President Doanld Trump and several members of his Cabinet will speak at a memorial in Arizona this weekend to honor Charlie Kirk, the conservative political organizer killed in a shooting on Sept. 10.
Trump will headline the event on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona — which is home of the Arizona Cardinals football team — alongside Vice President JD Vance, a longtime friend of Kirk’s who hosted his podcast on Monday to honor his legacy, and Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk.
In addition, multiple members of Trump’s Cabinet are slated to speak at the memorial, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
The lineup also includes several of Trump’s top White House aides, like chief of staff Susie Wiles and her deputy Stephen Miller, as well as conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
The Trump administration has gone to great lengths to publicly honor Kirk, who was close to many White House staffers: Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff last week in memory of Kirk and vowed to posthumously award him a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Vance skipped a previously scheduled appearance at a 9/11 memorial to personally escort Kirk’s body back to Phoenix from Salt Lake City, Utah, where he was killed.
The effort demonstrates not only Kirk’s deep influence on the MAGA movement but also his close personal relationships with several members of Trump’s inner circle.
The Trump administration has also threatened to crack down on an alleged network of liberal nonprofit organizations that they say “foments, facilitates and engages in violence,” with Trump blaming the “radical left” for Kirk’s death.
