SCOOP: How three Trump administration staffers teamed up with the Kennedy Center to host a Charlie Kirk vigil in 48 hours
Pulling together an event of this magnitude with no notice would need a miracle. But Micah Rea, an event organizer, told the Washington Reporter that they got a miracle for Charlie Kirk.
Thousands of American descended on the Kennedy Center over the weekend for an impromptu prayer vigil honoring Charlie Kirk following his tragic assassination.
As befits Kirk’s legacy, a trio of organizers — two of whom are Turning Point USA (TPUSA) alums — had a vision and made it happen despite the odds.
One of those three, Micah Rea, explained to the Washington Reporter how he and two other Trump administration staffers moved heaven and earth to honor their friend Charlie.
“Malia Shirley, Charlotte Perez, and I were together on Thursday night going around town trying to get newspapers for the purpose of the story to have,” Rea said.
“We then got dinner and were sitting there in Georgetown saying ‘has anyone planned a vigil or anything here?’” As it turned out, there was no vigil planned in Washington, D.C. yet. “So we just decided there to plan one and started with graphic. I created a Facebook event page, and started invited people and thinking through how this would look,” he said.
Unsurprisingly, there was an immediate surge of interest. “We originally thought we would just do it at the Washington Monument, so then I started calling people at [the Department of Interior] to get a permit and quick so we could do it.”
But unfortunately, security concerns emerged about doing an outdoor event, which was when the Kennedy Center stepped in. “By the next morning it had started getting traction and we were getting calls from members of Congress and other high level VIPs saying they would come if it was indoors.”
“On Friday morning,” Rea said, “I made a call to one of Ambassador [Richard] Grenell’s top people and asked if we could use the Kennedy Center and explained what we wanted to do. The ambassador immediately was very enthusiastic about it and said he would make it work and that it would happen.”
Fortunately, they had an eager parter with the Kennedy Center. “The Kennedy Center’s staff could not have been more helpful and more accommodating to us, especially with massive last minute requests or needs or requirements,” Rea said. “We could not have done it without them. Taylor Strand and Bronagh Donlon [the Kennedy Center’s Senior Vice President for Special Events] were amazing to work with.”
With a venue secured, Rea and his friends got to work. “We reached out to speakers and we also had speakers and their teams reach out to us. And then we just worked literally round the clock to get it together and pull it off,” he said.
The event itself was a tremendous success. “The concert hall seats 2,400 people and we had that filled with hundreds who were unfortunately turned away because of capacity requirements,” Rea said. An event organizer told the Reporter that there were at least two arrests of protesters who showed up with bullhorns to berate those waiting in line.
Two of the other heroes — sung and unsung — of the event were Trump’s current and former Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
Tulsi Gabbard, the current DNI, received a standing ovation for her speech in which she tied the spirit of “Aloha” to Kirk’s ongoing legacy.
“Charlie Kirk, every single day, carried out his mission, motivated by his faith in Jesus Christ and his unwavering dedication to defending Our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights,” she said.
For Gabbard, it was a team effort from the DNI’s office. Among those in attendance at the vigil were Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff Alexa Henning and Director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). Olivia Coleman, the DNI’s Press Secretary, volunteered to help with press at the event.
Following the event, Henning told the Reporter that “being at Charlie’s vigil with the thousands of others remembering him was about honoring the kind of person he was.”
“He poured so much of himself into others,” Henning said. “He was so supportive during Tulsi’s confirmation and I could not have gotten through it without his and Andrew Kolvet’s help. He was a true champion of the work the DNI is doing: restoring trust in the intelligence community.”
“His absence is deeply felt, but what stays with me is how he inspired so many to keep moving forward with conviction, truth, and hope,” she continued. “The greatest tribute to his legacy is to keep building on that — supporting young people, staying true to the principles he championed, to the America he believed in and making sure his voice continues to echo in the work ahead.”
One of Gabbard’s predecessors as DNI, Ambassador Richard Grenell, now serves as the President of the Kennedy Center. Grenell’s message to the Reporter following the successful event was one that he constantly stresses across circumstances: “everyone is welcome at the Kennedy Center.”
Joining Gabbard from the main stage throughout were some of the most powerful people in the world, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Robert F. Kennedy, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who spoke about how instrumental Kirk was in uniting the MAGA and MAHA movements.
Other speakers included Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R., Fla.) and Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.), both of whom got to know Kirk through TPUSA, as well as Arizona state Senator Jake Hoffman and Kari Lake.
The event came together quickly and successfully thanks as well to a group of Utah community leaders, who donated tens of thousands of dollars to ensure that it could happen. Among the donors are Bucked Up, Black Rifle Coffee, Prime Corporate Services Inc., Doug Quezada, and Jason Walton.
A member of the Kennedy Center’s leadership team told the Reporter that “Ambassador Grenell’s vision of the Kennedy Center’s openness plays out across all people and all across America. For example, he established the Kennedy Center’s first office of faith and family programming in order bring in new patrons and new donors to support the arts.”
Quezada for his part told the Reporter that, even though he could not attend in person, he was relieved to see that “President Trump has made it abundantly clear how much the Kennedy Center is to be the cultural crown jewel of our nation’s capital. Under the leadership of Ambassador Grenell, the center’s prestige has been restored now to be the most excellent venue to commemorate Charlie’s impactful life and celebrate his undying legacy.”
Part of that legacy is Kirk’s commitment to his faith; attendees of all religions told the Reporter how powerful that message was. Bethany Mandel explained that she is “glad to see what amounts to a religious revival in American society.”
“It’s strange to say this as a Jew,” she said, “but America needs Jesus. It needs faith, community, and Sabbath resting to rebuild our fraying social fabric.”
Mark Livingstone, who attended the vigil, told the Reporter that he had never given Kirk “any more attention, thinking that he was just a guy who went on college campuses who was a conservative and speaking to college students — but then I listened to him on the Tucker Carlson podcast a few weeks ago.”
“I was just blown away by this true American patriot, but also this lover of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and after that episode I started listening to him and and following him and watching reels of him debating college students and debunking false narratives,” Livingstone said. “I believe that a great American hero has been lost — potentially a future president of the United States too, and I just don't think I've ever listened to anyone like him who speaks the truth.”
“The truth is love and love is the truth,” Livingstone said. To him, Kirk “exemplified his Lord and savior…He is Jesus personified in this day and age, and he's drawn me closer to my faith and I know he's done that for countless others around the country…As they are chanting now, ‘we are all Charlie Kirk,’ and I think that like the phoenix rising out of the ashes, there will be others who will follow in his footsteps that will come along to carry that torch of Charlie Kirk.”
Another attendee said that “a Catholic, my faith is very important to me. There was worship music being played which really moved the crowd and brought people together. Everyone singing, swaying, and praying together was really powerful to see. It reminded me that good will always triumph over evil. That there is more good in the world than we can see.”
Rea, reflecting on the event, told the Reporter that the event itself was nothing short of miraculous.
“There were so many miracles that happened and so many ‘this never happens in such short notice’ comments that happened for this event,” he said. And yet, it worked. “The only explanation is that God was in it and did it. He allowed this to come together in virtually 48 hours. An event like this with logistics, security teams, high profile speakers, usually takes months of work.”
“And somehow,” Rea said, “through God’s grace, we did it in 48 hours.”