(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump posthumously awarded Charlie Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Tuesday, calling the slain conservative activist “an American patriot of the deepest conviction.”
“He was assassinated in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America,” Trump said at a White House ceremony.
The president remembered Kirk as a “visionary” and called him “one of the greatest figures of his generation.”
Trump also credited Kirk with helping him win the 2024 election: “Without him, who knows what would be, maybe you’d have Kamala standing here today.”
Tuesday’s ceremony took place on what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, accepted the award — which is the nation’s highest civilian honor — on her late husband’s behalf.
“He believed that liberty was both a right and a responsibility,” Erika Kirk said Tuesday.
Kirk recalled her late husband’s fearlessness and said: “If the moment had come, he probably would have run for president, but not out of ambition — he would only have done it if that was something that he believed that his country needed.”
The event came hours after Trump returned from a trip to Israel and Egypt to celebrate a ceasefire agreement in Israel’s war with Hamas that his administration helped broker.
Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. He was the co-founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth activist group, and a close ally of Trump. Kirk has been widely credited with helping turn out the youth vote in Trump’s 2024 election win.
“Charlie’s voice, his message and his legacy are stronger and greater than ever before,” Trump said Tuesday.
Trump was the first to announce Kirk’s death in a post on social media, saying in part that “he was loved and admired by ALL, especially me.” The president also spoke at Kirk’s funeral.