JD Vance hosting “The Charlie Kirk Show” today after Kirk’s assassination

“But I’m going to try to do my best,” Vance said.

Kirk, a conservative activist, was assassinated last week during a university event hosted by his organization, Turning Point USA, in Orem, Utah. The 31-year-old was close to Vance, along with President Trump and his family. 

After his death, Kirk’s body was flown on the vice president’s plane, Air Force Two, to Kirk’s home state of Arizona. Vance canceled a planned trip to New York to mark 24 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attack to fly to Utah to retrieve Kirk’s body. Vance said Monday that he was honored to be able to “take Charlie’s remains from Utah to Arizona.”

Vance has described his longtime friendship with Kirk, who was also a key ally in his political rise. Vance said in a post on X after Kirk’s death that the slain conservative activist was one of the first people he called when he considered running for Senate in 2021, and he said Kirk advocated for him to become the vice presidential nominee “both in public and private.” 

The vice president described Kirk as a “true friend.” On Monday, Vance called Kirk “the smartest political operative I ever met,” saying “I owe so much to Charlie.”

Kirk’s youth turnout operation has also been credited with helping Mr. Trump’s 2024 election bid, while Kirk himself was known to have influenced some of the Trump administration’s personnel decisions. Vance said much of “the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” adding that Kirk “didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”

Andrew Kolvet, the executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” said on CNN Monday that Vance’s hosting of the show “came about because he asked if he could do it.”

“Charlie and JD were friends. They were actual friends,” Kolvet said, adding that “a lot of the people that are running the federal government are personal friends of Charlie’s and they were in the trenches together, the campaign, and they’ve known each other for years.”

The president announced last week that he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. A memorial service for Kirk is set to be held on Sept. 21 in Arizona.

Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, said in her first public remarks since his death that “the movement my husband built will not die,” noting that “the radio and podcast show that he was so proud of will go on.” 

“If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea,” she said.