Charlie Kirk Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom as Trump Honors Legacy During White House Ceremony

[00:00] Ahead on American Sunrise, Charlie Kirk

[00:03] is the latest recipient of the country's

[00:05] highest civilian honor. We'll have

[00:08] reaction from the award ceremony at the

[00:09] White House throughout the show. Plus,

[00:13] if the Democrats want to go to court and

[00:15] challenge troops being paid, bring it.

[00:16] Okay.

[00:19] >> House Speaker Mike Johnson dares

[00:21] Democrats to go to court if they want to

[00:23] stop troops from getting paid during the

[00:25] current government shutdown. Missouri

[00:27] Congressman Mark Alfred weighs in and

[00:29] offers inside information on where

[00:31] negotiations to reopen government

[00:33] agencies stand.

[00:36] And in light of President Trump

[00:37] brokering the peace deal between Israel

[00:39] and Hamas, is Russia now more open to

[00:41] making a deal to end the war with

[00:43] Ukraine. Those stories and so much more

[00:46] right now on American Sunrise.

[00:51] >> Good morning, America.

[00:54] >> Welcome to American Sunrise.

[00:57] Whether it's culture,

[00:58] >> we have breaking news to share with you.

[01:00] >> Politics. President Trump is joining us

[01:02] live now from Florida, we've got you

[01:05] covered. This is what it looks like to

[01:07] be a patriot. We have to protect the

[01:10] American family.

[01:11] >> The American dream is still alive.

[01:15] >> I'm David Brody.

[01:16] >> I'm Terrence.

[01:17] >> And I'm Dr. Gina.

[01:20] [Music]

[01:22] >> Good morning. I'm Dr. Gina. We are live

[01:24] with you from the Palm Beaches. Let's

[01:26] bring in David Brody. He's in Washington

[01:28] DC and Terrence Bates is in our Denver

[01:30] newsroom. Good morning, guys. I want to

[01:33] ask you like every single morning about

[01:35] the fall because I just I miss the fall.

[01:37] I got to see it in Pennsylvania this

[01:38] weekend. The little yellow leaves

[01:40] falling off the trees. I'm so jealous of

[01:43] that. I can't believe how much I miss

[01:44] it.

[01:45] >> It's my favorite season. My favorite

[01:47] Susan.

[01:49] >> I like the aesthetics of the fall, but I

[01:52] don't like the work that comes with. And

[01:54] and here's the thing, Dr. I really I I

[01:56] swear to God, I thought of you

[01:57] yesterday. So Tamara, my wife, was like,

[02:00] "Hey, I'm buying us a tree and I'm gonna

[02:01] plant a tree." Uh because there's too

[02:04] there's not enough shade in our front

[02:06] yard and it's killing our grass in the

[02:07] summertime. I'm going to plant a tree.

[02:09] And I was just like, that just means

[02:11] it's more leaves for me to rake this

[02:13] summer. Like

[02:15] >> I'm going to come help you rake,

[02:16] >> you know? I can't say no. I can't say no

[02:19] cuz that was going to be a whole

[02:20] different conversation that I didn't

[02:21] feel like having. But in my mind, I was

[02:23] like, this is just more work for me in

[02:25] the long run. Anyway, good morning, you

[02:27] guys.

[02:27] >> Evergreen. Get an evergreen tree. You

[02:29] live in Colorado. They don't drop

[02:30] leaves.

[02:32] >> Is Is that true? Okay,

[02:34] >> problem solved.

[02:36] >> Okay, I'll have to talk to her about

[02:37] that, but she's already purchased the

[02:39] one tree, so that might make another

[02:40] one.

[02:41] >> Anyway, uh guys, let's talk about

[02:43] Charlie Kirk. Uh obviously, uh being

[02:46] conferred the Presidential Medal of

[02:48] Freedom at the White House yesterday.

[02:50] Huge ceremony. His wife Erica accepted

[02:53] the award on his behalf. And here's some

[02:55] of what President Trump had to say

[02:56] during that ceremony.

[02:58] >> One month after Charlie's death, we

[03:00] still feel the terrible shock and the

[03:02] pain of his loss like just about nobody

[03:05] I can think of. Charlie Kirk was one of

[03:08] a kind. He was unstoppable. And he

[03:11] really was. Boy, when he had an idea in

[03:13] his head, oh, he was he would call me,

[03:16] "Sir, please. You haven't done it yet."

[03:18] I said, "Charlie, relax. just relax. He

[03:22] didn't relax. He called me the next day

[03:23] again. It got it done. But he was like

[03:27] indomitable and always will be. He's

[03:30] really irreplaceable. Nobody going to

[03:32] replace him, but they're going to do

[03:34] great, but that you can't replace that

[03:36] kind of person. And that kind of talent,

[03:39] frankly, the word talent is an important

[03:40] word, but that kind of talent. So, we

[03:43] hold his memory in our hearts forever.

[03:45] every single day of this administration,

[03:47] we will continue to carry out the

[03:50] mission for which he lived. And he

[03:52] really did. He lived for this country.

[03:53] He lived for his wife and his family,

[03:54] but he lived for this country, too.

[04:00] >> Gina and David, it's still somewhat

[04:01] surreal that Charlie's not with us. I

[04:03] mean, these sorts of reminders that we

[04:05] get, you know, with uh these sorts of

[04:07] ceremonies, but it's still kind of

[04:09] surreal that he's not with us, Gina.

[04:11] >> Yeah. Um, I had such a special

[04:14] experience last night. James O'Keeffe

[04:16] hosted a Charlie Kirk birthday party

[04:19] here in Palm Beach and uh, I was able to

[04:21] go with my family and uh, you know, we

[04:24] we all stood up one at a time and kind

[04:26] of told our stories about Charlie,

[04:28] whatever. And um, and then had some cake

[04:32] in his honor. And uh anyway, uh the one

[04:35] thing that I the question that I asked

[04:36] when I when I gave up when I stood up

[04:38] and gave my little two cents about

[04:40] Charlie, I said, "How many of you, I'm

[04:42] just curious, were conservatives before

[04:45] but never owned a Bible or or hadn't

[04:48] opened the Bible you owned and Charlie's

[04:50] assassination changed that for you." You

[04:53] guys, this is not an exaggeration. I am

[04:55] not lying. About half of the room raised

[04:59] their hand. Now this is among

[05:01] conservative Christian right impassioned

[05:06] patriots. And if those are the numbers

[05:09] in that group, imagine what the numbers

[05:13] are. No pastor, no teacher, no

[05:16] newscaster,

[05:18] no bookw writer, no anyone has ever had

[05:21] that sort of impact except Jesus Christ

[05:23] himself. I I just didn't realize the

[05:25] numbers were that staggering. David.

[05:28] >> Yeah. Look, I was having dinner last

[05:30] night with uh Pastor Lucas Miles who is

[05:33] running TPUSA Faith. We had dinner in

[05:35] the district last night and he was

[05:37] telling me how much uh the whole

[05:40] landscape has changed in terms of not

[05:43] just TPUSA chapters but specifically

[05:45] churches and how many more churches are

[05:48] are now on board in the TPUSA movement.

[05:51] It is just off the charts. And you know,

[05:53] President Trump last night called uh

[05:55] Charlie a martyr for truth and freedom.

[05:58] And nothing could be further from the

[05:59] truth. I mean, excuse me, nothing could

[06:01] be truer, excuse me, nothing could be

[06:03] truer than that, for sure. You know, you

[06:06] know, when has closure ever happened? I

[06:08] don't know if closure ever really

[06:09] happens in something like this. But, but

[06:10] yesterday's event, as we're seeing

[06:12] there, was one of the guideposts to

[06:15] closure. I I I think that was an

[06:17] important uh step as we all in our own

[06:20] different ways move towards closure.

[06:23] Once again, to be clear, there won't

[06:24] ever be real closure, but we will take

[06:27] steps as time goes on. Uh and Charlie

[06:30] would want us to move on, but move on in

[06:33] righteousness

[06:34] >> and move on in action. I I think Charlie

[06:37] go hand in hand. Hand in hand.

[06:39] >> Move on in action. All right, let's

[06:41] check out today's Bible verse. Matthew

[06:43] 28:20. It is teaching them to observe

[06:46] all the things that I have commanded

[06:47] you. And lo, I am with you always, even

[06:50] to the end of the age. I love that one.

[06:52] It's What is it about that one that is

[06:54] so reassuring? I don't even know, but I

[06:56] love it so much. All right, let's bring

[06:57] in Missouri Congressman Mark Alfred. Uh,

[07:00] Congressman,

[07:01] it's been a lot of emotion over the last

[07:04] uh few weeks. Our world has changed. Um,

[07:08] how are you what are you seeing any

[07:10] changes in your colleagues? Because I I

[07:13] think boy, if anybody needs Jesus, it's

[07:16] Congress.

[07:19] >> Well, thank you.

[07:20] >> Sorry, I didn't mean you.

[07:22] >> That's all right. You

[07:26] >> I have to applaud that. I I love it.

[07:29] Yes, y'all need Jesus.

[07:31] >> No, you know, I didn't mean you. I I

[07:34] will tell you guys, I don't know if you

[07:36] realize this, Mike Johnson is an

[07:38] incredible man of integrity, man of

[07:39] faith, incredible leader,

[07:41] >> and I'm honored to be in a um a prayer

[07:44] group that he has every flyyou day in

[07:46] his his conference room.

[07:48] >> There's about 12, 13 of us in there. And

[07:51] we pray over him, we pray over President

[07:53] Trump, we pray for our body, and not

[07:56] just the Republicans, but our entire

[07:58] body. And so when you see men and women

[08:01] of faith, I mean there are there are

[08:03] Bible studies all the time in Congress.

[08:06] I'm involved in two. We rotate offices

[08:09] uh for members to to to do this. There's

[08:12] um the national prayer group meets there

[08:15] uh in the Capitol. So Jesus is alive and

[08:19] well on Capitol Hill. It's just getting

[08:21] that message out and doing what Charlie

[08:23] Kirk did. And I think this is um a

[08:27] really a reminder for us all, especially

[08:29] in this heated time during the shutdown.

[08:31] We're at day 15, is let's debate the

[08:34] issues. Let's not rip each other apart.

[08:37] And I I've been kind of guilty of that.

[08:39] I mean, you know, you can name call, but

[08:42] you we also have to to educate the

[08:46] American people about the realities of

[08:47] what's going on without denigrating

[08:50] another human being. A and that's tough

[08:53] to do in Congress. There's a lot of

[08:56] >> heated moments even on the House floor

[08:58] and we've lost our decorum. I think both

[09:00] sides um I think the Democrats a little

[09:03] more so than the Republicans. But we've

[09:05] got to return the respect for one

[09:06] another, the love of Jesus Christ, the

[09:08] grace of Jesus Christ. These things that

[09:11] Charlie Kirk embodied when he engaged in

[09:14] rational debate with others with whom he

[09:17] disagreed. It was always done out of

[09:19] respect. And I want to I want to I want

[09:22] to help bring that back to Congress.

[09:25] >> That's phenomenal. Uh I'm glad you're

[09:27] praying over the body there. I'm praying

[09:28] over my body and it's not working. Uh

[09:31] just so you know. Uh all right, let's

[09:33] move on. Uh the government shutdown now

[09:36] entering its third week. Uh House

[09:38] Speaker Mike Johnson says if Democrats

[09:41] want to challenge President Trump on

[09:42] using other uh money at the Pentagon to

[09:46] pay service members, then they can bring

[09:47] it, as he said. Take a look.

[09:50] Look, my my understanding of this is

[09:52] they have every right to move the funds

[09:54] around, duly appropriated dollars from

[09:57] Congress to the Department of Defense.

[09:59] Uh there were some R&D accounts that had

[10:01] not been spent. Uh and that's my

[10:03] understanding is that's the money that's

[10:04] being used to pay the troops right now.

[10:06] If the Democrats want to go to court and

[10:08] challenge troops being paid, bring it.

[10:09] Okay. I'm grateful for a

[10:11] commander-in-chief who understands the

[10:12] priorities of the country, the necessity

[10:14] of national defense, and the urgency

[10:16] that we all feel and have voted for

[10:18] eight times. Republicans have voted in

[10:20] Congress eight times now between House

[10:21] and Senate to fund the troops and pay

[10:24] federal workers in all these essential

[10:25] jobs and agencies because we understand

[10:27] the necessity of that. Meanwhile, the

[10:29] Democrats voted eight times to block

[10:32] their paychecks. I'm grateful we have a

[10:34] president who is willing to step up and

[10:35] do the right thing. Thank you all so

[10:37] much.

[10:38] >> And Congressman, we're talking about

[10:39] that today because today's Wednesday,

[10:41] October 15th, which of course is payday

[10:43] for military members. I'm curious to get

[10:46] your thoughts. Yeah. Well, it's day 15.

[10:48] America held hostage by the Schumer

[10:50] shutdown. And the the Democrats have no

[10:53] leverage points. They keep saying,

[10:54] "Well, come back to Congress and

[10:55] negotiate." We're not negotiating.

[10:57] There's nothing to negotiate.

[11:00] You know, with three different things

[11:02] now, President Trump and Speaker

[11:04] Johnson, I think, have proved successful

[11:06] in our in holding firm on where we are

[11:09] doing the right thing with a simple

[11:11] extension of our appropriations process.

[11:14] uh women's infants and children that

[11:16] that program was going to run out of

[11:18] money and President Trump found money

[11:20] through the Office of Management and

[11:22] Budget to fund that to make sure that uh

[11:24] hungry women and their children don't go

[11:27] hungry because of the Schumer shutdown.

[11:29] Uh our soybean farmers who have who've

[11:32] been suffering because of the the China

[11:34] situation and them refusing to buy our

[11:36] soybeans right now. Uh, President Trump

[11:38] is going to offset those losses through

[11:40] what's called the Commodity Credit

[11:42] Corporation, through the US Department

[11:43] of Agriculture and help them in this

[11:46] time until we get these tariffs

[11:47] straight. Now, we brought in a lot of

[11:48] tariff money. In fact, he's using I

[11:51] think 30 billion of this tariff money to

[11:53] to kind of restock the commodity credit

[11:56] corporation to help out farmers. And now

[11:58] the last bit of leverage that the

[12:00] Democrats have had is this troop pay.

[12:02] They don't want to see the troops paid

[12:04] because they want to inflict pain on the

[12:06] American people. And because of that

[12:08] pain, they're thinking there's going to

[12:10] be a large outcry and people siding with

[12:12] them. It's not going to happen.

[12:14] President Trump found the money to pay

[12:16] our troops. And it's going to happen.

[12:18] And there's not going to be that pain.

[12:20] Thank goodness, as we're trying to

[12:22] improve the quality of life. Some of our

[12:24] troops here at Fort Leonardwood in our

[12:26] district and at Whiteman Air Force Base

[12:27] qualify to be on food stamps. That's

[12:29] wrong. That's why we gave them a huge

[12:32] raise in the one big beautiful bill

[12:34] which the Democrats want to strip away.

[12:36] It's just it's crazy.

[12:40] >> It's wrong as you said. Uh really

[12:42] quickly as we continue with this

[12:45] government shutdown, what are your

[12:47] thoughts? uh will we get through this

[12:49] before let's say November 21st which is

[12:52] when the continuing resolution was set

[12:54] to take effect or is it going to be two

[12:56] days before and then we go back into

[12:58] another government shutdown two days

[12:59] later because no deal has been reached

[13:01] and no uh the negotiations are at a

[13:03] stalemate yet again. I'm sorry to be

[13:06] negative Nancy but that's kind of how I

[13:08] see it.

[13:09] >> Terrence you're absolutely right and

[13:11] we've had discussions with the speaker

[13:12] on this. I think there's some

[13:13] contingency plans in the work. What are

[13:15] we going to do? We've got to get back

[13:17] and finish our jobs, but only after the

[13:19] government reopens. We've gotten all 12

[13:22] appropriation bills out of committee.

[13:24] That was hard work. I wish you guys

[13:25] could have been there. And the the the

[13:27] time and the energy it took to fend off

[13:29] the Democrats on some of these woke

[13:31] progressive ideas they wanted to stick

[13:33] back in the federal government as we

[13:34] continue to make cuts in every

[13:36] department except Department of Defense,

[13:38] Homeland Security, Military

[13:39] Construction, VA. We are making the

[13:42] cuts. We're getting back to regular

[13:43] order. They're standing in our way. Uh

[13:45] we are out every day. I'm I'm about to

[13:48] leave again to go visit some more rural

[13:49] hospitals. The Democrats are trying to

[13:51] take away this $50 billion dollar the

[13:54] rural health transformation fund where

[13:56] we're helping uh our rural hospitals

[13:58] stay open and meet some of the

[14:00] challenges they face as we kick people

[14:02] off of Medicaid who never should have

[14:03] been there in the first place. And yes,

[14:05] including illegal aliens, which they

[14:07] deny that's happening. It has happened

[14:09] and they want them back. We're doing our

[14:12] job. I think my wife is getting a little

[14:14] sick of me being at home. So, uh, maybe

[14:17] maybe she can go talk to Chuck Schumer

[14:19] and say, "Mr. Schumer, tear down this

[14:22] wall."

[14:22] >> How many days has it been, Congressman?

[14:26] >> Day 15.

[14:27] >> Day 15. So, if our government can shut

[14:29] down for 15 days and you walk out on

[14:31] that street right now and your average

[14:33] person has felt nothing and if they even

[14:34] know it happened.

[14:35] >> Exactly.

[14:36] >> Maybe we know where to cut.

[14:38] >> Just That's exactly right.

[14:40] >> Gina's two cents. I I started out as as

[14:43] not strong as I uh finished, didn't I?

[14:45] All right, Congressman Alfred, thank you

[14:47] so much for your time.

[14:48] >> Thank you. And by the way, Terrence, you

[14:50] were rocking the ascot today, my man.

[14:52] >> Yeah, rocks the ascot. That is

[14:53] beautiful.

[14:54] >> I need a yellow one, though. You

[14:56] >> Thank you. I tried something a little

[14:58] different today. I love it. Thirsten how

[15:00] I take care.

[15:04] >> You just dated yourself. Thank you,

[15:06] Congress.

[15:07] >> Best show.

[15:08] >> All right. Take care.

[15:09] >> All right. Coming up, we're going to

[15:10] check out the hottest headlines from the

[15:12] Rav newsroom with T Bates in the ascot

[15:15] with a pink on it. So stay with us.

[15:23] [Music]

[15:29] [Music]