Brian Stelter says response to Iryna Zarutska's murder is 'racist,' MAGA using stabbing as a 'political symbol'

In the wake of President Donald Trump weighing in on the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter claimed that the young woman’s murder has become a "political symbol" for the MAGA movement and that comments surrounding the story have been "baldly racist."

Stelter was asked why the murder, which occurred in August, began getting traction over the past few days. "Most murders in the US never become national news. This one’s garnered attention for a couple of reasons," he said.

Stelter noted the gruesome footage released over the weekend showing the killing, with suspect Decarlos Brown Jr being seen stabbing Zarutska in the neck as she sat in front of him on a Charlotte, North Carolina light rail train. "Number one, first and foremost, the recent release of that gruesome video.”

"Second, the energy from pro-Trump activists. They picked up on this video from local news and ran with it. It’s a little bit like the times when civil rights groups have raised attention about police-involved shootings. In this case, it is Trump-aligned influencers who are posting up a storm about this case on social media," Stelter continued.

"Really over the weekend, Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, other Trump-aligned figures succeeded in making this senseless death a symbol of big city crime. We heard President Trump asked about it yesterday when he was heading home from New York City. He didn't seem to know much about it. He said he would get briefed. And then today, Trump did know all about it. That's exactly what has happened here.

"This story has trickled up from local news to social media and now to the President's attention, and it's being used, as you said, Brianna, as a political symbol with MAGA media calling for more forceful punishments and more incarceration."

He said that "some of the replies to Musk, some of the comments around this story are baldly racist, stoking fear of African Americans because this man attacked a white woman. The open racism on sites like X today, it's eye popping. But there are also legitimate questions about this so-called career criminal, someone who had been a repeat offender, and those questions, I hope they're not lost amid all of the cesspool kind of comments on social media."

Trump on Monday said Zarutska's "blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail," adding that the "perpetrator was a well-known career criminal, who had been previously arrested and released on CASHLESS BAIL in January, a total of 14 TIMES." Speaking at the Bible Museum earlier in the day, Trump said, "We're all people of religion, but there are evil people. And we have to confront that. I just give my love and hope to the family of the young woman who was stabbed ... in Charlotte by a madman."

Axios published a story titled "Stabbing video fuels MAGA's crime message," claiming that "MAGA influencers are drawing repeated attention to violent attacks to elevate the issue of urban crime—and accuse mainstream media of under-covering shocking cases." Many legacy media outlets were criticized over the weekend for their lack of coverage of the murder.