The President recently shared his reflection on his final conversation with Charlie Kirk before Kirk’s assassination.
On September 10, the well-known right-wing commentator was tragically shot dead during a college event in Utah.
The assassination caused a global stir as the FBI launched a manhunt for the primary suspect, who allegedly acted alone and used a bolt-action rifle from a rooftop to carry out the fatal attack.
Before the arrest of the suspect, identified as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson from Utah, President Donald Trump offered a tribute to his ‘very good friend’, honoring Kirk as a dedicated ‘patriot’ and ‘martyr for truth and freedom’.
Trump has now disclosed details of their last conversation before Kirk’s untimely death at the age of 31.
Kirk was delivering a speech at Utah Valley University during the first stop of his ‘American Comeback Tour’ for his conservative youth organization, Turning Point USA, when he was shot.
Trump stated that he had participated in Turning Point USA events previously, with Kirk frequently inviting him to attend.
“The last time I spoke to him, he said ‘Sir,’ then he goes ‘Phoenix,'” Trump recalled.
“‘Sir could you, er, get to Phoenix,’ this was like in a day. I said, ‘Charlie, I’m the President of the United States, you’ve called me, asking me if I could speak tomorrow in Phoenix? You can’t do that to me, Charlie.'”
Trump added with a light-hearted laugh, “But I usually ended up going. He was great. He was a great guy and he didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve this, believe me.”
The President’s remarks occur as Kirk’s remains were transported back to Phoenix on an Air Force Two aircraft, in preparation for his funeral and memorial service this week.
On Sunday (September 21), a memorial service is scheduled to be held at State Farm Stadium in Arizona, which can accommodate more than 60,000 people. President Trump, alongside several government officials, is expected to attend.
President Trump announced plans to posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom and mentioned he is bracing for a ‘very sad weekend’.
“We lost a great person. I’ll be going on early Sunday morning. We’re going to Arizona, taking some people with us, on Air Force One.”
Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha, who accompanied Kirk’s casket and his grieving widow Erika back to Phoenix from Salt Lake City, will also be present.
In Kirk’s honor, Vance hosted the ‘Charlie Kirk Show’ podcast from the White House on Monday (September 15), attributing Kirk’s death to a ‘destructive moment of left-wing extremism’.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also expected to attend, having informed reporters before traveling to Israel on Saturday that he would return in time for the service.
Rubio praised Kirk as a ‘great young man’, expressing admiration for his campus activities and his ‘enormous influence on young people’.
Kirk will be laid to rest in Arizona, the base of Turning Point USA and where he resided with his wife and two young children.
Following the assassination, Erika Kirk pledged to continue her husband’s work, including his campus tours, radio show, and podcast.
“They should all know this: if you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before you have no idea, you have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world,” she stated in a livestream.