It’s been a month since Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University. His widow, Erika Kirk, has taken over his non-profit organization, Talking Point USA. On Tuesday, she was at the White House as Charlie received the Medal of Freedom posthumously from President Trump. Erika held a tearjerking speech – and shared their daughter’s heartbreaking birthday message to her late dad.
Charlie Kirk’s death on September 10 shocked the US. The conservative political activist’s memorial service in Glendale, Arizona, had tens of thousands of people attending. He is survived by his wife, Erika, and their two children.
His widow has been very outspoken about her feelings following the horrifying event, and even took over as CEO of Charlie’s non-profit organization, Turning Point USA.
For some weeks, Erika Kirk has left the spotlight, but returned on Tuesday in the White House’s Rose Garden as President Donald Trump posthumously gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Kirk.
In a lengthy speech, Trump praised Kirk and bashed those on the far left.
“Today, we’re here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I’ve ever seen before, and an American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality, and the highest caliber. The late, great Charlie Kirk,” Trump said, proclaiming the day as National Day of Remembrance” for Kirk, in addition to awarding him the medal.
The president further stated that Charlie Kirk’s killing was a “horrible, heinous, demonic act of murder.”
Charlie Kirk receives Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously
“He was assassinated in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his truth and for relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America,” Trump continued, branding Kirk a “martyr.”
Erika Kirk accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of her late husband, on what also would have been his 32nd birthday. In a powerful, emotional tribute to Charlie, Erika thanked Donald Trump for honoring her husband.
“The very existence of the Presidential Medal of Freedom reminds us that the national interest of the United States has always been freedom,” she said. “Our founders etched it into the preamble of our Constitution, and those words are not relics on parchment. They are a living covenant. The blessings of liberty are not man’s invention. They are God’s endowment.”
Eirka Kirk shared personal insight into her and Charlie’s relationship, explaining how he often wrote about freedom. She described him as a person who enjoyed the small things in life and revealed their birthday tradition: mint chocolate chip ice cream, which they only ate on his birthday and the Fourth of July.
Erika Kirk shares daughter’s heartbreaking birthday note to late dad
The widow broke down in tears as she spoke about her late husband. She finished by sharing her daughter, Gigi’s, heartbreaking birthday message to Charlie.
“Happy birthday, daddy. I want to give you a stuffed animal. I want you to eat a cupcake with ice cream. And I want you to go have a birthday surprise. I love you.”
The stuffed animal had a significant place in the relationship between Charlie Kirk and Gigi. Every time he went on his show, he always brought one of his daughter’s toys with him.
“That was their little connection,” Erika Kirk said a few weeks ago. “And he loved it too, because it was a little piece of her that he could have with her on the show.”
Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk.
