U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday repeated his claim that people on the political "left" are to blame for assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah last week.

"When you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that's the left," he said.

Trump also suggested he was already using the government to look into his political adversaries when asked if he would investigate them after Kirk's death.

"They're already under a major investigation, a lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the left," Trump told reporters as he prepared to fly back to Washington from New Jersey.

The aftermath of Kirk's death has increasingly become a test of the public tolerance over political differences.

Republicans are pushing not only to punish the alleged killer but those whose words they believe contributed to the death or dishonored it.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, has cautioned that the motive for the assassination has not been confirmed.

He said the suspect in custody clearly identifies with the political left and had expressed dislike of Kirk before the shooting. But he and other authorities also say the suspect was not known to have been politically engaged.

Kirk was seen as an architect of President Donald Trump's 2024 election win, helping to expand the Republican outreach to younger voters.

Many conservatives see the remarks by liberals as fomenting violence, rather than as acts of political expression.

After years of complaints from the right about "cancel culture" from the left, some conservatives are seeking to upend the lives and careers of those who disparaged Charlie Kirk after his death.

They're going after companies, educators, news outlets, political rivals and others they judge as promoting hate speech.