable for rape.”

Mr. Trump recently called for the Federal Communications Commission to revoke ABC’s broadcast license due to its coverage.