President Donald Trump will posthumously award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honor — in a ceremony on Tuesday, just over a month after Kirk was assassinated during a public appearance at a Utah university.
The ceremony will take place on Kirk’s 32nd birthday, which has also been designated a National Day of Remembrance for Kirk via congressional resolution.
Kirk’s wife, Erika, is set to attend the award ceremony in the East Room and will accept the award on her husband’s behalf. Created in 1945, the Medal of Freedom is given to individuals who have significantly contributed to American security or national interests, influential cultural endeavors, or world peace.
Trump has said that Kirk was a close friend and the president was the first to announce the conservative activist’s death.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us.,” Trump said on Truth Social, immediately after Kirk’s assassination. “Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”
Kirk was shot and killed on Utah Valley University’s campus on September 10. It was the first stop on his American Comeback Tour, an event put on by his conservative youth organization Turning Point USA. Kirk was known for his lively debates on college campuses. Tyler Robinson, 22, has been arrested and charged with Kirk’s assassination. Robinson was in a romantic relationship with a transgender-identifying man at the time of the shooting and etched anti-fascist messages on the ammunition he allegedly used in the attack.
Tuesday’s designation as a National Day of Remembrance is not a national holiday, but rather a call for Americans to “observe this day with appropriate programs, activities, prayers, and ceremonies that promote civic engagement and the principles of faith, liberty, and democracy that Charlie Kirk championed,” the resolution reads.
Trump also attended Kirk’s televised and highly attended memorial service in Glendale, Arizona last month. He called Kirk a “great American hero” during his remarks, and offered a heartfelt hug to Kirk’s widow.