Washington — Vice President JD Vance announced he is hosting “The Charlie Kirk Show” Monday after Kirk was shot and killed last week at Utah Valley University.
“Tomorrow, I will have the honor of hosting the Charlie Kirk Show,” Vance said Sunday in a post on X. “Please join me as I pay tribute to my friend.”
Kirk, a conservative activist, was assassinated last week during a university event hosted by his organization, Turning Point USA, in Orem, Utah. The 31-year-old was close to Vance, along with President Trump and his family.
After his death, Kirk’s body was flown on the vice president’s plane, Air Force Two, to Kirk’s home state of Arizona. Vance canceled a planned trip to New York to mark 24 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attack to fly to Utah to retrieve Kirk’s body.
Vance has described his longtime friendship with Kirk, who was also a key ally in his political rise. Vance said in a post on X after Kirk’s death that the slain conservative activist was one of the first people he called when he considered running for Senate in 2021, and he said Kirk advocated for him to become the vice presidential nominee “both in public and private.”
The vice president described Kirk as a “true friend.”
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Kirk’s youth turnout operation has also been credited with helping Mr. Trump’s 2024 election bid, while Kirk himself was known to have influenced some of the Trump administration’s personnel decisions. Vance said much of “the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” adding that Kirk “didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”
The president announced last week that he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. A memorial service for Kirk is set to be held on Sept. 21 in Arizona.
Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, said in her first public remarks since his death that “the movement my husband built will not die,” noting that “the radio and podcast show that he was so proud of will go on.”
“If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea,” she said.
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