CNN host Kaitlan Collins and Sen. Ted Cruz

An exchange between CNN host Kaitlan Collins and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) about political violence grew heated after Cruz repeatedly attempted to shout over Collins.

During a Tuesday segment on CNN, Cruz repeatedly asserted without evidence that 22 year-old Tyler Robinson — who has been charged with murdering far-right activist Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus last week — was a left-wing radical driven to kill Kirk for ideological reasons. This is despite Robinson being raised in a Republican family, not affiliating with any political party on his voter registration form and his friends saying he never discussed politics with them. Collins pushed back, reminding Cruz that authorities have not yet identified a political motive for the shooting, which promoted Cruz to start talking over her.

"Hold on a second, Kaitlin," Cruz said. "There's a reference to ... an online meme for transgenderism. And [FBI] Director [Kash] Patel testified that that the murderer here was living with his romantic partner, who was a transgender man, transitioning to being a woman."

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"I mean, that really shows the media not doing the job they should be doing," Cruz continued.

Collins repeated that no motive had been officially established and that the investigation is ongoing, after which Cruz again interjected, saying: "That's CNN's position. He just happened to fire the gun in celebration?"

Cruz continued to talk over Collins after she insisted she was simply stating the current facts of the case, and when she refused to let him talk over her, the Texas senator said: "Okay. Go ahead. Give your speech." He then attempted to turn the tables back on Collins by asking her if she had seen polling showing that Democrats think Robinson was a Republican and a Trump supporter, and pressed the issue by yelling: "You're not going to answer that question!"

"I'm the one asking the questions here," Collins responded.

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Watch the full exchange below:

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