On Wednesday’s Mark Levin Show, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has passed away after being assassinated at an event at Utah Valley University. It’s a deeply sad and dark day. He was a young man with a wife and two baby girls. His only offense, apparently, was to engage and debate in a joyous way. He spent his life fighting for America and his legacy will never be silenced. We dedicate this show to Charlie and look back on his life and some of his interviews with Mark Levin.
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Conservative activist Charlie Kirk fatally shot in act of ‘political assassination’ at Utah college
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Mark Levin reacts to Charlie Kirk’s EPIC defense of Israel
The podcast for this show can be streamed or downloaded from the Audio Rewind page.
Rough transcription of Hour 1
Segment 1
So deeply sad day, so deeply dark day. Deeply. When a young man with a wife and two baby girls whose offense apparently is to engage debate challenge in a very happy and joyous way. To spend his young life fighting for his country. And the president he’s so loved and helped elect is assassinated. In broad daylight in front of several thousand students. The reports are a high powered rifle. At a long distance. One shot. There’s going to be some kind of a press event soon as it appears we will go right to it. You know, I’m looking at the texts that Charlie would text and. Really a sweetheart. He was a. A man of deep, deep faith. He was. A truly faithful Christian. He loved America. He loved our founding. He loved our history. He loved his audience. He loved intellectual challenges. He dropped out of college, rushed, dropped out of college. And yet he’s one of the smartest people you could know. We are going to play. In his honor. An interview I did of Charlie. On Fox, on Life, Liberty and Levin for the full hour when his book came out. And. He couldn’t stop praising me for having him on. He. He was so. What? What’s the word? The guy didn’t have an ego. He didn’t have an ego. And, you know, it’s a strange thing. I, I have to go back and I look at the last texts and emails I had with Rush. And. Let’s see here. You know, I was looking at these just before the show and Charlie Kirk. And after the bombing of Iran, where we had a slight disagreement and he texted me, okay. You were right. Can we now join together in support of the president? He wrote My wife and me. He said 100%. You got it, buddy. Sweetheart. He just are just a sweetheart. Sends me a text out of the blue on July 26th when we. We did a show on Fox on Obama and what we uncovered, I hear on the radio and he writes, I love this flack flashback episode you’re airing. So very good with them. And Tulsi Gabbard came out with information. I said, Thank you, my friend. I think we’ll see you in studio tomorrow. This is when my book was coming out. He said, Yes, I look forward to it. I want to get you back on my show about your book. I need to read it because it just came out. I said, thank you. And, you know, just congratulations on your book. Just just, you know, he’s busy, young man, but never too busy when Dennis Prager had his accident. He got out of the shower and fell and hit the back of his head. On the bathtub. I don’t know if I ever mentioned the specifics. He’s the one who called me horrified. Incredibly upset, broken that Dennis Prager. We all were. But. Was paralyzed. Went to see him at the hospital. Kept me apprised of progress. Condition. Charlie did Well, we would do events for Kerala, Salem. At a loss in Los Angeles. He always sat next to me. You know, I always say next to me because we would crack jokes to each other constantly. Crack jokes. Yeah. And. Let’s see here. I’m not going to read everything here because some of it’s personal. Are the legal issues. He saw something I posted. He said, Need your wisdom on how we counter these injunctions. I’m at a loss. It’s a major, major issue. I posted a photo. A little video Doro had taken was on December 22nd, Sunday at President Trump’s club in Florida. Charlie was to the right of me, president to the left, to me, Judge Jeanine to the left of him. He was having a blast. And he was talking about who we need in this Cabinet position or that Cabinet position and trying to enlist me. Hey, I’m having dinner with you and the president tonight. We’re going to make a push for a fill in the blank for filling a blank position. If you can say some good things, that would be awesome. November 14th. Hey, Dennis just moved his foot voluntarily. That’s a good sign. Listen to this, Rich. Because I said, How is he doing? And he would send other things where he was, you know, where he was enlisting me in in one battle or another, but always so pleasant. He wanted us to help in Nebraska, the Electoral College there. He was always looking for ways to advance the cause of liberty, always looking for ways to try and get President Trump elected to influence college campuses. He came under attack by the left, of course, as being anti-Muslim. We came to his defense here. You heard about that. Very kind of you. Thank you. Mark means a lot. Just a very, very good man. President posted. I posted what he did. I’m sure the President. Is deeply upset. I guarantee it. I guarantee you. They were Shabbat dinners. Some attorney popped up saying because Charlie wanted to have them. And any would wear a keeper. A Jamaica. And we met his beautiful wife, Erica, several times. A tweet here from Charlie. Trying to see the data on this. I can’t. I want to hear this, Mr. Producer. Assassination culture spreading on the left. This is Charlie Kirk. 48% of liberals say it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Elon Musk. 55% said the same about Donald Trump. In California, activists are naming ballot measures after Luigi Mangione. The left is being whipped up into a violent frenzy. Any setback with a losing an election or losing a court case justifies a maximally violent response. This is the natural outgrowth of left wing protest culture, tolerating violence and mayhem for years on end. The cowardice of local prosecutors and school officials have turned the left. In the ticking time bombs. April seven, actually 2025. My God, Was he right? Absolutely incredible. Now. Not just in the United States. Charlie’s impact was felt around the world. This is from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Charlie Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom. A lionhearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization. I spoke to him only two weeks ago and invited him to Israel. Sadly, now that visit will not take place. We lost an incredible human being. His boundless pride in America and his valiant belief in free speech will leave a lasting impact. Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk. Yep. In. We’ll be right back.
Segment 2
We lost an extraordinary human being and patriot today, murdered by an assassin’s bullet. But Charlie’s legacy will never, ever be silenced. He touched an influence not a few or a few thousands, but hundreds of thousands. And it’s true. I knew him well over the years. I made a very good time. Intellectually in terms of opinion. We were together during Salem Radio across all events. I had them on TV and radio. I attended a few of his TP USA events. He was a fan of my books. Like to talk about him. He was a delight. Always curious, happy, joyous. Social. Articulate. When we had a disagreement. Again, the bombing of Iran is he was different than the rest. Civil. Thoughtful. And we rarely had a disagreement. He loved Israel. But he would always circle back and wanted to make sure we were all good. Of course, we always were even thank me for doing things for him that in my mind were no big deal but to him deserved a mention. I know we all truly feel sick about this. For you and me. This one seems a lot different, doesn’t it? For those of us who knew him and those who feel like you knew him personally, which are many of you, because that’s the way he was. This is this is this is unimaginable. And the assassin who murdered him is still on the run. And again, as soon as we have the. Beginning of the press briefing. We will go immediately there. Mr. Producer, let the affiliates know that we may have to blow our brakes. Are you able to do that or are we too late for that? Okay. I don’t see anything happening yet. But I say to to shoot somebody from that distance 200 yards. With a rifle. One bullet. They kill shot. In the neck in. No, I won’t watch that video. I’m not going to watch it. It popped up my wife’s heart. She. She was almost hysterical. She was even closer to Charlie than I was, and I was very close to him. Utah Valley University vice President Val Peterson, who’s been in touch with President Meadows. And then we’ll hear from Governor Cox, took the time over to Mr. Mason. For everyone. I’m Bob Mason, commissioner for the Utah Department of Public Safety. Today, the approximately 1220 Mountain Standard Time Politico influencer, Charlie Kirk, was shot in an event at the Utah Valley University. He was taken by private vehicle to his hospital where he later passed. The Utah Department of Public Safety will be co-leading this criminal investigation to find this killer, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We’re working in unison with the county sheriff’s office, the local police department and the university police department, all of which have been very cooperative and fully engaged in this process. We will blow out this break. Affiliates, we’re going to go out with this press. We have a suspect in custody, George Zinn. But he was released from custody after we identified that he did not match the shooting suspect and was not an accurate person of interest. However, he has been booked into the county jail by Utah Valley University Police Department for obstruction of justice. We do still have an active investigation for the person of interest. This incident occurred with a large crowd around. There was one shot fired at once, one victim. While the suspect is at large. We believe this was a targeted attack towards one individual. This is a tragic moment in our state and in our country. As we here, we encourage everyone who is struggling with the news of the incident to call 980 our state mental health crisis crisis line. In addition to that, our partners with the FBI will also be discussing other ways we can communicate through the public for tips and other information. Thank you. An afternoon. On behalf of the FBI, we extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. Our thoughts are also with the people who witnessed this traumatic event. We know that you what you experienced was very difficult. Our thoughts are with you as well. As soon as we heard about the shooting, special agents and personnel from the Salt Lake Field office responded immediately. We have full resources devoted to this investigation, including tactical, operational, investigative and intelligence. To be clear, the FBI will fully support and co-lead this investigation alongside with our partners. We are working on setting up a digital media tip line. And as soon as it’s established, we’ll get that information out to everyone. I know there’s a lot of questions. This is very much an active case and this investigation is in its early stages. We are following all the leads and all the evidence. If anyone has any information, please report it to the FBI or local law enforcement. Thank you. On behalf of President Truman is who we’ve been communicating with, and she’s on her way back right now. I will say that on behalf of Utah Valley University, we are shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Charlie Kirk. We express our sincere condolences to the current family. We grieve with our students, faculty and staff who were witness to this unspeakable tragedy. He was invited by the student group Turning Point USA to speak on our campus. We firmly believe that UVU is a place to share ideas and to debate openly and respectfully. Any attempt to infringe on those rights has no place here. We do not condone any form of violence at UVU and seek to make our campus a safe place for all. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us on this on this dark and tragic occasion. I want to thank our law enforcement officers who are leading this investigation, starting with Chief Long and and his his response here with the UVU Police Department. We’re grateful for your leadership and and your team. And again, to the speakers that you’ve just heard from who are co-leading this investigation. I also want to recognize Sheriff Mike Smith, who has been an invaluable partner as as this investigation moves forward. I’ve been in touch with with President Trump, with FBI Director Kash Patel. We are completely aligned with our state and federal partners as as we work through this case. Now, this is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation. And I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination. We are celebrating 250 years of the founding of this great nation. That founding document, the Declaration of Independence, that this this great experiment on which we embarked together 250 years ago. That we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. The first one of those is life. And today. The life was taken. Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a husband and a dad to young children. He was also very much politically involved, and that’s why he was here on campus. Charlie believed in the power of free speech and debate to shape ideas and to persuade people. Historically, our university campuses in this nation here in the state of Utah have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated. And that’s what he does. He comes on college campuses and he debates that is foundational to the formation of our country, to our most basic constitutional rights. And when someone takes the life of a person because of their ideas or their ideals, then that very constitutional foundation is threatened. Now we have a person of interest in custody. The investigation is ongoing. But I want to make it crystal clear right now to whoever did this. We will find you. We will try you and we will hold you accountable to the furthest extent of the law. And I just want to remind people that we still have the death penalty here in the state of Utah. Good. Our nation is broken. We’ve had political assassinations recently in Minnesota. We had an attempted assassination on the governor of Pennsylvania, and we had an attempted assassination on a presidential candidate and former president of the United States and now current president of the United States. Nothing I say can unite us as a country. Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken. Nothing I can say can bring back Charlie Kirk. Our hearts are broken. We mourn with his wife, his children, his family, his friends. We mourn as a nation. If anyone in the sound of my voice celebrated even a little bit at the news of this shooting, I would beg you to look in the mirror and to see if you can find a better angel in there somewhere. I don’t care what his politics are. I care that he was an American. We desperately need our country, desperately need leaders in our country. But more than the leaders, we just need every single person in this country to think about where we are and where we want to be. To ask ourselves, Is this. Is this it? Is this, what, 250 years is on us? I pray that that’s not the case. I pray that those who hated what Charlie Cook stood for will put down their social media and their pens and pray for his family, and that all of us, all of us will try to find a way to stop hating our fellow Americans. With that, we’re happy to take a few questions. The FBI director is posting that assumption that a suspect is in custody. I would just like clarification. Do you or do you not have a suspected shooter in custody? We have a person of interest in custody that is being interviewed right now. We do. And it’s not George Sam. That is not George. Sam. That is correct. Are you still searching for anyone looking for another shooter or anybody else for that matter? Yes. We are actively looking for anyone and everyone who has any any possible information relating to the shooting. Can you tell us details about the suspect being taken into custody where you know how long ago? We cannot at this point, but we will get you that information when when we can, because there are believed to be a second individual involved in the shooting. At this point, there is no information that would lead us to believe that there is a second person involved. We have someone as a possible shooter. We actually do want to talk about what we know there. The only information we have on the suspect, the possible shooter, is taken from closed circuit TV here on campus. We do have that. We’re analyzing it, but it is security camera footage. So you can you can kind of guess what the quality of that is. But we do know. Dressed in all all dark clothing, but we don’t have a much better description other than that name from the shot came from here on campus, from a location at a roof, potentially. From a roof? Yes. A longer distance shot from a roof. So clarify it with the security camera footage you have and the person of interest that’s in custody. Do those does that matter? That’s what we’re trying to decipher right now. So did FBI or DHS have anything on the threat for you this morning? I can’t speak. I’ll just say that investigations are ongoing, and as soon as we have further information, we will be sure to release it. Any indications of foreign intelligence involvement? As of now, I can’t comment on any of that. Can you talk a little bit about the security of the event itself? But who is there security wise and what happens on these kind of events? Sure. So my name is Jeff Long. I’m the police chief here at UVU. And I’ll tell you right now, we are devastated. We are a small, small police department. We have a very large campus. We have over 40,000 students. And we love our students and we love our visitors. And we’re devastated. What happened today. This is the police chief’s nightmare. I’m very saddened for the Kirk family. I know his his wife and parents found out about this. You know, obviously, he’s away from home. He’s here in Utah. They find out by police officer that this is their home. That’s tragic. Nobody wants that. But I can tell you about our venue today. This was an open venue. This is outside. We did have six officers working that event and we had probably over 3000 people that were in attendance. We sat down in kind of a bowl area here on the central campus. We have a waterfall area. And so he was kind of in a lower area surrounded by by buildings. You know, we had some plainclothes police officers that were in the crowd as well. You know, we train for these things and you think you you have things covered and you know, these things. And, you know, unfortunately, they happen. You try to get you try to get your bases covered. And unfortunately, today we didn’t. And because of that, we had this tragic incident. So we did have officers there. We had Charlie Kirk’s team. He has a security team that travels with him. And they were here with him when when he when he was shot with the. I’m sorry to see the weapon recovered. I at this point, I, I can’t disclose that I was shot. There was a question being asked about mass shooting. Was that person apprehended? And do you know who asked that question? That’s the question again. I don’t know. I understand. You’re saying when Charlie Kirk was shot, he was answering a question about mass shooting. Specifically, Was that person apprehended? And do you know who asked that question? I do not. We do not have that at this moment. What has happened? Ladies and gentlemen, we have time for just one more question. So thank you. You have a question for the chief as well. Was it your team or Kirk’s team or a combination of both that kind of set the security protocols for the event? So we worked together. You know, he has his team and they do this all the time. And we all know that this is not uncommon for them. They’re very comfortable on campuses. And I was coordinating with his lead security guy. And so we were working together. Was this a straight shooter type shot? No, it was this Ladies, gentlemen. That’s it. That’s it. Those are all the questions that will be answered today. Again, thank you for for covering this. We will be will be updating you as soon as we have additional information through through normal channels working with law enforcement. Again, our deepest condolences to the to the Kirk family and and the students who were who were there today. And I would I would just ask everyone everywhere to please pray for their family and and pray for our country. And we need it now more than ever. Thank you. Her boy. Well. I thought what we would do during the course of this program. And all the affiliates down the line. We will take the usual breaks from this point for it. Right, Mr. Producer? Is. Well, let me put it to you this way. Charlie loved not just to read books, but to write books. And I went back and listened to an interview I did with him June 20, 24, on radio about his book. And took a look at an interview I did with him on Life, Liberty and Live in March 2020 on his prior book. And I said, This really does shine such a bright light on such a bright life. So we’re going to start this. First radio. We’ll take our breaks and we will continue. Got plenty of time. And Charlie deserves all of our time. So this program. Is done in honor of. In memory of our friend Charlie Kirk. Why don’t we take a break down Mr. Produce and all affiliates, and then we’ll get started. We’ll be right back.
Segment 3
Charlie Kirk on radio with me June 2024 with his new book, Cut one Go and I get a lot of books America I read a lot of books. So I got just yesterday Charlie Kirk’s brand new book, Right Wing Revolution How to Beat the World Can Save the West. So I started reading it last night. I read it into this morning. I actually finished it. And I’ll tell you what is fantastic about this book. Charlie lays out a prescription for saving the country that would actually work. That would actually work. And it is so beautifully written in plain English. I’m Tanya. I moved right through the book. Charlie Kirk. How are you, my friend? I’m doing great. Mark, It’s a great honor that you read the book and you’re having me on, and you’ve been such a great advocate and friend for years. We always have your back and you’ve had mine. And thank you so much. The book is doing really well, and God bless you, my friend. Your Good Man is a great book. Right Wing Revolution How to Beat the World and Say, I’ll give you an example, America, this book is broken out very logically. What’s happened to America, you explains changing your own attitude. And he talks about things you need to do. And he’s so right about it. Changing the country and being willing to be yourself, that is stand up to what’s taking place here. So let’s go through this. Charlie Kirk We have two good long segments. So first you lay out, look, here’s the threat and this is what’s what. Give us a little synopsis of that. Yeah, absolutely, Mark. And, you know, part of what we talk about in this book is diagnosing the problem correctly. You know, a lot of people will use the term wokeism or wokeness, but they won’t be able to do that to define what woke actually is woke is complaining about an injustice until you control the institution. So it is complaining as a means to control. That is very important. It is about power. The American left is about power for powers sake and Wokeism and Marxism are interchangeable terms. And part of my book, Mark, was largely inspired by your masterpiece, American Marxism, and I felt the need to try to say that we need a counter revolution to this Marxist movement. Now, when I use the word revolution, some people in the conservative movement, they say I don’t like that term. And understandably they think about the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution. But we can you can you believe we lost this guy? Can you, Rich? Go ahead. We need a revolution back to our roots. A revolution that puts the people at the forefront and at the center. And one of the chapters that I really want to isolate is one that I think your audience will appreciate. Curing red state laziness. The amount of power that we have in the red states in this country and the lack of action is remarkable. For example, let’s take the state of Oklahoma. Oklahoma has 77 counties. Donald Trump won every single county in 2016. Every single county in 2020. State University. University of Oklahoma. Have some of the worst transgender critical race theory. Diversity, equity and inclusion. Taxpayer funded programs in the country. So it’s one thing to complain about Wokeism, but why are our red states subsidizing it? So we need to now say, wait a second, in the red state of the red part of this country, we’re not able to do what Ron DeSantis did in Florida, which is completely defund these universities and especially the CRT and DEA elements of it. And when you understand the woke or the Marxists, they do not give an inch. Wokeism is predatory. It is bureaucratic. Wokeism is also easily defeated If you don’t play their game. Their game is about a means of controlling you by weaponizing name calling. You’re a racist, you’re a sexist, you’re a misogynist, you’re a homophobe. Do not accept the terms of their debate. Dismiss it. Double down, triple down. And so what we articulate in this book and Marc, you’ve played a huge role in my intellectual formation for years, is that we, the people, deserve a true opposition party in this country that for far too long we have had the Vichy French Republicans and excuse the graphic nature of that, but it’s true. We’re the ruling class Republicans who do not represent their voters. And it is time for a revolutionary movement, first within the Republican Party and then within the country to counter this leviathan that is currently enveloping the West. Charlie Kirk was 30 last year, obviously 31. Soon to be 32. Listen to this man. Listen to this. Just fantastic human being. You know, you always have a little disagreements with your spouse and so forth. And so that’s irrelevant. That doesn’t matter. Funny thing about Charlie is you could discuss this. This guy did not have a angry bone in his body. He didn’t need to go to college. He quit college. And you can see why. All this stuff he knew. He’s thanking me for helping. It’s not me. It’s him. He was always thanking me. Charlie? No, it’s you. Charlie. Read the great ancient philosophers, the modern philosophers. He read history. He knew he could go toe to toe with anybody. Anybody? He was always trying to pursue the truth. An objective understanding of things. And he’d be the first to tell you sometimes he got it right, sometimes he got it wrong. But that’s what he was. He is the epitome of free speech, the epitome of curiosity and. Just a lovely human being. It’s going to be deeply, deeply missed. Think of all the decades. That he won’t be here to contribute. And think of his wife, Erica. And his two baby girls. His wife, Erica, and two baby girl. I’m not online today. Reading comments. I don’t want to read the comments. There’s too many sickos out there. But I read President Trump’s comments and some of the others. President Trump. Trump is a very compassionate human being. That’s why he’s trying to. Make our cities safe. Whatever it takes. National Guard. Ice. Wants to bring back the death penalty in many parts of the country that don’t have it. He wants to protect people. Obviously, I’ve not talked to the president or anybody else. People are grieving. But I assure you this one upsets. Last December, Christmas time. When we were at the Presidents Club, which I don’t go to often, Charlie sitting there and Judge Jeanine and the president. And many others, including my daughter, across the way. Music was playing. I will never forget this. Never. What a good time he was having. And never forget it. Be right back.
