Donald Trump praised Charlie Kirk as a “great American hero” and a “martyr” for liberty as he and other prominent conservatives gathered Sunday night to honor the slain conservative political activist whose work they say they must now promote.

The memorial service for Kirk, whom Trump credits with a pivotal role in his 2024 election victory, drew tens of thousands of mourners, including Vice President J.D. Vance, other top administration officials, and young conservatives molded by the 31-year-old activist.

The president said the killing of Kirk, whom he also called “a giant of his generation” and a “great evangelist for liberty,” “was an attack on our entire nation.”

That’s why Trump called Charlie Kirk’s killing “an attack on America” on Sunday at a mass ceremony to honor the activist’s memory. “one of the greatest patriots” of the country.

“It was a terrible attack on the United States of America. It was an attack on our most sacred freedoms and our fundamental, God-given rights. The gun was aimed at him, but the bullet was intended for all of us, every one of us,” Trump cried.

“Charles James Kirk was brutally murdered by a radicalized and ruthless individual, simply for speaking the truth that was in his heart,” Trump explained about what happened on September 10, when he was fatally shot during an event at a university in Utah.

Trump said that on September 10, the “greatest evangelist for American liberty became immortal.”

The president praised Kirk and how, at 18, he founded Turning Point, an organization through which he organized debates and events at universities and which made him a recognized spokesperson for ultra-conservative Christian conservatism. USA