President Trump tells crowd ‘I hate my opponent’ after Erika Kirk says she forgives her husband's killer.
Speculation continues over the motivations behind Charlie Kirk’s death earlier this month, even Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered a chilling comment when asked about it at a memorial service on Sunday.
Following the incident, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson has been arrested and charged with the murder of the conservative activist at Utah Valley University.
At the memorial service in Arizona, Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, shared a heartfelt moment by hugging President Donald Trump.
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"I saw the wound that ended his life, I felt everything you would expect… I felt shock, I felt horror and a level of heartache that I didn’t even know existed," she said at the State Farm Stadium.
"But there was something else too. Even in death, I could see the man I love… I also saw on his lips the faintest smile and that told me something important."
She added: "It revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy, when I saw that Charlie didn’t suffer." Erika announced she is also ‘tremendously honoured’ to be the new CEO of Kirk’s organisation, Turning Point USA.
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Trump spoke after Erika, walking onto the stage as Lee Greewald's ‘God Bless the USA’ played.
The POTUS called Kirk’s killer a ‘radicalised, cold-blooded monster’ and described Kirk as a 'martyr' for American freedom.
"He was violently killed because he spoke for freedom and justice, for God, country, for reason, and for common sense," Trump explained. "Our greatest evangelist for American liberty became immortal."
The president also called out liberals, calling them 'radical left lunatics,' which drew laughs from the crowd.
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Trump then compared how he and Kirk dealt with political opponents differently.
"He was a missionary with a noble spirit and a great, great purpose. He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them," Trump said.
"That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them," Trump added before apologising to Kirk's widow for the difference in opinion.
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"Erika, you can talk to me and the whole group, but maybe they can convince me that that’s not right, but I can’t stand my opponent," he continued.
Trump also framed Kirk’s assassination as an attack on all American conservatives, describing: "The gun was pointed at him, but the bullet was aimed at all of us. That bullet was aimed at every one of us.
"Charlie was killed for expressing the very ideas that virtually everyone in this arena and most other places throughout our country deeply believed in."