J.D. Vance hosts Charlie Kirk show, pledges to honour friend by being ‘better’

US Vice-President J.D. Vance on Monday hosted the radio programme of Charlie Kirk, the influential conservative activist who was assassinated last week, telling listeners that the best way he knows how to honour his friend is to be a better husband and father.

Vance hosted The Charlie Kirk Show from his ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House.

The live streaming of the two-hour programme was broadcast in the White House press briefing room and featured a series of appearances by White House and administration officials who knew the 31-year-old Kirk.

Vance, who accompanied Kirk’s body home to Arizona aboard Air Force Two last week, opened by saying he was “filling in for somebody who cannot be filled in for, but I’ll do my best”.

The Republican vice-president, 41, was especially close to Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, one of the nation’s largest political organisations with chapters at high schools and colleges.

The two began a friendship nearly a decade ago, and Kirk advocated for Vance to be Republican Donald Trump’s choice for vice-president last year.