WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump posthumously awarded conservative activist Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation\u2019s highest civilian honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kirk, the co-founder of the organization Turning Point USA, was speaking at Utah Valley University during the first stop on a college campus tour when he was shot and killed on Sept. 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, a beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I\u2019ve ever seen before, and an American patriot of the deepest conviction,\u201d Trump said, calling Kirk “a visionary.” “He was a champion in every way,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said he “raced back halfway around the globe” to present the medal after brokering a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, and admitted he \u201cdidn\u2019t have the courage\u201d to ask his widow, Erika, to move the date when he realized it would fall on Kirk\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump announced he would present Presidential Medal of Freedom to the conservative activist the day after Kirk was fatally shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Erika Kirk accepted the medal on his behalf on what would have been his 32nd birthday. She was named CEO of Turning Point USA in the days after her husband’s assassination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGod began a mighty work through my husband, and I intend to see it through,\u201d Erika Kirk said. \u201cThe torch is in our hands now. It\u2019s in mine. It\u2019s in yours. It\u2019s in all of yours. It\u2019s in all the students with Turning Point USA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In her remarks, Kirk thanked Trump and first lady Melania Trump for the event, and Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance for the \u201cunbelievable encouragement\u201d of their friendship. The Vances, close friends of the Kirks, accompanied Erika Kirk home from Utah, carrying her husband\u2019s casket on the vice president\u2019s plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point, Kirk responded to Trump, who moments earlier had said that he didn\u2019t recognize the image of Kirk as someone who \u201cloved his enemies.\u201d \u201cHe did pray for his enemies,\u201d she responded, turning toward Trump as he smiled. \u201cI saw him do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe also loved people when it was inconvenient, and he ran his race with endurance, and he kept the faith,\u201d Kirk said. \u201cAnd now he wears the crown of a righteous martyr.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kirk shared a message from her 3-year-old daughter, wishing her father a happy birthday. She also noted that her son, who isn’t yet talking, \u201cin classic Kirk family fashion, his actions spoke louder than his words and his gift to you, Charlie, and myself, for that matter, was deciding to become the man of the house and be fully potty trained at 16 months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In attendance at the Rose Garden event were Cabinet officials, Republican congressional leaders, friends and members of Kirk\u2019s family. Prominent conservative media figures Tucker Carlson, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity also attended the ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump adviser and friend of the Kirks who was in attendance, has praised Erika Kirk as a gifted speaker, telling NBC News in a recent interview that he did not think there was anyone better suited to lead the group. \u201cShe was by Charlie\u2019s side as he took it from a small organization to a behemoth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turning Point, the organization Kirk led and founded, became a force in recent elections, notably in last year\u2019s presidential election, as it targeted young voters to boost Republican turnout. The group’s efforts were particularly effective among young men, and Trump credited the organization with helping him, in part, win re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kirk was also an influential advocate for conservative principles on college campuses, leading debates, overseeing a network of Turning Point chapters, and organizing speaking tours and conferences to elevate conservative voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kirk\u2019s strategy paid off, and Trump successfully won a larger share of voters under the age of 30 than any Republican presidential candidate in decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The medal comes amid a broader crackdown on left-wing groups, with Trump declaring that \u201cin the wake of Charlie\u2019s assassination, our country must have absolutely no tolerance for this radical left, violence, extremism, and terror.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said his administration was engaged in \u201cdismantling the networks that fund them and finance them, and we\u2019re finding out who those networks are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He continued: \u201cWe\u2019re done with the angry mobs and we\u2019re not going to let our cities be unsafe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sirens rang in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou hear those sirens going off. That\u2019s good,\u201d Trump said, calling them \u201creal-deal sirens; they\u2019re not politically correct sirens\u201d and urging the crowd to \u201clisten to the beauty of that sound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n