Phoenix, Arizona
—
Charlie Kirk’s funeral here Sunday will punctuate a watershed moment for the grassroots conservative movement he founded as a teenager and was working to advance earlier this month when a gunman shot and killed him.
For Kirk’s supporters, the days since the assassination have been defined both by intense grief and deep anger at the forces that they believe contributed to his killing. His death at age 31 has galvanized his followers behind his conservative views and Christian faith, and they’ve resolved to continue to strengthen Kirk’s movement.
But political leaders and some of Kirk’s most public facing allies have also converted their fury into clamping down on opponents they accuse of inciting political violence or disparaging a man they saw as a generational leader. That response in the aftermath of the killing has sparked fears of a government-led crackdown on dissent, all building into a febrile moment for the country.
Many thousands of mourners are expected gather to hear remembrances from President Donald Trump and a slew of conservative luminaries, including several top administration officials and Kirk’s wife, Erika, in her first remarks as the new CEO of the organization Kirk founded, Turning Point USA.
Trump has been front and center since nearly the moment Kirk was shot on a college campus in Utah. It was Trump who announced Kirk had been shot during the event and later that he had died. It was Trump who announced, during an interview on Fox News, that a suspect in Kirk’s killing was in custody. And it is Trump who will be the final speaker at Sunday’s event.
Aides said Trump has been heavily involved in writing his speech, which will include personal reflections on his friend and the impact he has on his political movement. While his remarks are expected to be more personal than a typical presidential speech, Trump is known for veering from his script.
Throughout, Trump has remembered Kirk as a close friend and critical factor in helping him win elections and shape his administration. But he’s done little to lower the national temperature, going after “radicals on the left” he says are responsible for an atmosphere of violence that led to Kirk’s death.
While a source close to Kirk said there wasn’t coordination on Trump’s announcement, those close to the political activist were thankful to the president for taking charge at a moment when grief had overtaken them.
“Everyone was so overwhelmed and distraught, how to communicate what happened seemed impossible,” one source said, noting that Kirk’s profile had grown so large, it was unclear how they could appropriately deliver the tragic news to his following. “He did us a favor. Charlie legitimately loved President Trump. It was right.”
Trump called Kirk’s wife while she was still at the hospital to offer condolences, in what one source described as an emotional tone. Shortly afterward, arrangements started being made for Trump to travel to Arizona for the funeral.
“They’ve asked me to go,” Trump said last week at the White House. “I think I have an obligation.”
The event, set to be held inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, which can hold more than 70,000 people, is likely to offer a window into the sentiments that have coursed through Kirk’s circle in the aftermath of his shooting.
Aside from Trump, prominent speakers at the funeral include Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. Underscoring the close ties Kirk built with so many in Trump’s orbit, the White House is sending two planes full of staff from Joint Base Andrews to Arizona on Sunday. Sources said the speeches given would not be subject to any sort of review beforehand.
Many close to Kirk are in the public eye, and have grieved openly on social media —some tearfully, others with anger, and others seeking consequences beyond the man in custody, charged with shooting and killing Kirk.
“They took my f**king friend,” one friend of Kirk’s told CNN. “We want justice.”
Sources close to Kirk describe the hours after his death as chaotic. Kirk’s wife and several of his closest friends and colleagues flew immediately to Utah after being alerted of the shooting, one of the sources said.
Multiple sources said their primary concern was making sure Erika Kirk was on her way and informed. Conflicting information was being circulated as Charlie Kirk’s allies tried to glean updates his condition.
“He lost so much blood, but we thought there was a chance,” one source told CNN.
Ultimately, doctors told those close to Kirk that there was no way to bring him back from the moment the bullet hit him, the source said. Administration officials at both the White House and Department of Justice, many of whom were close friends of Kirk’s, were briefed on his passing.
In her first public remarks after his death, Erika Kirk issued a call to action.
“You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. … The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry,” she said, vowing to make his mission stronger and larger. “I’ll make Turning Point USA the biggest thing that this nation has ever seen,” she said. “I promise.”
Some conservatives view Erika Kirk’s elevation to CEO of Turning Point as a moment to bring young women into the movement in the same way her late husband drew young men to support Trump and conservative causes.
The organization says it has already seen a surge in interest since Charlie Kirk’s death, with more than 62,000 requests from high school and college students to start new chapters or become involved in existing groups.
Amid the renewed interest, conservative leaders have begun a crusade against those they allege celebrated Kirk’s death, drawing attention to their social media posts, reaching out to their employers and publishing their personal information.
Many prominent Democrats condemned political violence and voiced sympathies over Kirk’s death, even as they noted some of his more inflammatory viewpoints on guns, race and gender.
The White House has vowed to use the federal government to go after liberal groups in Kirk’s name, suggesting that his killer was part of a larger movement that promoted violence against conservatives.
One of the officials leading that charge has been deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. One source said that Miller, a close friend of Kirk’s who is expected to speak at the memorial, feels personally invested in the cause. The source said one of Kirk’s final text messages to Miller said the government needed to look into groups that he said were “fomenting” violence and root out their financial networks.
In the days after Kirk’s death, Miller cited a “network of organizations” that he accused of launching riots, specifically naming Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Black Lives Matter condemned political violence in the wake of Kirk’s shooting, with a board member saying in a statement, “Vigilante justice has no place in a just society. Not on the left. Not on the right. Not in response to racism, and not in the name of righteousness. It must be rejected, always.”
Organizers are expecting many thousands of mourners to attend Sunday’s funeral, with arrangements being made for overflow viewing areas to accommodate those who cannot fit inside the stadium, a source said. Some allies of Kirk’s expressed concern over potential security threats around the event, though they noted it would not stop them from attending. Following Kirk’s assassination, some senior White House officials have been given Secret Service protection, including press secretary Karoline Leavitt, amid security threats.
The event has been given a Special Event Assessment Rating Level 1 designation, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said, which unlocks major federal resources from across the government for security purposes.
“This designation is reserved for events of the highest national significance and enables the federal government to provide the full range of law enforcement and security resources necessary to support local officials in ensuring a safe and successful event,” the official said.
The designation has previously been given to other major gatherings like the Super Bowl and Kentucky Derby.
CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.