Trump honours late activist Charlie Kirk with Presidential Medal of Freedom

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday posthumously awarded conservative activist Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom describing him as one of the true American heroes during a ceremony at the White House Rose Garden Erika Kirk the late activists widow and current CEO of Turning Point USA accepted the nations highest civilian honour on his behalf A military aide introducing the award said the United States honours Kirk as a martyr for truth and freedomTrump who returned from the Middle East around 3 am Tuesday told attendees I was going to call Erika and say Erika could you maybe move it to Friday He added that it was a definite decision to make it back for the event which coincided with what would have been Kirks 32nd birthday I would not have missed this moment for anything in the world nothing Trump saidErika Kirk thanked the president saying Thank you Mr President for honoring my husband in such a profound and meaningful way and thank you for making this event a priority amid the peace process in the Middle East It has been just over a month since Charlie Kirk was killed while speaking at Utah Valley University during his America Comeback TourTrump called his death a horrible heinous demonic act of murder adding that he was assassinated in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth According to CNN Vice President JD Vance Second Lady Usha Vance Attorney General Pam Bondi Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel were among those attending the ceremonyJD Vance described as a close friend of Kirk sat in the front row while Erika Kirk expressed her gratitude to the vice president and his wife for accompanying her husbands remains back to Washington on Air Force Two During his remarks Trump credited Kirk for energising young voters and said his efforts were instrumental in securing electoral support from younger AmericansJokingly the president said that without Kirks help former Vice President Kamala Harris might have been in the White House rather than him CNN reported that Trump used the moment to denounce what he described as violence from farleft radicals calling their ideology the devils ideology He declared Especially in the wake of Charlies assassination our country must have absolutely no tolerance for this radical left violence extremism and terrorHowever CNN noted that available data does not support Trumps claims that political violence is primarily perpetrated by leftwing groups Trumps speech also touched on other issues including his administrations efforts to tackle crime and his criticism of what he called local mismanagement of wildfires in Los AngelesThe Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to individuals for an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States or to world peace and other significant endeavours has been awarded to 24 recipients during Trumps first term including Babe Ruth Justice Antonin Scalia and Elvis PresleyAs CNN reported Trump has announced his intention to present future awards to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former HUD Secretary Ben Carson Accepting the award Erika Kirk reflected on her husbands fearlessness faith and commitment to freedom describing his servants heartShe said If the moment had come he probably would have run for president but not out of ambition He would only have done it if that was something that he believed that his country needed from a servants heart standpoint She recalled that her husband often prayed for his opponents prompting Trump to smile At Kirks funeral Trump had remarked that unlike Kirk I hate my opponent and I dont want the best for themFighting back tears Erika shared a moment with their young daughter who had said she wanted to celebrate her fathers birthday She said Happy birthday Daddy I want to give you a stuffed animal I want you to eat a cupcake with ice cream and I want you to go have a birthday surprise Closing her remarks Erika Kirk said To live free is the greatest gift but to die free is the greatest victory Happy birthday my Charlie Happy freedom dayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever