Johnson remarks on 'unspeakable sadness' as lawmakers, Trump officials recall Kirk at Kennedy Center vigil

Lawmakers, Trump administration officials and other dignitaries honored the memory of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk at a public vigil on Sunday evening.

The Kennedy Center hosted the event, which drew a capacity crowd, with dozens turned away.

Kirk was fatally shot Wednesday at a campus event in Utah.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was among the first to speak at the memorial, and he remarked on the “mixture of unspeakable sadness and grief and anger and even fear.” He noted, “Even on Capitol Hill, the leaders of the nation have been shaken.”

“It’s as if the ground was shifted beneath us. We all felt it deep, deep inside,” Johnson said. "And in spite of that, we remember that our dear friend Charlie would never want us to be overcome by despair. He would want exactly the opposite.”

The Speaker encouraged the crowd to honor Kirk’s memory and legacy and to “live as Charlie did,” by working to “advance his principles,” referring to Kirk’s faith in God and America and freedom, to and “adopt his approach.” 

“We should also adopt his approach. See, Charlie loved the vigorous debate, but he loved people more,” Johnson said. "Charlie was never motivated by hate. I mean, he could clean the clock of anybody in a debate. We all know it. But you know what he did after those debates? He was always the first person to reach out a hand of friendship or to offer an arm around the shoulder of someone who he felt was lost.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt credited Kirk with helping propel Trump’s 2024 campaign, saying she would not have her current job, "if not for the heroic efforts of Charlie Kirk, who turned the political tide among young people in this country and helped usher in President Trump's historic victory on November 5, 2024."

“President Trump's win in November was fueled in no small part by the tireless work of Charlie, the Turning Point organization he built from scratch — out of a garage, the true essence of the American dream — and the MAGA movement he helped so many young people join,” Leavitt said.

She also recalled being one of those young people inspired by Kirk when she launched her congressional campaign at just 23 years old ahead of the 2022 midterms. She said, “pretty much all of the people in this town of Washington did not take me seriously. Charlie Kirk, however, did.”

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, in her remarks, noted the country commemorated 24 years since the 9/11 attacks the day after Kirk died last week, and noted the similarities.

"They were both carried out by those who hold on to ideologies that cannot stand up to scrutiny and challenge, so they feel that their only recourse is to commit an act of violence, to silence those who oppose them, and to intimidate and terrorize others into silence. This is the definition of terrorism,” Gabbard said at the memorial. "We cannot allow ourselves to be terrorized into silence.”

"We need to live Charlie Kirk's example, the example that he set, that are captured by the words of Reverend Martin Luther King: Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that,” she continued, citing a quote from the late civil rights leader. 

"This is more than a quote from an icon in our past to Charlie,” she continued. "He lived this every day, and he inspired countless people around the world to do the same."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who ran for president on the Democratic ticket before launching an independent bid and who now leads Health and Human Services — recalled meeting Kirk for the first time on his podcast four years ago. Kennedy also credited Kirk with bringing him together with Trump’s campaign in 2024, noting he endorsed Trump at a Turning Point USA rally.

"I went on his podcast, and I think we approached each other with a lot of trepidation at that time, but, by the end of the podcast, we were soul mates, we were spiritual brothers, and we were friends,” Kennedy said at the memorial. “And over the next couple of years, our friendship blossomed. 

"He ended up being a primary architect of my unification with President Trump,” Kennedy said.

Kari Lake, a Trump administration official who ran for office twice in Arizona, decried the rise in political violence, saying, “I’m not going to say our side is perfect, but damn it, this is coming from the other side.”

She also urged mothers not to send their children to colleges, which she described as “indoctrination camps.”

"How does a 22-year-old become so filled with hate?” Lake continued. "Five years earlier, I was told he was a Trump supporter, and we sent our kids off to college, and they brainwashed him.”

"I am making a plea to mothers out there: Do not send your children into these indoctrination camps. Don’t do it. Do not do it,” she added, to applause.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), the former national Hispanic outreach director for Turning Point USA, recalled meeting Kirk for the first time at a conference when the organization was still relatively small. She said she remembers seeing Kirk walk through a crowd, “radiating a larger-than-life aura.”

“When he passed by, I remember hearing people say, ’That’s Charlie Kirk,’” Luna recalled, speaking in a hushed tone. "Even then you could feel his energy, his vision and his ability to inspire.”

Luna said Kirk offered her the job at Turning Point USA, crediting Kirk with having the foresight to anticipate the importance of Hispanic voter outreach for the Republican Party. 

She also recalled going on college tours with Kirk, who “remained cool, calm and logical,” as college students approached him to debate a range of issues, “often with heated emotions.”

“One by one, no matter how controversial the question was, he would dismantle them with his reasoning,” Luna said. “And that's when I realized something: Charlie Kirk didn't need college. College needed Charlie Kirk."

A memorial service for Kirk is set for Sept. 21 in Glendale, Ariz., and President Trump has said he would attend.

Early in his second term, Trump remade the Kennedy Center board and appointed himself board chair. At the start of the program, longtime friends of Kirk said Turning Point had worked with Kennedy Center president Ric Grennell to organize the event quickly.

Updated at 10:31 p.m. EDT