Donald Trump Told Charlie Kirk He Had a ‘Good Shot’ at Being President Before His Assassination

President Donald Trump ended his official state visit to the United Kingdom on Thursday, Sept. 18, by meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The two leaders talked about their countries’ new agreement on artificial intelligence technology and then answered questions from the press about various current events.

Early in the press conference, Trump thanked British citizens who had offered condolences after the death of Charlie Kirk, who was shot during a political speaking event on a college campus on Sept. 10. He was 31.

“Just last week, a great American, Charlie Kirk, was heinously assassinated for speaking his mind,” Trump said. “He related to youth, and they’re devastated.”

Kirk became well-known after co-founding Turning Point at 18 to promote conservative politics on high school and college campuses. In recent years, he became a major figure in the Republican Party, especially among young voters.

Kirk’s podcast was downloaded between 500,000 and 750,000 times each day, according to a 2024 report, and he often went viral for his debates with liberal students at colleges across the country.

This popularity led many to wonder if he might run for office in the future. Trump said he encouraged him.

“I told him, ‘Charlie, you have a good shot someday at being president,’ ” Trump revealed on Thursday.

Kirk’s wife, Erika, spoke publicly about his murder on Sept. 12. “Charlie always said that when he was gone, he wanted to be remembered for his courage and for his faith,” she said.

She also shared some insight into her late husband’s political plans.

“He told me, if he ever did run for office, that his top priority would be to revive the American family,” Erika said. Plans are being made for Kirk’s American Comeback Tour to continue this fall without him.

“I honestly have no idea what any of this means. I know that God does, but I don’t,” she added. “All the evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done.”

The press conference was the last official event of Trump’s second state visit to the U.K. after he was welcomed by King Charles and Queen Camilla the day before.

During a state dinner on Wednesday at Windsor Castle, Trump and King Charles praised each other in front of 160 guests.

King Charles spoke about the “special” relationship between the two countries. “I cannot help but wonder what our forebears from 1776 would make of this friendship today,” he joked, noting that President George Washington and Charles’ “five times great-grandfather,” King George III, had harsh words for each other during the American Revolution.

“Today, however, we celebrate a relationship between our two countries that surely neither Washington nor King George III could possibly have imagined,” he added.

The King also celebrated Trump’s British roots and his success in building two golf courses in Scotland, where his mother was from. “I understand that British soil makes for rather splendid golf courses!”

Trump thanked the royals for their warm welcome during his second state visit, calling it “truly one of the highest honors of my life.”