Will Charlie Kirk's death stir further political violence?
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 September 2025
⏱️ 232 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The widow of Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political activist in the US, says she will never let his legacy die. She said her cries would echo around the world like a battle cry. Charlie Kirk was President Donald Trump's bridge to young Republicans. We ask if his death is likely to aggravate political tension in the US? Also in the programme: a Qatari official, Majed Al Ansari, tells the BBC that his country remains on high alert as the government cannot rule out another Israeli strike; and the three Austrian nuns who refuse to stay in their old peoples' home.
Photo: Charlie Kirk with his wife, Erika Kirk, celebrating Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., in January Credit: Getty
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello to you. Welcome to Newtower from the BBC World Service coming to you live from London. I'm Sean Lay. In the United States, Erica Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, the prominent conservative political activist who was shot dead during a public event in Utah on Wednesday, says her grief will become a battle cry across America. |
| 0:23.6 | As police questioned 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the suspect who was turned into the authorities by his own father, |
| 0:29.8 | Erica Kirk spoke from the offices of Turning Point USA, the Conservative organisation founded by her late husband. |
| 0:36.7 | In a passionate, sometimes tearful address, Mrs. Kirk said the movement would not die with him. |
| 0:42.6 | The evildoers responsible for my husband's assassination have no idea what they have done. |
| 0:50.3 | They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith, and of God's merciful love. |
| 0:58.2 | If you thought that my husband's mission was powerful before, you have no idea what you just have |
| 1:05.4 | unleashed across this entire country. You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this |
| 1:14.5 | widow will echo around the world like a battle cry. There's mounting anger on the right about the |
| 1:20.8 | killing, including among supporters of Donald Trump. The president credited Charlie Kirk with an outreach |
| 1:25.7 | operation that helped him attract young voters. |
| 1:28.4 | Evidence amassed during the investigation included a cartridge case he marked, |
| 1:32.4 | hey fascist catch. |
| 1:34.0 | Conservatives say political name-calling leading to violence is a strategy of the far left. |
| 1:38.8 | But the Republican governor of Utah Spencer Cox urged Americans of all political stripes |
| 1:43.7 | to reflect on Charlie Kirk's killing with moderation. |
| 1:48.3 | We can return violence with violence. We can return hate with hate. |
| 1:53.4 | And that's the problem with political violence, is it metastasizes |
| 1:57.3 | because we can always point the finger at the other side and at some point we |
| 2:04.5 | have to find an off ramp or it's going to get much much worse but see these are |
| 2:10.3 | choices that we can make history will dictate if this is a turning point for our country. |
| 2:20.3 | But every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us. |
... |
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