Every Living Former President Joins Trump in Condemning Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

(Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via AP)

The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday prompted a rare show of unity among every living former U.S. president, who joined President Donald Trump in publicly condemning the attack.

Kirk was fatally shot during a student Q&A at Utah Valley University in an attack that reverberated through Washington, with tributes and outrage pouring out across the political spectrum and past presidents releasing statements in the hours afterward.

Each one offered condolences while outright condemning the assassination.

Former President Bill Clinton wrote he was “saddened and angered by Charlie Kirk’s murder,” urging Americans to “redouble our efforts to engage in debate passionately, yet peacefully.”

“Today, a young man was murdered in cold blood while expressing his political views,” former President George W. Bush said, calling the campus a place where “the open exchange of opposing ideas should be sacrosanct.”

Former President Barack Obama called the shooting “despicable violence,” which he warned has “no place” in U.S. democracy.

Former President Joe Biden repeated Obama’s warning and declared that the violence “must end now,” offering prayers for Kirk’s family.

Trump, a close ally of Kirk’s, took to Truth Social to call him “The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk,” and ordered U.S. flags lowered to half-mast until Sunday.

In a further video message from the Oval Office, he vowed to pursue those “who contributed to this atrocity.”