Trump Remembers Charlie Kirk In Oval Office Address: ‘Dark Moment For America’
President Donald Trump delivered a somber Oval Office address Wednesday night, calling the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk a “dark moment for America” and placing blame on what he described as years of escalating political hatred.
“Charlie inspired millions, and tonight all who knew him and loved him are united in shock and horror,” Trump said. “Charlie was a patriot who devoted his life to the cause of open debate and the country that he loves so much, the United States of America. He’s a martyr for truth and freedom, and there’s never been anyone who was so respected by youth.”
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) September 11, 2025
The president, visibly emotional, said he was “filled with grief and anger” after the “heinous assassination” of Kirk, who was killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University. Earlier in the day, Trump had announced Kirk’s death on Truth Social, asking Americans to pray for Kirk’s wife Erika and their two young children.
In his primetime remarks, Trump went beyond mourning to directly confront the climate that he says led to the tragedy.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” Trump said. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in this country today.”
Trump credited Kirk as a trailblazer in political youth outreach, saying no one in history had connected more deeply with young people. He noted Kirk’s instrumental role in the 2024 campaign and his gift for “joyfully engaging” with students nationwide in the spirit of honest debate.
“Charlie Kirk traveled the nation, joyfully engaging with everyone interested in good faith debate. His mission was to bring young people into the political process, which he did better than anybody. Ever,” Trump said. “He championed his ideas with courage, logic, humor, and grace.”
The president also reflected on Kirk’s Christian faith.
“Charlie was a man of deep, deep faith,” Trump said. “And we take comfort in the knowledge that he is now at peace with God in heaven.”
Closing his remarks, Trump asked for prayers for the Kirk family and called on the nation to rise above the hate that led to the violence.
“May God watch over Charlie’s beautiful wife, Erika, and their two children,” he said. “And may God protect this country in this terrible hour of heartache and pain.”
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