Erika Kirk said on Sunday that she forgave her husband’s suspected assassin, explaining that she believed he would do so as well.
Speaking at the memorial service for her late husband, conservative commentator and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, she told the massive crowd that Charlie’s greatest wish was to help save young men — young men just like the one who ultimately ended his life.
WATCH:
Erika Kirk forgives the man who murdered her husband:
“My husband Charlie…he wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life…that young man…
I forgive him.
I forgive him because it was what Christ did and is what Charlie would do.” pic.twitter.com/Pd1yGRMRVw
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) September 21, 2025
“That young man, that young man,” she said. “On the cross, our savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That man, that young man, I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and is what Charlie would do. The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know, from the Gospel, is love and always love.”
Kirk also shared details of the first moments after she’d learned she’d been widowed — in a recent interview published early on Sunday by The New York Times, and she said that she’d needed to “see what they did” to her husband’s body.
“With all due respect,” Ms. Kirk told the sheriff who escorted her to the hospital, despite his warning attempting to dissuade her from viewing the body, “I want to see what they did to my husband.”
“His eyes were semi-open,” Ms. Kirk said of her husband, noting that she was somewhat surprised by how he appeared. “And he had this knowing, Mona Lisa-like half-smile. Like he’d died happy. Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven.”
She told the same story from the stage at her husband’s memorial service on Sunday afternoon, adding a few details about the moment she saw him.
WATCH:
Wow.
ERIKA KIRK: “[I looked] directly at my husband’s murdered body. I saw the wound that ended his life…But there was something else. Even in death, I could see the man that I love. I saw the one, single grey hair on the side of his head, which I never told him about. Now he… pic.twitter.com/aYngTxITFN
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 21, 2025
“[I looked] directly at my husband’s murdered body. I saw the wound that ended his life,” she explained. “But there was something else. Even in death, I could see the man that I love. I saw the one, single grey hair on the side of his head, which I never told him about. Now he knows. Sorry baby, I’m telling you now.”
“I also saw on his lips the faintest smile. And that told me something important. It revealed to me a great mercy from God in this tragedy. When I saw that, it told me Charlie didn’t suffer,” Kirk added. “Even the doctor told me – it was something so instant … One moment Charlie was doing what he loved, arguing and debating … he blinked … and saw his savior in paradise.”
