President Donald Trump awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, posthumously to Charlie Kirk on Tuesday. Erika Kirk accepted the award, vowing to continue her husband’s work.
Kirk was an activist who inspired a generation of young conservatives and helped push the nation’s politics further to the right; he was killed last month during an event at a university in Utah.
Kirk’s politics were often divisive, and Trump has cited Kirk as a major reason he was reelected, calling Kirk a “great American hero” while speaking at his funeral in September.
The Trump administration also announced Tuesday that it revoked visas of six foreigners who U.S. officials said made derisive comments or made light of Kirk’s killing. Others have lost jobs or were otherwise disciplined over their comments about Kirk, raising free speech concerns.
Other news we’re following:
US strikes another boat near Venezuela accused of carrying drugs, killing six people: It’s the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as Trump’s administration asserts it’s treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants. The administration has yet to provide underlying evidence to lawmakers proving that the boats were in fact carrying narcotics, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly. Frustration with the Trump administration has been growing on Capitol Hill among members of both major political parties, and the government of Venezuela.Trump meets with Argentina’s leader: Trump met with Argentine President Javier Milei on Tuesday to negotiate U.S. tariff exemptions or reductions for Argentine products, and to discuss how the U.S. will implement a $20 billion currency swap to prop up Argentina’s peso. But during the meeting, Trump threatened to pull assistance for Argentina — led by Milei, a political kindred spirit whose philosophy aligns with Trump — if the nation’s upcoming elections don’t go the way Trump would like.News organizations reject new Pentagon reporting rules: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that outlets who don’t agree by the end of Tuesday, which restrict reporting on news not specifically approved by his team, will be evicted from the Pentagon. Fox News, the former employer of Hegseth, signed on to a statement with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN saying they would not agree to the new rules, saying “the policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections.” So far, only the conservative One America News Network has said its reporters would follow the regulations. The Associated Press says it will not agree to the rules.