A memorial service for conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Arizona on Sunday is ready to function President Trump, Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, and greater than half a dozen prime Trump administration figures addressing what might be an NFL-size crowd at State Farm Stadium.
Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Level USA, was shot and killed as he spoke at an occasion at Utah Valley College on Sept. 10. A 22-year-old suspect has been charged with aggravated homicide.
Kirk’s assassination has rocked the conservative world. A prolific and typically controversial speaker, Kirk was recognized for his faculty campus occasions and debates, his position in mobilizing GOP voters and his shut ties to the Trump administration.
The place is Charlie Kirk’s memorial service going down?
The service will happen at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, close to Phoenix. The stadium, which is residence to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, can sometimes seat as much as 63,400 individuals.
Organizers say safety shall be tight, with “TSA-level screening” anticipated.
Federal authorities have designated the memorial service as a Particular Occasion Evaluation Ranking (SEAR) Stage 1 occasion, a senior Division of Homeland Safety official stated. That designation is used for “important occasions with nationwide and/or worldwide significance that require intensive federal interagency assist,” just like the Tremendous Bowl.
What time is Charlie Kirk’s memorial service?
The service is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. native time in Arizona, or 2 p.m. ET.
Who will communicate at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service?
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are each scheduled to talk, together with the activist’s widow, Erika Kirk, who was named Turning Level USA’s new CEO on Thursday.
A number of different administration officers are set to talk, together with White Home Chief of Employees Susie Wiles, Secretary of Well being and Human Companies Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth, and key Trump aides Stephen Miller and Sergio Gor.
The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., can also be listed as a speaker, as is right-wing media character and former Fox Information host Tucker Carlson.
Most of the audio system had intensive private {and professional} ties with the slain activist.
Kirk was a stalwart supporter of the president beginning throughout his first marketing campaign in 2016, and he remained allied with Mr. Trump after he left workplace below a cloud of controversy following the Capitol riot in January 2021. In final 12 months’s presidential race, Kirk’s Turning Level USA was broadly credited with aiding the Trump marketing campaign with grassroots voter mobilization.
Kirk was additionally shut with Donald Trump Jr., and labored intently with the youthful Trump as an aide in the course of the 2016 marketing campaign. “Charlie wasn’t only a good friend — he was like somewhat brother to me,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X.
Vance has credited Kirk with introducing him to Donald Trump Jr. forward of his 2022 Senate marketing campaign, and with advocating “in private and non-private” for the president to decide on Vance as his working mate final 12 months. Kirk’s physique was flown from Utah to Arizona on Vance’s jet, Air Pressure Two.
Kennedy has known as Kirk the “main architect of my unification with President Trump,” referring to the previous Democrat’s resolution to drop his unbiased marketing campaign for president final 12 months and publicly endorse Mr. Trump at a Turning Level Motion rally.
A number of Christian musicians are additionally listed on the program: Chris Tomlin, Brandon Lake, Phil Wickham, Kari Jobe Carnes and Cody Carnes.
Who was Charlie Kirk?
Kirk was the chief of Turning Level USA, a bunch for younger conservatives that he co-founded in 2012, on the age of 18. A local of the Chicago space, Kirk briefly attended neighborhood faculty however dropped out to pursue political activism full-time.
He was a ubiquitous presence in politics: He hosted a every day speak radio present and podcast, and he visited scores of faculty campuses yearly, the place he was recognized for internet hosting rapid-fire debates with left-leaning college students.
Kirk ceaselessly drew controversy for his views. He supported Mr. Trump’s false claims of voter fraud after the 2020 election, and his group maintained a “Professor Watchlist” of faculty instructors accused of spreading “leftist propaganda.”
Turning Level USA says it has chapters at 1000’s of excessive colleges and faculties, and the group’s political arm, Turning Level Motion, engages in grassroots canvassing.
Kirk was additionally a household man with two younger kids
“He was the proper father. He was the proper husband,” Erika Kirk stated final week in her first public remarks after the taking pictures.
Who’s Erika Kirk?
Charlie and Erika Kirk wed in 2021, after they started courting in 2018.
A Phoenix-area native, Erika Kirk gained Miss Arizona USA in 2012, attended Arizona State College and later earned a juris grasp diploma from Liberty College.
She was a frequent presence at Turning Level USA occasions, the place she spoke about politics, faith and her conservative views on household and marriage. She additionally based a clothes line known as PROCLAIM and a ministry known as BIBLEin365.
Throughout one look on “The Charlie Kirk Present” earlier this 12 months, Erika Kirk stated she’s extra conservative than her husband.
“Not even shut,” her husband agreed. “I’m a reasonable in comparison with Erika.”
In public remarks two days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Erika Kirk vowed that the “motion my husband constructed won’t die.”
On Thursday, the board of Turning Level USA introduced it had unanimously chosen Erika Kirk to function the group’s new chair and CEO.
How you can watch Charlie Kirk’s memorial service
The memorial service shall be livestreamed noon on Sunday.
- What: Public memorial service for Charlie Kirk
- Date: Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025
- Time: 11 a.m. native time; 2 p.m. ET
- Location: State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona
- On-line stream: Stay on CBS Information 24/7 in your cell or streaming machine
Be aware: Streaming plans are topic to alter.
contributed to this report.
![[Two Pronged] Struggling to recuperate from the vacation blues](https://www.rappler.com/tachyon/2025/12/two-pronged-December-21-2025.jpg "[Two Pronged] Struggling to recuperate from the vacation blues")
