Vice President Vance (right) Second Lady Usha Vance (center) and Erika Kirk deplane Air Force Two, carrying the body of Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, on Thursday in Phoenix.
Ross D. Franklin/AP
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Ross D. Franklin/AP
Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist and podcaster who was assassinated Wednesday, says her husband’s college tour and radio show will continue.
She said the “evildoers” responsible for his death “should all know this: If you thought my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea,” she said on Fox News Friday evening. “You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country, and this world.”
Kirk was speaking on the first stop of his “American Comeback Tour” at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, when he was fatally shot. A suspect is in custody.
The tour had 14 more dates planned at college campuses, according to Charlie Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA. The next stop was scheduled for Sep. 18 at Colorado State University. His radio show and podcast The Charlie Kirk Show aired daily, and Erika Kirk said it will continue.
She encouraged young people to join their local Turning Point USA chapter, or start their own. The organization promotes “traditional American values like patriotism, respect for life, liberty, family, and fiscal responsibility,” its website says.
The organization and Kirk also courted controversy — he claimed that the civil rights legislation of the 1960s had turned into an anti-white weapon and mocked what he described as America’s deification of Martin Luther King Jr. The group’s conferences and shows regularly hosted conspiracy theorists and fellow provocateurs, including Alex Jones, the broadcaster who lost a $1.3 billion defamation suit brought by the family of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
“[Kirk] wants you to make a difference, and you can,” Erika Kirk said.
She additionally thanked law enforcement, first responders, President Trump and Vice President Vance for supporting her family in the last few days.
“Mr. President, my husband loved you,” she said. “And he knew that you loved him too. Your friendship was amazing.”
Trump has said Kirk’s involvement with young people contributed to his presidential win last year.
Erika Kirk said she has not found a way to tell her 3-year-old daughter that her father has died.
“He’s on a work trip with Jesus,” she said.