President Donald Trump held a ceremony Tuesday to award conservative activist Charlie Kirk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on what would have been Kirk's 32nd birthday.
"Charles James Kirk was a visionary and truly one of the greatest figures of his generation," President Trump said at the ceremony.
"In everything he did, he put America first," President Trump said, calling Kirk "a true evangelist for the cause of freedom and the word of almighty God."
"Charlie always admired your commitment to freedom," Kirk's widow Erika Kirk told President Trump, after accepting the award for Kirk. "That's something that both of you shared."
"To the Turning Point USA chapters that are watching all across America right now: You are the heartbeat of this future and of this movement."
President Trump had announced on Sept. 11 that he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Trump made the announcement one day after the founder of Turning Point USA was fatally shot on a Utah campus. Trump has not officially awarded the Medal of Freedom to anyone yet in his second term, but he had previously said he would give one to political ally and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
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Trump had spoken at Turning Point USA events, and Kirk was seen as a key voice in the 2024 election, helping Republicans perform better among young men compared to past elections.
Trump was among those in attendance at Kirk's memorial last month in Arizona.
Tuesday's ceremony is among a number of ways conservatives have tried to memorialize Kirk. A Florida lawmaker proposed a bill to rename a street on every public university campus in the state after Kirk.
