JD Vance Opens Up About Charlie Kirk's Assassination: His First Interview Since the Tragedy

[00:00] Today marks one week since Charlie Kirk

[00:03] was gruesomely assassinated. The nation

[00:06] still mourning his family, his friends,

[00:08] his fans. Prime Time had the privilege

[00:11] of sitting down with one of Charlie's

[00:13] closest friends, the vice president of

[00:15] the United States, JD Vance. It's his

[00:17] first interview since the assassination.

[00:20] And JD says he owes his job to Charlie.

[00:23] We flew out to Howell, Michigan, where

[00:26] the vice president toured a metal

[00:27] manufacturing company with a group of

[00:29] Turning Point students. JD emotional

[00:33] took us back to the moment when the

[00:35] White House found out Charlie was dead.

[00:38] Mr. Vice President, thank you so much

[00:40] for joining us.

[00:40] Of course, it's good to see you.

[00:42] Where were you when you heard Charlie

[00:44] was shot?

[00:45] So, I was in my office in the West Wing.

[00:47] The the vice president actually has a

[00:49] couple of off offices. There's the

[00:50] executive office building office and the

[00:52] West Wing office. I was in the West Wing

[00:54] and I just finished a meeting with

[00:56] somebody, I'm not even sure who, and um

[00:58] I I looked at my phone and there were a

[01:01] bunch of group chats, frankly, a lot of

[01:03] them that Charlie was in where they

[01:05] said, "Charlie, praying for your

[01:06] brother. Hope you're doing okay." And

[01:07] then I opened up my door and somebody

[01:10] said, "Charlie's been shot." And it kind

[01:12] of hit me like, "Oh my god, this is very

[01:14] real. This is very serious." this and

[01:16] you know what what happened over the

[01:17] next hour or so I'm guessing is you know

[01:20] we we knew Charlie it's called your your

[01:22] body guy your special assistant the

[01:24] person who's always with you and I had a

[01:26] very dear friend in the west wing who

[01:27] knew Charlie's body guy and so he his

[01:29] name is Mikey and he called Mike and

[01:31] said hey like what's going on and what

[01:33] was really I mean obviously you know the

[01:37] news was discombobulated no one knew

[01:40] what was actually happening it was a

[01:41] very chaotic moment but but there was a

[01:44] brief period did where we were getting

[01:46] good reports from the hospital. And I

[01:48] don't know if you were how plugged in

[01:49] you were to that. I heard those.

[01:50] And so I, you know, I saw the initial

[01:52] video. I've only seen it that one time.

[01:54] I refused to watch it again. I don't

[01:55] want to see that happen to my friend

[01:57] ever again.

[01:58] But I initially thought, terrible,

[02:00] terrible news. And then I started to

[02:02] feel kind of hopeful. And then, of

[02:04] course, we got the news from Mike that

[02:06] Charlie had passed probably about an

[02:07] hour before the rest of the world found

[02:09] out. And I was the person who walked

[02:10] into the Oval Office and said, "Mr.

[02:12] president. Um, I'm sorry, but Charlie

[02:14] passed and that was a very very tough

[02:16] moment. You Susie Wilds, the White House

[02:18] chief of staff, was was in tears and she

[02:20] doesn't show emotion. You know, she is

[02:22] even kill the whole way and she was in

[02:24] tears and I just gave Susie a hug and I

[02:26] think all of us kind of lost it and it

[02:27] felt like, you know, it felt like we

[02:30] were all mourning our friend before any

[02:31] of the politics or the thought about,

[02:34] you know, what a tighten he was and how

[02:35] influential he was to the movement. How

[02:37] do we possibly replace him? We were all

[02:39] just sad because our friend had died and

[02:41] uh we supported each other in that

[02:42] moment as you do with your friends but

[02:44] man it was a bad bad day

[02:46] when you told the president Charlie was

[02:48] dead. How did he take it?

[02:51] You know the president is very stoic. Um

[02:54] but he was clearly upset. He just kind

[02:56] of went quiet and let it absorb a little

[03:00] bit and then just shook his hand head

[03:02] and said, "Man, he is uh he was a good

[03:06] guy and we really loved him." And that's

[03:08] exactly right. That was a good thing to

[03:10] say. And we all just kind of had that

[03:12] same realization that he was a good

[03:14] friend, that he really loved what we

[03:16] were trying to do. He was a great

[03:17] supporter of ours and it was a great

[03:20] honor to have him both as a friend and

[03:22] as a supporter. And frankly, I mean,

[03:23] Jesse, I would not be the vice president

[03:25] of United States were it not for Charlie

[03:27] Kirk. Aside from Donald Trump, I can't

[03:29] think of a single person who deserves

[03:30] more credit, who advocated more for me

[03:33] both in my Senate primary back in 2021,

[03:36] who advocated more for me to be the

[03:38] nominee as vice president, who advocated

[03:40] more for us to get in there, not just

[03:43] advocacy, but effective action and

[03:46] organization. I wouldn't be the vice

[03:48] president. I wouldn't have this job

[03:49] without Charlie Kirk, and I'll never

[03:50] forget it. Do you believe the people out

[03:53] in the country should watch the video? I

[03:55] know it's very hard to stomach.

[03:57] Yeah.

[03:57] Is it important for people to process

[04:00] it?

[04:01] Look, I I go back and forth on it. I

[04:03] mean, look, it's my friend and it's

[04:05] incredibly gruesome. And what what I

[04:08] think is is maybe it's it's useful for

[04:10] everybody to see it one time because

[04:12] then you see what they did to Charlie

[04:13] Kirk, but I don't want anybody to

[04:16] remember Charlie Kirk and that 5 seconds

[04:18] at the end of his life. I wanted to

[04:20] remember Charlie Kirk, the skilled

[04:22] debater. I wanted to remember those

[04:23] videos, those incredible videos of him

[04:25] and his wife and his babies and how much

[04:27] he loved Erica and how much he loved

[04:29] those kids. I wanted to remember Charlie

[04:30] for that. I wanted to remember Charlie

[04:32] for the guy for when it was these kids

[04:35] behind me. Now, I hate to call you guys,

[04:36] but you are. You know, who who would a

[04:38] progressive would would step up to the

[04:40] microphone at a Turning Points USA event

[04:43] and some of the audience would jeer and

[04:45] cheer and Charlie would said, "No, no,

[04:46] let him speak." because he so

[04:47] desperately believed in this idea that

[04:49] we should be talking with and debating

[04:51] one another. So maybe see the video to

[04:54] understand what the far-left did to

[04:57] Charlie Kirk. Absolutely. But that

[04:59] should be one fraction of 1% of your

[05:02] memory of Charlie Kirk. 99.9% of it

[05:05] should be a titan of the conservative

[05:06] movement, a beloved friend, and a dear

[05:09] husband and father.

[05:10] You brought the casket on Air Force 2

[05:12] back to Erica, his wife, to Arizona. Uh,

[05:16] what was that like delivering that to

[05:18] her?

[05:19] Oh man, I I'm going to try to keep it

[05:21] together here. One, it was a great

[05:22] honor. You know, as sad and as

[05:25] heartbreaking and as difficult as it was

[05:27] emotionally, I just kept on thinking

[05:29] what an incredible thing it is to be

[05:32] able to take my friend back to Phoenix,

[05:34] to be able to take his wife and his

[05:35] family, to be able to provide some just

[05:38] basic support and friendship in in their

[05:41] moment of grief. What an honor to be

[05:42] invited into Erica's, you know, inner

[05:45] circle in that moment of terrible grief.

[05:47] And uh it was it was tough though, man.

[05:50] I I mean, I've still, and I think that

[05:52] this is a pretty common thing when

[05:53] you're grieving somebody you love. I I

[05:55] had this moment a couple of days ago

[05:57] where I whip out my phone, I type in

[06:00] Charlie Kirk on Signal, I get halfway

[06:02] through a text message before I realize

[06:05] he's not here anymore and nobody's going

[06:07] to receive this message. And that that

[06:09] thing was so much more true in the 20

[06:13] hours after he had died. And you could

[06:15] see that I mean I I don't want to reveal

[06:17] too much about the conversation we had

[06:18] with Charlie and his family, but we were

[06:20] all kind of going through these hills

[06:22] and valleys together of, "Oh my god, I

[06:24] can't believe he's gone." But then just

[06:26] telling stories and laughing and hugging

[06:28] and it was it was an amazing experience,

[06:32] but it was very sad. And it just gave me

[06:34] this sense of resolve that they put

[06:37] Charlie in this box. They put him in

[06:40] this box for doing the most American

[06:42] thing possible, which is debating and

[06:45] talking to people, even the people,

[06:47] maybe especially the people with whom

[06:48] you disagree. And we cannot let this

[06:52] incredible legacy get extinguished by an

[06:54] assassin. uh another a couple of the

[06:57] people that traveled with us. It was it

[06:59] was Charlie's family and it was his wife

[07:00] and his parents and his sister. All

[07:02] incredibly kind people. But there were

[07:04] also a couple of Charlie's dear friends,

[07:06] people who were involved in TPUSA. And

[07:08] you know what? Every single person both

[07:10] in turning points, but also Erica said

[07:13] is we cannot let this die with Charlie.

[07:16] That was her main wish. And of course,

[07:17] I've talked to her since then. I'll see

[07:19] her on Sunday at the funeral in Arizona.

[07:22] She really wants this incredible not

[07:24] just mission and organization, but

[07:26] really a movement that Charlie Kirk

[07:28] built to keep on going long after he's

[07:30] gone. I think that's the best way that

[07:33] we can honor him is to honor her wishes

[07:35] and to keep Charlie's memory alive.

[07:37] He touched so many people, especially

[07:38] young people. Yes. And as a strong

[07:40] Christian,

[07:42] will that be part of his legacy?

[07:44] Bringing people closer to God.

[07:46] I think it has to be part of his legacy.

[07:48] I mean, how many people did I talked to

[07:50] in the last week who said, "Yeah, I'm a

[07:52] Christian, but I haven't been to church

[07:53] in 3 years, 3 months, I went to church

[07:55] this Sunday to pray for Charlie." Or how

[07:58] many people did I speak to who said, you

[08:00] know, I was kind of an agnostic, an

[08:01] atheist, but I'm kind of interested in

[08:03] this God thing because this guy really

[08:06] believed that he gave his life for it.

[08:08] If we are true to Charlie's memory, the

[08:11] number one thing that people will

[08:12] remember about Charlie Kirk is that he

[08:14] was a great advocate for the Christian

[08:15] faith. He was thoughtful. I mean, I

[08:17] remember talking to Charlie even in the

[08:19] last months before he died about

[08:21] Catholicism and Protestantism and all of

[08:24] these different minutia of the Christian

[08:26] faith because you I said this, he loved

[08:29] God and because he loved God, he wanted

[08:31] to understand God and so he was

[08:32] constantly thinking about it. But more

[08:34] importantly than that, he was constantly

[08:36] going out and talking about it. Like you

[08:38] look at these Turning Points USA events

[08:40] and you look at the interactions he was

[08:42] having with people and people would say,

[08:43] "Why are you a Christian?" and he would

[08:45] say, "Well, because I'm a sinner and

[08:46] Jesus saved me. Jesus saved my life." He

[08:49] wanted to be a true evangelist in in the

[08:53] truest sense of the word, in the way

[08:54] that St. Paul was an evangelist. And I

[08:56] think that has to be part of his legacy.

[08:58] And I've seen just in my own inner

[09:01] circle, people come back to the church

[09:04] purely because Charlie's death caused

[09:08] something inside them to stir. I would

[09:11] love to see that happen all over our

[09:12] country, and I think it is. That's why

[09:14] it feels like it's a spiritual attack.

[09:16] Yes. That evil showed its face. Do you

[09:19] believe that evil is out there and we

[09:21] have to confront it?

[09:22] You know, I I've always believed that

[09:25] history makes a lot more sense when you

[09:27] both believe in God and follow God, but

[09:30] accept that the devil is real. And I

[09:32] think that evil is very much a real

[09:34] thing. It has a will. It has a a very

[09:39] it has an evil and very negative

[09:43] purpose, but it also clearly has people

[09:45] who are trying to accomplish that

[09:47] purpose. I think in the spiritual realm,

[09:48] but also in the realm that we live in

[09:50] every single day, too. So, yes, I I

[09:53] believe that one of the takeaways of

[09:54] Charlie's death and of Charlie's life is

[09:57] that speaking the truth, what is the

[10:00] devil? What is evil if not the opposite

[10:02] of truth and the opposite of life? They

[10:04] tried to extinguish Charlie's truth and

[10:06] extingu extinguish Charlie's life. We

[10:08] cannot let them. And that is one of the

[10:10] great if you look at the 2,000 years of

[10:13] the Christian faith. One of the great

[10:15] lessons is that each of us have our role

[10:17] to play. Each of us have a a particular

[10:20] part of the race to run. We each have

[10:23] something that we have to do. And then

[10:25] God calls us home and it's on to the

[10:27] next man. We are all the next man in

[10:30] that great journey for as long as God

[10:31] gives us the ability to be that next

[10:33] man. People are celebrating Charlie's

[10:35] killing. It's

[10:36] disgusting.

[10:36] They're saying he deserves to die. How

[10:39] do you wrap your head around that?

[10:40] Well, one way you wrap your head around

[10:42] it is disgusting evil. What kind of

[10:44] person looks at a grieving young mother

[10:47] at two beautiful young kids and feels a

[10:50] certain sense of celebration? And I

[10:51] actually think I don't know if it's a

[10:53] couple people, I don't know if it's

[10:55] thousands of people, but I would ask you

[10:57] if you were the kind of person who feels

[10:59] joy at the death of a grieving mother

[11:02] and grieving children, what bad

[11:05] decisions have led you to where you are

[11:07] today? And why don't you get back on the

[11:09] right path? I really believe that there

[11:10] are people who recognize that the joy

[11:12] that they're feeling, the celebration

[11:14] they're feeling at Charlie's death is

[11:16] evidence of evil within them, and they

[11:19] have to extinguish that evil. I I I I

[11:20] think that and and I've even seen some

[11:22] social media posts where people have

[11:24] said, you know, I was feeling kind of

[11:26] good about this guy dying and now I

[11:28] realize that meant there was something

[11:29] wrong in me. That's another way I think

[11:32] that God is speaking to people through

[11:34] Charlie's death is these incredibly evil

[11:36] people celebrating it. We're seeing it.

[11:38] We're seeing that evil in the public eye

[11:41] for all to see. But I also think people

[11:43] are turning away from that evil because

[11:44] they recognize that it is so opposite of

[11:47] everything good and true and righteous

[11:50] in the world.

[11:50] If these evil people don't repent and

[11:53] continue to revel in the murder, what

[11:56] should be the consequence?

[11:57] Well, look, I think the consequence

[11:58] should be, by the way, justice exists

[12:01] for both the people who repent and ask

[12:03] forgiveness. Justice also exists for

[12:05] people who don't repent and don't ask

[12:06] for forgiveness. I really do hope that

[12:09] the person who murdered Charlie Kirk

[12:11] eventually accepts that what he did was

[12:13] evil and terrible, but we still got to

[12:15] have justice anyway. And I think that

[12:17] for the people who are celebrating

[12:18] Charlie Kirk, look, we have a first

[12:20] amendment in this country. The first

[12:22] amendment protects a lot of very ugly

[12:24] speech. But if you celebrate Charlie's

[12:26] Kirk, Charlie Kirk's death, you should

[12:28] not be protected from being fired for

[12:30] being a disgusting person. If you're a

[12:33] university professor who benefits from

[12:34] American tax dollars, you should not be

[12:37] celebrating Charlie Kirk's death. And if

[12:39] you are, maybe you should lose your job

[12:41] or your university should should face a

[12:43] loss of funding. If you are the kind of

[12:46] person who thinks that Charlie Kirk was

[12:48] justifiably murdered, sometimes the

[12:51] government can't do anything about that.

[12:52] But you know what can is is civil

[12:54] society. And I've actually been

[12:56] gratified to see all these people

[12:57] standing up and saying, "Yes, we have

[13:00] free speech and yes, we have free

[13:02] debate, but if you're if you're

[13:03] celebrating the death of a young father,

[13:05] you ought to pay some consequences for

[13:07] it." And the American people are rising

[13:09] up against that evil. It's a great thing

[13:11] to see. So the Democrats in the media

[13:13] are preaching unity. They're saying

[13:16] there's an equal amount of violence on

[13:17] both sides and we need to all just lower

[13:20] the temperature and come together. You

[13:22] say it's statistically absolutely

[13:26] bonkers. The idea that left-wing

[13:28] violence and right-wing wing violence in

[13:30] 2025 in America are equal. It's

[13:32] preposterous. The statistics don't bear

[13:34] it out. Jesse, you look, you ask how

[13:36] many what percentage of political

[13:38] liberals believe that political violence

[13:40] is sometimes justified. It's about 1

[13:42] in4. If you ask young conservatives that

[13:45] same question, it's about 1 in 25, which

[13:47] by the way is still too high. It should

[13:49] be zero. But the problem is much bigger

[13:51] and much more malignant on the far left.

[13:53] You know, I saw something. Maybe it was

[13:54] the ADL or one of these ridiculous

[13:56] organizations that said that right-wing

[13:58] violence is as common as left-wing

[14:00] violence. And then you go and look at

[14:01] the data and you say, "What is it that

[14:03] you're causing right-wing violence?" One

[14:05] of the things that they called

[14:06] right-wing violence is literally a gang

[14:10] of black Americans beating up on a

[14:12] Mexican guy. Well, yeah. If you

[14:13] categorize everything under the sun as

[14:15] right-wing violence, you can make your

[14:17] point for you. But that's BS. Nobody's

[14:20] buying it. Look at the way they're

[14:21] celebrating Charlie Kirk's murder. Look

[14:23] at the way that this assassin was

[14:25] radicalized by left-wing and probably

[14:27] transllated stuff. Look at the way that

[14:30] even if you're not committing an act of

[14:31] violence, you were supporting those who

[14:34] do. You see that so much more on the far

[14:36] left. And I'd wish my friends who are on

[14:38] the left would just look themselves in

[14:40] the mirror and accept that they have a

[14:41] problem. Yes, absolutely. By all means,

[14:44] let's take down the temperature. But if

[14:46] you want to take down the temperature

[14:48] and you're on the left of center, the

[14:49] first and most important thing you can

[14:51] do is look in the mirror.

[14:53] The media is now saying the assassin may

[14:56] have been MAGA.

[14:59] Why would they lie? Well, they would lie

[15:02] because they can't do that simple basic

[15:05] thing of looking themselves in the

[15:06] mirror. They can't admit that their

[15:08] radicalism and their craziness helped to

[15:11] cause this problem. Look, this is not in

[15:13] dispute. You talk to the shooter's

[15:15] mother. You talk to the shooter's

[15:16] father. You talk to the local district

[15:18] attorney. You talk to the FBI director

[15:20] or the deputy director of the FBI. You

[15:22] look at every ounce of evidence that we

[15:24] have and it is clear this is a person

[15:27] who grew up in in a pretty normal

[15:29] family. Actually had a pretty good home

[15:31] life who was radicalized by the far left

[15:34] by the social networks of the far left

[15:36] by the ideas of the far left and got so

[15:39] far down the path of radical

[15:41] radicalization that he killed my friend.

[15:44] That is not a both sides problem. My

[15:46] friend is dead because of left-wing

[15:48] political radicalization. And if you

[15:49] want to cut that out, then be honest

[15:51] about it and look yourself in the

[15:53] mirror. Excuse me. I know I shouldn't

[15:55] cuss on Fox News.

[15:56] That's okay. Click here to subscribe to

[15:58] the Fox News YouTube page to catch our

[16:01] hottest interviews and most compelling

[16:02] analysis. You won't get it anywhere

[16:04] else.