He was 16, branded a racist pariah and forced into hiding… then Charlie Kirk FaceTimed him for 20 minutes and changed his life

A Republican teenager who was hurled into a cauldron of online hate in 2019 has revealed how Charlie Kirk helped him through it.

Nick Sandmann was 16 when a video went viral of his encounter with a Native American man on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

The teenager was attending a pro-life March for Life when he was filmed standing close to another protestor, who was part of a separate Indigenous Peoples March.

When Sandmann smiled at the man while wearing a MAGA hat, liberals accused him of harassment and racism. 

The video was viewed by millions and as an ugly online left-wing online mob formed, Sandmann was forced to stay out of school and his family had to live with friends for their safety. 

The youngster explained he had been smiling respectfully to defuse a potentially tense situation, and later settled lawsuits with a series of major media outlets over their reporting of the incident. One former CNN anchor had suggested he had a ‘punchable face.’

But amid the storm, one of the first people to reach out was Kirk, the conservative activist who was assassinated earlier this month.

Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA, sought out Sandmann’s phone number and called him on FaceTime for around 20 minutes.

Sandmann, now 23, told the Daily Mail: ‘At the time, I wasn’t even staying in my own house because we had security issues and stuff, and so I just kind of remember being pretty stressed out, not having anywhere to go. 

‘He was one of the first people to get my contact info and reach out to me and be supportive.

‘He definitely urged me to continue fighting, and let me know that people cared about me in that situation and what was going on.

‘I think in those early moments I was completely kind of shut off from the rest of the world and my friends and a lot of people. And so I would say him reaching out was very reassuring for me, to know that there were people out there that cared and knew the truth of the situation.’

At the time of the incident, Sandmann had been in Washington with fellow students from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky, for the March for Life.

After the demonstration, he purchased and donned a red MAGA cap.

While on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with other students he was seen smiling without saying anything.

Omaha Native American political activist, Nathan Phillips, was participating in a separate Indigenous Peoples March, playing a drum and singing.

After the video of the interaction between went viral, both Sandmann and Phillips said they had been trying to defuse tensions among groups holding competing demonstrations.

Six years later, Sandmann, now 23, said the call from Kirk had helped strengthen his political convictions.

Since then, he has moved to Washington and now works for the Republican Party in Congress.

Some people still recognize him, but Sandmann said he hasn’t had any negative interactions.

‘I think everybody up here has been professional. I enjoy where I’m at, and I enjoy helping be a small cog in our majority and what we do up here, and learning more about how the federal government operates, and what we’re trying to deliver,’ he said.

On September 10, Kirk, 31, was assassinated while holding an event on a university campus in Utah.

‘I was devastated,’ Sandmann said. ‘I probably found out within the first 10 minutes of there being reports online.

‘There was a lot of shock and I was just kind of glued to social media while he was hospitalized. It was so out of the blue and shocking.

‘I think that he was definitely an embodiment of American values.’

Sandmann described how he had been part of a speech and debate club at school, which he believed was trying to accomplish similar goals as Kirk.

‘The whole idea was to bring together liberals and conservatives and people with different viewpoints to talk about these issues in the same way that he would.

‘I just kind of see him as the embodiment of the values we’re supposed to have.’

Writing on X, Sandmann thanked Kirk for offering him ‘friendship and comfort’ in 2019.

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump praised Kirk as a ‘great American hero’ as 200,000 people gathered in Arizona to mourn the conservative activist.

‘He’s a martyr now for America’s freedom,’ Trump said in his tribute. ‘I know I speak for everyone here today when I say that none of us will ever forget Charlie. And neither now will history.’

Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, said in her own address: ‘My husband, Charlie, he wanted to save young men just like the one who took his life.’

Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with killing Kirk and faces the death penalty if convicted of the most serious charges. 

‘I forgive him,’ Erika said.