Trump Calls for End to Political Violence After Killing of Charlie Kirk

Mallory Wilson | September 11, 2025

(The Washington Times) — President Trump said he was “filled with grief and anger” and vowed to crack down on political violence after conservative icon Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Wednesday.

“I am filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah. Charlie inspired millions and tonight all who knew him and loved him are united in shock and horror,” Mr. Trump said in a four-minute long video posted from the Oval Office on Truth Social.

He said Mr. Kirk “devoted his life to the cause of open debate” and the United States and is now a “martyr of truth and freedom.”

Mr. Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA was shot and killed Wednesday on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem.

His killer was still at large Wednesday evening.

He was a close ally of Mr. Trump, and was close to the president’s eldest sons, Don Jr. and Eric.

“This is a dark moment for America,” the president said.

He spoke about Mr. Kirk’s ties to the youth members of the conservative movement, which Mr. Kirk organized through Turning Point USA and led him to travel to various campuses around the country.

“It’s long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree, day after day, year after year, in the most hateful and despicable way possible,” he said.

He said the “radical Left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis, and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals.”

“This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today and it must stop right now,” he said.

Mr. Trump vowed that his administration “will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials and everyone else who brings order to our country.”

He likened the incident to the attempt on his life in July 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania and others incidents like the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare executive in New York late last year, attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and the shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and three others at Congressional baseball game practice in 2017.

Earlier, he ordered flags to fly at half-mast until Sunday.

The president was the first to announce the death of Mr. Kirk in a Wednesday afternoon Truth Social post, which also praised Mr. Kirk and offered condolences to his family.

There has been an outpouring of grief and support for Mr. Kirk’s family.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were quick to denounce the political violence, but tensions flared, with some Republican lawmakers saying this death was on the left’s hands.

“Democrats own this,” Rep. Nancy Mace, South Carolina Republican, said on Capitol Hill.

The shooting was labeled a political assassination by Utah’s governor.