President Trump was meeting with architects about plans for a White House ballroom when staff interrupted to inform him that Charlie Kirk, the prominent conservative activist, had been killed.
“I didn’t know what they meant. I said, ‘What do you mean, dead?'” Trump recounted Friday, two days after the shooting. “‘Charlie Kirk was shot.’ They thought he was dead because it was so horrific.”
The president’s shock at the news reflected the widespread feelings at the White House in the aftermath of Kirk’s death: Shock, anger and disbelief that someone many considered a personal friend had been shot during an appearance at Utah Valley University.
Staffers and officials close to the administration — including Vice President Vance — have publicly recounted how they got to know Kirk and how he impacted them personally and politically. And, in a sign of how closely intertwined the Turning Point USA founder was with Trump and his orbit, the White House has played a central role in providing updates after Kirk’s death.
It was the president who announced Kirk had died. Vance flew to Utah to transport Kirk’s casket on Air Force Two. Trump broke the news that the suspected shooter was in custody, and he has said he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral and posthumously honor him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“Charlie was very much a part of this family, and maybe the highest profile MAGA person outside of those that are working here,” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said Thursday on “The Scott Jennings Radio Show.”
“So, I think it shook everybody to their core, and for many of us, it brought back the memories of last July 13th in Butler with the president,” she added, referencing the assassination attempt that left Trump bloodied at a 2024 campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
White House staff who spoke with The Hill following the shooting said the mood inside the building was somber and there was a sense of shock among many officials. Many in the building, particularly younger staff members, had gotten into politics and the MAGA movement at a time when Kirk was a rising voice, and many had met him personally.
Most in Trump’s orbit came to know Kirk, 31, through his work building Turning Point USA into a grassroots powerhouse that launched chapters on hundreds of college campuses. Kirk’s work organizing, fundraising and registering young people to vote helped lay the foundation for the GOP’s gains with young voters, and young men in particular, in the 2024 election.
The president was a regular speaker at Turning Point events in recent years. Kirk was a staunch Trump supporter even after his 2020 election defeat, echoing the baseless claims of voter fraud that Trump was pushing in the wake of his loss.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formally endorsed Trump in the 2024 race at a Turning Point Action event in Arizona. Kirk was an early advocate of Vance, both as a Senate candidate in 2022 and later as a potential running mate for Trump, and the commentator was spotted at the White House on multiple occasions during Trump’s second term.
But the relationship between Trump’s team and Kirk grew in recent years to become more than a political alliance.
“You know, [Donald Trump Jr.] said to me, ‘He’s sort of like a son to you,’” the president said Friday on “Fox & Friends.”
Kirk first entered Trump’s circle through his friendship with his eldest son. The two met during the 2016 campaign and became close professionally and personally. Trump Jr. described Kirk as a “little brother” in the wake of his death.
Kirk shared a similarly close relationship with Vance, who canceled a planned appearance in New York City to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to instead fly to Utah and be with Kirk’s family and friends. Vance then flew with his casket to Arizona.
In a lengthy tribute on X, Vance recounted how he first connected with Kirk after a Fox News appearance in 2017. Vance credited Kirk with introducing him to Trump Jr. and others in the president’s orbit as he mulled a Senate campaign, and with publicly and privately lobbying for Vance as a vice presidential candidate.
“Charlie Kirk was a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him… And because he was a true friend, you could instinctively trust the people Charlie introduced you to,” Vance wrote.
Several other top White House officials shared similar stories, underscoring Kirk’s reach across the Trump administration.
White House communications director Steven Cheung called Kirk a “dear friend who would drop everything if you needed him.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted Kirk was one of the first figures to endorse her congressional campaign in New Hampshire in the 2022 midterms.
Kaelan Dorr, White House deputy communications director, recounted speaking with Kirk during one of their last in-person meetings about the challenges of being a new parent.
Kirk’s funeral will take place in the coming days, and the White House will likely be well-represented, led by Trump and Vance.
The country will also be watching to see how those in the White House respond to Kirk’s gruesome and public death, amid calls from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to condemn political violence and lower the temperature.
Trump has offered mixed messaging in the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s death, something that was on display during the sit-down with “Fox & Friends.”
Asked what his message to the right is for those who want revenge, Trump said Kirk would “want revenge at the voter box.”
But when co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked Trump how the country can come together, noting there are “radicals” on both the right and the left, Trump suggested the blame went in one direction.
“I’ll tell you something that’s going to get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less. The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” Trump said. “They don’t want to see crime. They’re saying we don’t want these people coming in, we don’t want you burning our shopping centers, we don’t want you shooting our people in the middle of the street.
“The radicals on the left are the problem,” he continued. “And they’re vicious, and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy.”
