By Rounak Bagchi

Copyright timesnownews

Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has described the moment she saw her husband after he was fatally shot at Utah Valley University, telling The New York Times that “he had this knowing, Mona Lisa-like half-smile. Like he’d died happy. Like Jesus rescued him.” The 36-year-old founder of Turning Point USA was assassinated on 10 September during a speaking engagement in Utah, an attack that has shaken US conservative politics. In her first interview since the shooting, Erika recalled the hospital visit where she viewed her husband’s body. “His eyes were semi-open,” she said. “And he had this knowing, Mona Lisa-like half-smile. Like he’d died happy. Like Jesus rescued him. The bullet came, he blinked, and he was in heaven.” She said she kissed him goodbye, having not been able to do so when he left their home that morning. The night before the shooting, the Kirks had dinner in the Phoenix area with a faith leader, according to The New York Times. The purpose was to pray for Kirk’s upcoming “American Comeback Tour” of college campuses. During the meal, Kirk suggested her husband begin wearing a bulletproof vest. Their friend proposed he speak behind bulletproof glass. “Not yet,” Erika replied. He said he trusted his security team and expected additional protection at the Utah Valley University event. Despite receiving multiple death threats in the past year, he insisted he was prepared. Trump’s Support Erika also revealed that US President Donald Trump had called her twice since the assassination. “Just let us know how we can support you,” he told her, according to her account. She replied: “My husband just loved conversing with you and using you as a sounding board for all sorts of things. Could we continue that?” She said Trump responded: “Of course.” The two have known each other since 2012, when Kirk, then Erika Frantzve, was Miss Arizona and Trump owned the Miss USA pageants. In the interview, Erika Kirk spoke through tears about a husband lionised on the right and reviled on the left. “I’m allowing myself to feel this so deeply, without medication, without alcohol. The Lord is giving me discernment,” she said. She described life at the couple’s condominium in Scottsdale, Arizona — a place her husband often used between home and Turning Point’s Phoenix headquarters. The pendant of St Michael that her husband was wearing when he was shot now hangs around her neck, she said. Medics had ripped it from his body while trying to stop the bleeding, and a trace of blood remains in the crevice of the cross. The day before the interview, Turning Point USA announced Erika would replace her husband as chief executive. The group’s spokesman, Andrew Kolvet, called her its “beating heart, spiritual centre and life force.” But he admitted no one could fully replace Charlie, who built the organisation from scratch in 2012 into a conservative powerhouse with nearly $100m in annual revenue. “I Want to See What They Did to My Husband” On the morning of the shooting, Erika was with her mother, who was undergoing medical treatment in Phoenix. At 11:23am, she received a call from her husband’s assistant. “He’s been shot!” he screamed. Charlie was pronounced dead before she arrived in Utah. The sheriff at the hospital advised her not to view the body, warning that the bullet had ravaged his neck. But she insisted: “With all due respect, I want to see what they did to my husband.” What she found, she said, was not horror but peace. “It was such a gorgeous day, and I was thinking: This is exactly what he last saw,” she recalled of her flight to Provo. Even in the depths of grief, Erika told The New York Times she was determined: “No one will ever forget my husband’s name, and I will make sure of it.” Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News and around the World.