Trump scraps Rose Garden dinner in wake of death of Charlie Kirk as 9/11 schedule remains uncertain
President Donald Trump scrapped a Wednesday night dinner in ‘The Rose Garden Club’ after the horrific murder of prominent conservative Charlie Kirk.
The White House’s backyard remained quiet a little after 7 p.m., when the dinner had been scheduled.
Additionally, the White House sent reporters home, though the president posted a four-minute Oval Office address to his Truth Social network a little before 9 p.m.
It was Trump who announced Kirk’s death, after the 31-year-old was slain by a shot in the neck at an event he was headlining at a Utah college.
Afterward, Trump called for the country’s flags to be flown at half-staff to honor Kirk’s memory.
All three of the White House’s prominent flags were quickly lowered.
A ‘person of interest’ was said to be in custody in connection with Kirk’s shooting, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox announced Wednesday evening.
However, they were later released, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed.
President Donald Trump (left) was originally scheduled to hold a 7 p.m. dinner in ‘The Rose Garden Club’ but the backyard remains quiet in the hours after prominent conservative Charlie Kirk (right) was shot and killed at an event in Utah
On Friday, the president held his first successful meeting of ‘The Rose Garden Club,’ inviting several dozen Republican lawmakers to enjoy the new patio he built in what had previously been grass in the middle of the White House Rose Garden
‘The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement. Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency,’ Patel said in a statement.
Kirk’s death will likely darken what is already expected to be a somber day on Thursday.
The president is scheduled to head to the Pentagon to mark the 24th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.
Vice President J.D. Vance will appear at New York’s Ground Zero memorial service.
Trump’s schedule later in the day was expected to be more lighthearted.
The president was to travel to New York and appear at Yankee Stadium for a game between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers.
So far, Trump’s schedule hasn’t been modified and it wasn’t immediately clear if Kirk’s death would have an impact on his plans for Sept. 11.
Attendees heading to the Yankees game were already expected to have to go through enhanced security measures due to Secret Service being on-site and the security level may be raised further due to what has already been labeled by officials as a ‘political assassination.’
President Donald Trump made no public appearances on Wednesday but ordered flags to be flown at half-staff. The three flags at the White House, including the two large ones that Trump installed, were quickly lowered
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether Trump’s security would be beefed up in the wake of the Kirk shooting.
Trump survived a similar assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
The gunman’s bullet whizzed by the now-president’s ear. With a fist-pump in the air for the ages, he famously survived and went on to win re-election.
Kirk was the head of Turning Point USA, a group aimed at getting young Americans interested in conservatism.
He was a close friend of the president and the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and hosted droves of MAGA heavyweights at his TPUSA events over the years.
Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, credited Kirk for building and fostering the MAGA movement in 2016.
‘Charlie represented the best of MAGA. Firm in his beliefs, compassionate, curious, and respectful. He had huge allotments of courage, charisma and character,’ Kushner posted.
‘He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us,’ Trump wrote about Kirk on Truth Social Wednesday afternoon.
