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Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth, And Secretary Kennedy, Jr. Speaks At Charlie Kirk's Memorial In Glendale, Arizona; Key Members Of Trump Administration Speak At Charlie Kirk's Memorial. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 21, 2025 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[17:00:00]

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: There's a hundred something thousand people here. The president of the United States is here. His entire cabinet is here. Television, audio outlets and media outlets from all over the world are covering this. I just came from overseas and every country I stopped, they gave us their condolences for his passing. Impactful. In just 31 years of life, he made a difference. He mattered and he will matter now more than he ever has before.

And let me close with this. How do you remember? This is a memorial service. It's to honor him. How do you best remember it? I'll take the liberty of saying what I think we can best do. Look, I think he had a tremendous impact on young Americans in general. I think he had a very special and direct impact on young men in this country. That's one of the greatest developments I've seen. It's been very positive. I think we remember him for that.

(APPLAUSE)

I think we remember him for constantly saying, you want to live a productive life, get married, start a family, love your country. These are powerful messages. But I hope many who are watching, I imagine there are people watching here tonight that didn't know much about Charlie Kirk until 11 days ago. Maybe they were disengaged from politics, maybe they were partially engaged. I hope one of the things they take from this is that the movement Charlie Kirk led and started and gave fuel to was about politics, but not only about politics. It was deeper. It was broader.

And I would say that taking the liberty, but I'm confident he would agree, one of the things he wants us to take away from this, from all of this, is the following. His deep belief that we were all created, every single one of us, before the beginning of time, by the hands of the God of the universe, an all-powerful God, who loved us and created us for the purpose of living with Him in eternity. But then sin entered the world and separated us from our Creator.

And so God took on the form of a man and came down and lived among us. And He suffered like men. And He died like a man. But on the third day He rose unlike any mortal man. And then --

(APPLAUSE) And to prove any doubters wrong, he ate with his disciples so they could see and they touched his wounds. He didn't rise as a ghost or as a spirit, but as flesh. And then he rose to the heaven, but he promised he would return, and He will. And when He returns, because He took on that death, because He carried that cross, we were freed from the sin that separated us from Him. And when He returns, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and we will all be together, and we are going to have a great reunion there again with Charlie and all the people we love. Thank you and God bless you.

UNKNOWN: Please welcome, Pete Hegseth.

PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Charlie Kirk. A patriot, a conservative, a leader, a builder, an advocate, an author, a lover of freedom. A husband, a father, a Christian, and a warrior. You see, Charlie Kirk was a true believer for the cause of freedom, for the power of young people, belief in our republic and our founding principles in America first and make America great again. But more importantly, he was a true believer. Only Christ is King, our Lord and Savior.

(APPLAUSE)

Our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus. Fear God and fear no man.

[17:05:02]

That was Charlie Kirk. You see, Charlie Kirk started Turning Point USA to change our politics. That's when I first met him over a decade ago. He was building a movement and nobody worked harder at it. Bringing people to political small T truth. I still have the sticker. Big Government Sucks.

(APPLAUSE)

And he pursued that truth with more vigor than anyone I've ever met. But over time, he realized, like so many of us have, that this is not a political war. It's not even a cultural war. It's a spiritual war. Faith and family first. There is a God, and as Charlie would say, it is not us. We're sinners saved only by grace in need of the gospel. You see, we always did need less government, but what Charlie understood and infused into his movement is we also needed a lot more God. Charlie had big plans, but God had even bigger plans.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, Marco mentioned this arena and the millions watching. A couple days ago I learned that Kirk, actually in German, the German language, means church. So on this Sunday morning I'd like to think we're all in Charlie's church. Charlie started a political movement but unleashed a spiritual revival. My pastor texted me the day after that horrific event and said, Pete, the devil overplayed his hand. Charlie started with liberty but ended up lighting our country on fire for Christ. He started Turning Point USA, but this moment is the turning point for the USA. Right now. (APPLAUSE)

He died the way he lived, speaking the truth. Charlie waged war not with a weapon, but with a tent, a microphone, his mind, and the truth. And the gates of hell could not prevail against him.

(APPLAUSE)

He went into the darkest of places like Paul in the book of Acts. He went into college campuses where they said we couldn't go and he was the light. He was bold. He was brave. He was a hero. You know, at the War Department, we know a little bit about heroism. I've seen it personally on the battlefield from Americans wearing camouflage and I'm surrounded by men and women today who have the chance to witness the same.

Most people don't know this, but Charlie Kirk wanted to go to West Point. It never happened, obviously. His personal loss at that moment was our nation's great gain.

(APPLAUSE)

Charlie Kirk was a citizen who had the biblical heart of a soldier of the faith, who put on every single day the full armor of God with a smile, as the scriptures tell all Christ followers to do. Charlie Kirk, a warrior for country, a warrior for Christ. He ran the race, he finished the fight. Now, it's our turn. My charge to all of you, live worthy of Charlie Kirk's sacrifice and put Christ at the center of your life as he advocated for giving his.

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Charlie has heard the words echoing now in heaven, well done, good and faithful servant. Charlie will take it from here. God bless.

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[17:09:55]

UNKNOWN: Please welcome to the stage, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR, HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Charlie's overarching passion was his Christianity and his devotion to his God. He believed what St. Francis taught us almost a thousand years ago. We should strive to live our lives in perfect imitation of Christ. We should turn every day and every moment and every interaction into a prayer. And Charlie understood the great paradox that it's only by surrender to God that God's power can flow into our lives and make us effective human beings.

Christ died at 33 years old, but he changed the trajectory of history. Charlie died at 31 years old because he had surrendered. He also now has changed the trajectory of history.

(APPLAUSE) Charlie's other passion was free speech. He understood that the free flow of information was the soil, the water, the sunlight for democracy. He understood democracy's great advantage was that our policies were formed by ideas that had triumphed in a marketplace of debate and conversation. He thought that conversation was the only way to heal our country.

And this was important, particularly important during a technological age when we are all hooked into social rhythms -- social algorithms that are hacked into the reptilian cores of our brain and amplify our impulses for tribalism and for division.

He felt that the only way to overcome that biological impulse was with a spiritual fire and with developing community. And the only way to develop community was through conversation. And so he always gave the biggest microphone to the people who were most passionately aligned against him because he believed that we need to talk to each other and that we needed to be able to say what we mean without saying it mean.

A few years ago, my brother David died and I asked my mother, does the hole that they leave in you, when they die, does it ever get any smaller? And she said to me, it never gets any smaller. But our job is to grow ourselves bigger around the hole. And we do that by taking the best qualities, the best, most admirable character traits of the person that died and integrate them with restraint, with discipline, with practice into our own character.

And in doing that, we make ourselves larger and the whole gets proportionally smaller. We also give a kind of immortality to the person who left us because their work continues through us. A couple of days ago, my niece or my granddaughter left for college in Europe. Her mother noticed that she packed a Bible. And her mother asked her why she made that choice. She said, I want to live more like Charlie.

(APPLAUSE)

And one of my first conversations with Charlie in July of 2021, we were talking about the risks that all of us take when we challenge and trans interest, the physical risk.

[17:14:57]

And he asked me if I was scared of dying. And I said to him, there's a lot worse things than death. And one of those things is if we lost our constitutional rights in this country and that our children were raised as slaves.

(APPLAUSE)

And I said to Charlie, I said, sometimes the best consolation we can hope for is that we get to die with our boots on. Well, Charlie died with his boots on, and he died to make sure that we didn't have to undergo those fates that are worse than death. Oh, let's remember Charlie. He was, for those of us who were friends with Charlie, we don't need any more evidence of the love of God because the evidence -- the friendship is the best evidence that God loves us all. Thank you and God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We've been listening to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaking soon after the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, and after the Secretary of State Marco Rubio. David Chalian, Secretary Kennedy saying that Kirk changed the trajectory of history. We also had Secretary Hegseth saying that he was a warrior in the spiritual war, and Secretary Rubio described Kirk as bold, someone who did what many people don't and that is hide behind walls of people that agree with us. He said that he actively went out to engage with those who disagreed with him. What did you make of what we just heard?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, you know, watching Secretary Kennedy, it is hard not to think about his family lineage in the context of political assassination. So listening to him and thinking back to his father and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 or his uncle in 1963 and that -- those were sort of the last period of a round of political assassination in this country that captivated this country.

And it is just, you know, an unbelievable thing of history, I guess, that he ends up on this stage, not with his fellow Democrats and the family he grew up in, you know, but having moved it to become a critical part of this MAGA movement and bonded with Charlie Kirk and now speaks. beautifully, I thought, quite frankly, I thought his remarks were great and trying to give memory to Charlie and purpose to this moment. And it just, to me, it hit a little bit deeper just given his family history.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT & HOST: Yeah. And Shermichael, I want to bring you in because a through line with a lot of these speeches is, I should say, Charlie Kirk's faith. He was very outspoken about his evangelical faith. It was a big part of who he was. It sort of evolved over time with his activism. First it started just with politics and then he started to intertwine his faith. As someone who's a Christian yourself, how are you seeing that play out?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, look, you had Hegseth talked about it extensively. Rubio talked about it and he mentioned the importance and impact Charlie Kirk had on young men in particular. RFK talked about it and then he stated we take the best qualities the best and admirable character traits and embed them into our own character So again, everyone seems to be wanting to focus on the best positive aspects of everything that Charlie Kirk represented.

Rubio even cited of our own van Jones and Charlie reaching out to him via X to have a conversation and debate. And so I think about that as a Christian You're not going to agree with anybody on anything, for goodness sakes. I don't agree with my wife on everything, and I have to wake up to her every morning. But with that said, the faith teaches that you should extend an olive branch to people anywhere and however you can if they're open to it. And Charlie did that.

And maybe during that conversation, at the end of that debate, you wouldn't like anything he said, and maybe he wouldn't agree with anything you said, but you could walk away saying, you know, I have respect for this person. I see them a little differently. And I think we need way more of that in our country.

We haven't had it in a long time where people who are Democrats, I mean, Xochitl and I text all the time, she'll ask how my daughter's doing, or she'll give me some little tidbits about, hey, you should do this. She's an eighth month old. And I take those and say, hey, thank you for that. How often do people have those relationships on display?

And I think every speaker, at least from my personal perspective, they're really, really trying their best to speak to that. And I hope the audience walks away with that message.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I agree. I think that it's funny because there aren't a lot of places where you are allowed to have sort of a debate with a Republican or vice versa Democrat.

[17:19:57]

And actually, at the end of the day, still our friends, right. And I think a lot of in the CNN family, especially we are all very close. All the contributors, people don't know that and they don't think that. They think I hate Scott Jennings or Shermichael, but I actually love them and their dear friends.

And so I do -- I like the embracing sort of different opinions and the way that Charlie Kirk did it. One thing I think is interesting in all this is that we talk a lot about also bringing our country together and, you know, how hopefully leaders and Donald Trump's message is trying to a message of unity. But what I find interesting about this is that it's really uniting conservatives too. We saw Elon Musk and Donald Trump sitting down for what I think is the first time in a long time since their little argument.

And then we had the conservative movement fighting about the Epstein files. I don't know if they put it past them or what, but they're no longer fighting about that. Just this last week, they were fighting about free speech. And so this is -- unity amongst conservatives it seems like he's bringing everybody together. They all love Charlie Kirk, he was one of them, and so I find that interesting as well.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think we're kind of glossing over what you just said here.

HINOJOSA: Well don't gloss over.

HOLMES: Elon Musk and Donald Trump we're sitting next to each other having a fully engaged, what seemed to be a pleasant conversation for the first time -- for the first time since Musk essentially wrote on Twitter that Trump's name was in the Epstein files when he took it to a whole new level. And one of the things that we had reported on was this idea that Charlie Kirk had served as somewhat as a mediator between Elon Musk and Donald Trump as they were having this public blowout, including texting with Musk on a regular basis. And when Musk was going after the budget bill saying that this is not helpful to the agenda. If you keep focusing on this, we're not going to get the entire agenda as a whole through, you know, please try to tone down your rhetoric.

And we actually just saw Andrew Kolvet, who was on air with you all earlier, post that one of the things that Charlie Kirk wanted more than anything while he was alive was for these two men to reunite. Kirk believed that they together held an enormous amount of political power and sway over a huge group of people. And now, of course, at this memorial, the two of them coming together, which I mean, truly, for a while, Elon Musk was sitting in a boxed by himself with the security and then they showed that. We were all like, what, you know? It was a surprise.

CHALIAN: Remember in the aftermath of the fight and their fallout was Elon Musk's threat that he was going to form his own political party (inaudible) this and like that would be a political threat to this political project that they're all trying to unify around. That was not on display today.

BROWN: No.

SANCHEZ: And do we know any updates on this America party? Has there been any movement on that?

CHALIAN: I don't think that there has been a ton of movement. It seems to me, I'm not sure that there is a ton of movement.

SANCHEZ: Xochitl, I wanted to ask you about something that Secretary Rubio said when he was describing the last 10 or 15 years of Charlie Kirk's time on college campuses as a renaissance. I wonder what you make of the idea that college campuses have changed because of Kirk's influence.

HINOJOSA: Well, I think that he has brought conversations to college campuses that weren't happening before. And I think that people, and my conservative friends have talked to me about, listen, a lot of us were scared to go on college campuses. We were scared to go and talk on them -- go on college campuses and talk to them because we're scared of potential protests or violence or something like that, right? But he kind of just, he tackled it. He went there. He had those conversations.

And I do think that it's important to have those conversations, whether if you bring someone on campus that you disagree with, having two separate opinions about stuff, I feel like we often don't do that. And so he did some of that work. And I think, I mean, I think it's -- we should continue to have those conversations.

SINGLETON: I think that work is pivotal. I mean, again, thinking about this in an electoral context about the math, just the raw numbers, Republicans, Democrats, the hemorrhaging men, in part because of Donald Trump, there's a lot of complexity to this. We've debated it. Kristen's reported on it. David Chalian's going through the numbers. You guys have overseen panels discussing it. And now we're talking about the potential impact long term because of Charlie Kirk for Republicans being able to pull some of those younger voters away. You don't need to get to 50 percent, but get 10 percent, 15 percent. That puts Democrats in a very, very tough electoral position.

BROWN: And just for men in particular, younger men. Talk to us about the influence we got there.

SINGLETON: It's important because a lot of younger men are feeling lost. They're feeling that the messaging from Democrats doesn't resonate with them. We talked earlier at the top of the show about younger men going back to church. Why? Because they're looking for that structure, that identifying thing that gives them an idea of purpose. And I think if I'm a Democrat, I would be very, very nervous about this moment. Senator Mullen talked about 62,000 potential chapter inquiries. That speaks volumes about what this means for the political movement moving forward.

[17:25:03]

SANCHEZ: Everyone please stand by. We're going to sneak in a quick break and when we come back, we are expecting to hear from Vice President J.D. Vance at the memorial to Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona. CNN is back in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:29:57]

SANCHEZ: We are continuing to follow President Donald Trump, set to speak soon at the memorial for Charlie Kirk. Right now we are hearing his son, Don, Jr., speaking to a crowd of tens of thousands, at least 100,000 expected on hand. Some numbers go far beyond that in terms of the crowd. Uh, Don Jr. just wrapping there. We are soon to hear from Vice President J.D. Vance.

So far, the tenor of these speeches has focused on Kirk's legacy. We did hear at several times discussion of a spiritual war. Stephen Miller, uh, top advisor to the president, spoke about, uh, enemies, but we have not heard some of the finger-pointing that we had in the days following Kirk's assassination. Uh, and there you see the president, uh, clapping.

Um, it -- it -- it will be interesting to hear how the vice president speaks about this, given that he was a guest host on Kirk's podcast soon after the conservative activist was assassinated. And he said some things that were overtly political, about what he felt the reasons were for Kirk's death.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Right, he did. He filled in on the podcast. He also flew out to Arizona to fly the casket, with the casket on Air Force Two. I mean, they have a relationship that goes back many years, even, you know, before J.D. Vance ran for the Senate. So, it is going to be interesting to hear what he has to say and whether it's going to be a continuation of what he was saying on the podcast, as you note, or whether we're going to hear more themes of unity as we've been hearing in a lot of these speeches. I want to bring in Kristen Holmes who has been talking -- you've been talking to your sources about what to expect from both the vice president and President Trump.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And one thing to note just there about Don Jr. speaking, a couple things. One, we know that Don Jr. was a huge part of the reason that J.D. Vance ended up as the vice-presidential nominee. And Charlie Kirk is a big reason why J.D. Vance came back into or came into the MAGA orbit.

We heard from Don Jr. after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. He said that he spoke to Charlie almost every single day. Um, and it just goes to show you -- again, it's not just the political part of this which, of course, you can't separate the two, but it's also they have personal relationships there. When it comes to the vice president, we have heard him change a little --

SANCHEZ: Kristen, I'm sorry to interrupt. Vice President J.D. Vance is taking the stage. Let's listen in.

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J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you. Thank you all so much. You know --

(APPLAUSE)

You know, I can't help but think that they tried to silence my friend, Charlie Kirk. They tried to silence our dear friend, Charlie Kirk. And today, tonight, we speak with Charlie and for Charlie louder than ever.

(APPLAUSE)

The evil murderer, who took Charlie from us, expected us to have a funeral today. And instead, my friends, we have had a revival in celebration of Charlie Kirk and of his Lord Jesus Christ.

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We gather here in this stadium, in the hot Arizona sun, shielded in a great shining city our fathers raised out of the desert. And from this desert, Charlie Kirk built a movement. He transformed the face of conservatism in our own time. And in doing so, he changed the course of American history to rising generations across this country.

Charlie exemplified kindness, courage, and a commitment to open debate. And he was a great debater, and we loved him for it. But Charlie loved debate not because he excelled at it, but because it was the vehicle for bringing the light of truth to dark places. And Charlie Kirk brought many truths in his life.

(APPLAUSE)

[17:35:00] Charlie brought the truth that young people deserve to stake in the future and that they deserve to have a voice. He brought the truth that marriage and family were the highest callings, far more important than any job or educational credential. He brought the truth that our nation would fade unless it brought order to its neighborhoods and prosperity to its people. He brought the truth that life was precious, and we must fight to protect it at all stages and at all times.

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But most of all, Charlie brought the truth that Jesus Christ was the king of kings and that all truth flowed from this first and most important one.

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But Charlie, he did so much more than tell the truth, he lived it. Charlie understood that the best evangelization was not in what you said, but in how you lived your life. And in this city, he lived his life well. He raised a wonderful family. He had a beautiful wife, two beloved children, and a loving and godly home. In this, he showed us the importance of family.

He lived three decades he had on this earth with a sense of Christian virtue that would make any man, any person proud. And in this, he showed the importance of following God.

He was a kind-hearted man, a hard-working person, and any parent would be proud to have him as a son. In this, he showed the virtue of industriousness. He was present and loving as any child would hope of his or her father. And in this, he showed the importance of strong Christian fatherhood.

(APPLAUSE)

He was fearless, and he was bold as any follower would hope would be true of a leader. And in this, he showed all of us how to carry on after his death.

You know, Charlie Kirk, he loved history. He devoured the ideas that formed the foundation of our civilization. He stood for a tradition that Socrates established 2,500 years ago to question, to search, and to teach. He was Athens and Jerusalem, the city of reason and the city of God in one person. But if he loved those places, they were not his home. America was his home, and he was willing to die for it.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, Charlie, he loved this country with a contagious intensity. Anybody who talked to him knew it and felt it. He knew that America was a beautiful place and we had these incredible ideas, but he also knew that our country was a covenant between the generations past, present, and future. He believed this country's best days were not behind us, but ahead of us.

But he knew those better days would have to be earned. They would have to be worked for. We would have to set sacrifice and work and tell the truth. He knew that America wouldn't be saved just by pulling together seminars or talking about the right kind of books in front of the right kind of people.

The movement, which he created, demanded more. It demanded courage, it demanded hard work, it demanded building, and it demanded leaders. And my friends, in Charlie Kirk, we found a great American leader.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, our whole administration is here, but not just because we love Charlie as a friend, even though we did, but because we know we wouldn't be here without him. Charlie built an organization that reshaped the balance of our politics. Turning Point brought millions of young people into conversation with one another, brought millions of people into advocacy. He asked of us not just that we talk about saving our country, but that we actually go and do it and we do it together.

(APPLAUSE)

But even as Charlie built on a grand scale, his greatness was never only in his ambition.

[17:40:02]

It was measured in the everyday moments as well, in the way that he treated ordinary people each and every single day. You know, you learn a lot about someone by how they treat others when the cameras aren't on. Charlie treated staffers as well as he treated the president of the United States.

When I was just a guy polling at nothing in my Senate race back in 2021, Charlie helped me not because I was a future vice president, but because I was a dear friend. I saw just a couple of months ago when a White House staffer struggled with the weight of his job and the responsibilities of new fatherhood. Charlie stopped what he was doing in the hallways of the West Wing and said a prayer for that staffer. Because Charlie believed that we were all children of God, he treated everyone with grace. And that is perhaps the enduring legacy of Charlie Kirk.

You know, I was telling somebody backstage that I always felt a little uncomfortable talking about my faith in public as much as I loved the Lord and as much as it was an important part of my life. I have talked more about Jesus Christ in the past two weeks than I have my entire time in public life.

(APPLAUSE)

And that is an undeniable legacy of the great Charlie Kirk. You know, he loved God. And because he loved God, he wanted to understand God's creation and the men and women made in his image.

Now, much has been said over the last week about Charlie's ability to approach any topic, any person in good faith, an achievement that was only possible because Charlie knew that we were all children of God. He knew deep down the truth of scripture. And from that confidence, everything else flowed. That unshakable belief in the gospel led him to see differences in opinion, not as battlefields to conquer, but as way stations in the pursuit of truth.

He knew it was right to love others, your neighbor, your interlocutor, your enemy. But he also understood his duty to say what is right and what is wrong, to distinguish what is false from what is true.

(APPLAUSE)

Charlie was slain doing what he loved, telling the truth, proclaiming his faith, building out a dream. And now, he's gone and our hearts feel so empty because he has been taken from us. He has been taken from his parents and from his sister. He has been taken from our darling, Erika, and their beautiful children. And Erika, I know I speak for this entire auditorium when I say that we love you, and we will never stop standing by your side just as Charlie did.

(APPLAUSE)

He was taken from us by those who despise the virtues that actually made our civilization great to begin with. Dialogue, truth seeking, family, and faith. In the wake of his death, we have seen some of the very worst parts of humanity. We have watched people slander him. We have watched people justify his murder and celebrate his death. I know that this makes you angry just as it has made me angry. But it is easy in these moments to see only the worst of our fellow man.

I found myself wishing that I could pick up the phone and talk to my friend and ask him for his advice in his counsel, to ask him how to respond to such hate and the souls from which that hate springs. But I can't call my friend because he was murdered for speaking the truth.

[17:45:00]

I can only guess at what he might say and what he would encourage me to do. And here's what I think. I think he would encourage me to be honest that evil still walks among us, not to ignore it for the sake of a fake kumbaya moment but to address it head on and honestly as the sickness that it is.

(APPLAUSE)

But I also think he would encourage me, he would encourage all of us to focus on the good. He would encourage us to remember that for every hateful voice celebrating his murder, there are a thousand people mourning it and fighting for his legacy every single day.

(APPLAUSE)

He would tell me to pray. I'm certain of it. He would tell me to pray for my friends, but also for my enemies. He would tell me to put on the full armor of God and get back to work.

(APPLAUSE) He would tell us to commit ourselves to telling the truth and to fight for that truth each and every single day. He would tell us to talk about God's love and the fact that that love applied everybody across the whole human family.

Charlie suffered a terrible fate, my friends. We all know it. We all saw it. But think. It is not the worst fate. It is better to face a gunman than to live your life afraid to speak the truth.

(APPLAUSE)

It is better to be persecuted for your faith than to deny the kingship of Christ.

(APPLAUSE)

It is better to die a young man in this world than to sell your soul for an easy life with no purpose, no risk, no love, and no truth.

(APPLAUSE)

Christ told us in the Gospel of John, I have said these things to you, that in me you, may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.

(APPLAUSE)

Charlie took heart. And now, we must do the same. I've seen so many of you say -- so many on social media talk about for Charlie. We must do this for Charlie. For Charlie, we will speak the truth every single day.

(APPLAUSE)

For Charlie, we will rebuild this United States of America to greatness.

(APPLAUSE)

For Charlie, we will never shrink, we will never cower, and we will never falter, even when staring down the barrel of a gun.

(APPLAUSE)

For Charlie, we will remember that it is better to stand on our feet defending the United States of America and defending the truth than it is to die on our knees.

(APPLAUSE)

My friends, for Charlie, we must remember that he is a hero to the United States of America, and he is a martyr for the Christian faith. May our heavenly father give us the courage to live as Charlie lived. That is what we must do for Charlie. You ran a good race, my friend. I love you. We've got it from here. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

[17:50:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BROWN: All right, we were just listening to Vice President J.D. Vance give his remarks. And, you know, David Chalian, we were speaking after it. I mean, that was quite a speech.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: It was quite a speech. We were talking -- I mean, he is an orator (ph). And, uh, but I -- it seemed to me -- uh, I've not seen him assume the mantle of heir apparent to this movement quite in the way he did with this speech. And I think, uh, we will -- we will see this speech come back as a part of Vance's story of political maturation as we move towards 2027 and 2028, where he is clearly the front runner to become the next Republican nominee.

And this, I think, speech showed how in tune he is with the movement --

BROWN: Uh-hmm.

CHALIAN: -- and -- and his readiness and willingness to step up into a leadership role of this movement. That, to me, was all on display in what was also just a, you know, many times a beautiful tribute to his friend. And had some of the fight in it, no doubt. Like he put that forth.

Um, but -- but I think the -- the big accomplishment for Vance in this speech beyond honoring his friend and memorializing him was putting himself squarely at the head of this movement.

SANCHEZ: Kristen, to the point that David made about having some fight in it, Vance, uh, struck a specific tone. He was talking about Charlie wanting him -- would have wanted him to acknowledge that hate walks among us. But then, very quickly, he pivoted and said Charlie would have also wanted me to focus on the positive.

HOLMES: Yeah. I mean, I think he acknowledged what many in that room have felt. He referred to the murderer as the evil murderer. He acknowledged that the social media around Kirk's death has been incredibly divisive and political without actually saying the politics of it.

He acknowledged the anger that was seen inside of the movement as a whole from a number of these officials, and even at one point said, you know, that this would not to just come together for a kumbaya moment but instead, you know, to fight and to acknowledge that evil walks among us.

But again, also then pivoting to this idea of what we've heard from many people who are close to Charlie Kirk, uh, talking about acknowledging all of the good that has happened. And to your point, when we talk about good, there's the people coming out for Charlie Kirk who support him in his messaging. There's also the political good of what has come out of this death, which is for conservatives and for this movement, a real rallying around the movement that Charlie Kirk himself was an icon of or a generational leader of.

BROWN: Uh-hmm. Now, we're seeing folks in the crowd there wearing that shirt, I am Charlie Kirk. We're seeing that all over the place. I'd like to get, Shermichael, your take on what we just heard from the vice president.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Listening to the themes of the speech, I thought were very interesting. Obviously, he hit all of the right thematic points for conservatives, uh, folks who would probably proudly call themselves a part of the MAGA movement. But he was also talking a lot about, in my opinion, humanizing Charlie in a way that allows him, the vice president, to appeal to sort of swing voters, sort of some of those suburbanites.

SANCHEZ: Sorry to cut you off, Shermichael. Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, is now taking the stage. Let's go ahead and listen in.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

[17:55:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(APPLAUSE)

ERIKA KIRK, WIDOW OF CHARLIE KIRK: Hello. God bless all of you for coming here from all over the world to honor and celebrate my Charlie.

(APPLAUSE)

Just a few miles from here, two years ago at AmericaFest 2023, Charlie delivered a speech on stage for our T.P. USA faith event. Charlie loves speaking off the cuff. He's very good at that. Without a script. So, I personally didn't know what he was going to say. And what he chose to speak about that day was his submission to the will of God. He quoted one of his favorite Bible verses, Isaiah chapter six verse eight. Here I am, Lord. Send me.

After Charlie finished, I met him backstage, and I spoke to him, and I'll never forget this. I said, Charlie, baby, please talk to me next time before you say that statement because when you say something like that, there is so much power in that verse. When you say, here I am, Lord, use me, God will take you up on that. And he did with Charlie.

(APPLAUSE)

Eleven days ago, God accepted that total surrender from my husband, and then called him to his side. More than anything, Charlie wanted to do not his will, but God's will. And over these past 11 days, through all the pain, never before have I found as much comfort as I now do in the words of our Lord's prayer, thy will be done.

(APPLAUSE) God's love was revealed to me on the very day my husband was murdered. On the afternoon of September 10th, I arrived at a Utah hospital to do the unthinkable, to look directly at my husband's murdered body. I saw the wound that ended his life. I felt everything you would expect to feel. I felt shock. I felt horror and a level of heartache that I didn't even know existed. But there was something else, too.

[18:00:00]

Even in death, I could see the man that I love.