Erika Kirk, widow to Charlie Kirk, made her first public statement to the press in a speech eulogizing her late husband Friday, which was streamed live from Turning Point USA’s headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.
Erika tearfully thanked the Turning Point team and Utah DPS first responders and other medical personnel in her 16-minute address, while also calling on the continuation of her husband’s political mission to “make Heaven crowded” by bringing youth into the Church and into the Donald Trump ally’s ballooning conservative movement.
The most stirring moment of Kirk’s speech came, however, when she addressed the “evildoers” responsible for her husband’s death directly, without naming the apprehended suspected shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson. She warned: “You have no idea what you have unleashed.”
“If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country, in this world. You have no idea,” Kirk said. “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 to everyone listening tonight across America. The movement my husband built will not die. I refuse to let that happen. It will not die. All of us will refuse to let that happen.”
She predicted that Turning Point USA’s conservative mission will only grow stronger in the aftermath of her husband’s death, echoing the organization’s own eulogy Thursday, which said he became “America’s greatest martyr to the freedom of speech he so adored.”
“No one will ever forget my husband’s name, and I will make sure of it,” Kirk said. “It will become stronger, bolder, louder and greater than ever.”
She continued, saying she believed those behind the assassination killed him “because he preached a message of patriotism, faith and of God’s merciful love.”
Watch the speech in full below:
Elsewhere in her speech, Kirk thanked Vice President JD Vance — “my husband’s dear friend” — and Trump. “Mr. President, my husband loved you, and he knew that you loved him too. He did,” she said. “Your friendship was amazing. You supported him so well as did he for you.”
Kirk then looked ahead to the future plans of Turning Point USA, assuring that its “The American Comeback Tour,” which kicked off Wednesday at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was killed, will continue as planned this fall. It’s planned AmericaFest in Phoenix will also move forward in December, and “there will be even more tours in the years to come.”
Kirk concluded by calling on youth nationwide to become involved with their local Turning Point USA chapter — “If you can’t find one, then start one” — and to engage in the Church to join her husband’s “battle” that is “not simply a political one.”
“Above all, it is spiritual. The spiritual warfare is palpable,” Kirk said. “Charlie loved his savior with all of his heart, and he wanted every one of you to know him too … Nobody is ever too young to get involved with saving this beautiful country, this country my husband loved and still loves.”
