President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would be posthumously awarding Turning Point USA founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk the Medal of Freedom following his assassination on a university campus in Utah a day earlier.
“No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform shortly after Kirk was pronounced dead in a Utah hospital.
Kirk was struck by a single bullet around 12:20 p.m. Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem. The assassin is still at large, but the FBI said Thursday they have several pieces of evidence and video and are moving quickly to identify the suspect.
Also, Vice President JD Vance, in a statement following Kirk’s assassination, called the conservative activist a “true friend” and credited him with contributing directly to Trump’s election.
His statement to X late Wednesday night follows the shooting of Kirk by an assassin who remains at large. This incident occurred at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University that promoted civil discourse.
Vance said his friendship with Kirk began in 2017, when Kirk messaged him on Twitter, now X, to praise his appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight. “That moment of kindness began a friendship that lasted until today,” Vance said.
The Vice President commended Kirk for his willingness to listen, learn, and engage in open discussions of ideas. This was a trait for which Kirk was well-known, and tragically, it was what he was doing at the very moment his life was taken during the event.
“Like me, he was skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016,” Vance posted. “Like me, he came to see President Trump as the only figure capable of moving American politics away from the globalism that had dominated for our entire lives.
A while ago, probably in 2017, I appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox show to talk about God knows what. Afterwards a name I barely knew sent me a DM on twitter and told me I did a great job. It was Charlie Kirk, and that moment of kindness began a friendship that lasted until today.…
— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 11, 2025
Vance praised Kirk for his critical early role “from the strategy to the fundraising to the grassroots of the movement he knew so well” in his own successful run for Senate in Ohio. The vice president acknowledged Kirk’s efforts in supporting Vance’s nomination, his campaign work for the Trump-Vance ticket, and staffing the administration afterward.
Calling Kirk a “true friend,” Vance praised his Christian faith and love for his family. He also said that although God didn’t answer prayers to save Kirk, “He had other plans. And now that Charlie is in heaven, I’ll ask him to talk to the big man directly on behalf of his family, his friends, and the country he loved so dearly.”
“You ran a good race, my friend,” Vance added. “We’ve got it from here.”
