Inside the White House as officials learned about Charlie Kirk’s death

Washington – “In shock”.

“Just sick.”

“Devastated.”

It was the first reactions of the Officials of the White House who watched the reports began to flood in the fact that the conservative activist Charlie Kirk had been shot in an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon.

The aid informed President Donald Trump in real time when the events took place, meeting his team in the Oval Office while other officials were monitoring the developments in the situation room.

High communications officials immediately hung up in an area of ​​the west wing known as Upper Press, where an explanive could be heard as a door closed behind them.

Staff members are deeply shaken by tragedy, many of whom pointing to their own personal links with Kirk of the 2016 campaign and during the decade since. Some worked, through tears, while the wired chains played in the background, noting that the shooter was still in freedom.

Messages of solidarity have poured on social networks of all levels of the administration, including Trump – which was the first to announce the death of Kirk – and vice -president JD Vance, who called for prayers for Kirk and his family.

Vance was friends close to Kirk. In 2022, Kirk campaigned alongside Vance in the last days of his competitive primary of the Ohio Senate, and Kirk was one of the people he attributed to his victory.

The organization of Kirk, Turning Point USA, was a force majeure in the Trump universe, and that helped stimulate the efforts to leave the Trump campaign last year.

“Everyone was crushed,” said an administration advisor who was in the White House when the news of Kirk’s death began to spread.

For many of these officials, Kirk’s murder was personal, both because he was so well known by staff members and because it recalled painful memories of the two assassination attempts on their boss a little over a year ago.

Donald Trump Jr. published a long sincere message Wednesday evening on X, saying that Kirk was “like a little brother for me”.

“Moments like this remind us how fragile life is,” he wrote. “We can’t wait to tell people how much they mean for us – we cannot admire them in silence. Charlie knew he was loved, but I want to repeat it: it was a brother for me, and I will wear that with me forever.”

In the early evening, the flags on the campus were lowered to half of the staff. At least one senior White House official was seen by looking at the solemn gesture outside the west wing doors, wiping tears.