“Serious Threats” Compel Erika Kirk To Skip TPUSA Event With VP Vance
on Apr 15, 2026
Vice President JD Vance Participated In The Event Despite Her Absence
Turning Point USA was set to have its CEO, Erika Kirk, interview Vice President JD Vance at an event at the University of Georgia on Tuesday, April 14, but plans changed after “very serious threats” were made against her.
While the event went on without her, the knowledge of these threats loomed large over the TPUSA event, but, by the next day, Secret Service reportedly told CBS News there were “no credible threats” against the event or its participants.
Regardless, last September, Erika’s husband, TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk, was assassinated at a TPUSA event at Utah Valley University.
The alleged gunman, Tyler Robinson, 22, is presently on trial in Utah, facing a charge of Aggravated Murder.
Since then, other TPUSA events have been threatened, with counter-demonstrations outside of their events being common.
While the nature of the April 14 threats against Erika are not known, the event continued without her, with a spokesman for TPUSA, Andrew Kolvet, interviewing Vance in her stead.
Erika Kirk took to X, formerly Twitter, detailing her decision to not attend the event, writing, “After all our family has been through, I take my security team’s recommendations extremely seriously.”
See her full post, here:
I was so looking forward to tonight’s event at the @universityofga with our Vice President @JDVance, but after all our family has been through, I take my security team’s recommendations extremely seriously. Thank you to our amazing Georgia chapter for your support. God bless you… https://t.co/f2rBre9ArJ
— Erika Kirk (@MrsErikaKirk) April 14, 2026
Vance Speaks About Erika’s Decision To Not Attend TPUSA Event
Addressing the threats at the very beginning of their conversation, Kolvet said, “Mr. Vice President, I’m on stage here instead of our friend Erika Kirk because, unfortunately, she has received some very serious threats in her direction, which is terrible.”
Turning to Vance, Kolvet asked what his thoughts were on the threats and the state of public discourse in the country, with Vance responding, “First of all, I love Erika, and I know that she did get some threats, and, you know, about two hours ago … I was a little worried that we were going to have to cancel the event because Erika was not going to come and she was very worried about it.”
Continuing, Vance noted that he had spoken with Secret Service, and said, “Let’s let Erika do what she needs to do for herself and her family, I’m sure Andrew will fill in, and let’s go and make this an amazing event.”
Vance then expounded upon Erika’s decision, saying that Erika has been going through “two separate living Hells,” with the first being defined by the loss of her husband, who is the father of her two children.
Looking to his own life, Vance compared Erika to his own wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, who is presently pregnant with the Vance’s fourth child, and he remembered that Erika told him that she wished she and Charlie had “had more babies together,” with Vance adding, “That kind of hit me, like, it’s just it — it’s gone. That was sort of one of the moments where I realized Charlie’s not coming back here.”
Vance considered Charlie Kirk a “dear friend,” and he even hosted The Charlie Kirk Show from the White House the week after Charlie’s death.
He went on to speak on how, as a father, one thinks about moments they hope their children will remember, and Vance then added that Erika has taken on the responsibility of also ensuring that America remembers her late husband, with Vance adding:
“She’s trying to make sure that Charlie’s legacy doesn’t die, and, in that context, everybody is attacking her over everything, and they’re lying about her, and it’s one of the most disgraceful things that I’ve ever seen, in public life.”
Vance then went on to say, “If you’re going after Erika Kirk, and not the people who are trying to destroy the United States of America, you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
Further, Vance took those who have been critical of Erika’s public persona in the months since Charlie’s death, and said, “If your instinct is to go after not the left-wing radicals who are assaulting Savannah [Hernandez], or not the people who shot Charlie Kirk, but if your instinct is to go after a young mother because she’s grieving in a way you find wrong, well, why don’t you stay in your lane and mind your own business? Grief is complicated.”
Watch Vance’s full remarks on Erika Kirk, and the threats made against her, here:
RELATED: Person In Custody After Breaking Windows Of Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio Home
Vance Addresses Tension Between President Trump And Pope Leo XIV
For the past week, President Donald Trump, who is of a Protestant background, has called out Pope Leo XIV a few times regarding his stance on the United States’ military action in Iran.
Shortly after the TPUSA event, in the evening of April 14, Trump posted on Truth Social about Pope LEO XIV again, writing:
See Trump’s lengthy initial post about Pope Leo XIV, here.
Vance, being a Catholic, was asked about his take on this tension during the TPUSA event on April 14.
See Vance’s thoughts on the disparity between the two leaders, here:
