But Spencer Cox said that the suspect had left-leaning political beliefs, disliked the conservative influencer and is being uncooperative in custody.

“Clearly a leftist ideology,” Mr Cox told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.

On CNN’s State of the Union, he said: “That information comes from the people around him, his family members and friends.”

Mr Cox said Tyler Robinson, 22, is “not cooperating” and that friends paint a picture of someone radicalised in the dark corners of the internet.

“Clearly there was a lot of gaming going on,” Mr Cox said on NBC.

“Friends have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture, and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep.”

A Republican who has called on all partisans to tone down their

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