President Donald Trump recently awarded late Turning Point USA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom just over one month after the activist was assassinated. Kirk was outspoken about his conservative and pro-life views, and his legacy has inspired a new wave of activism.

Shawn Carney, the president and CEO of 40 Days for Life, praised President Donald Trump as “the most pro-life president we’ve ever had,” telling Fox News Digital that pro-life Americans were delighted to see the president honor Kirk.

“It was so beautiful to see him honor Charlie,” Carney said. “He represented freedom, and there would be no pro-life movement without free speech. Free speech is what 40 Days for Life is built on, it’s what the pro-Life dialogue is built upon. It’s [what] Charlie gave his life for, and it was really, really beautiful for all pro-life Americans to see him honored with the highest honor we have in our nation.”

CHARLIE KIRK POSTHUMOUSLY AWARDED MEDAL OF FREEDOM ON WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HIS 32ND BIRTHDAY

Kirk was known for participating in debates across the country and the globe, often confronting his harshest critics. Carney believes that Kirk’s willingness to go into tough arenas as well as his approachable and “authentic” nature drew young people to him and the pro-life movement.

“Charlie was open and was honest, and he was also humble and willing to talk to you,” Carney told Fox News Digital, adding that being approachable, as Kirk was, is crucial in pro-life activism.

“So many people have been hurt by abortion. So many people feel strongly in support of reproductive rights. And you just can’t go in and yell or say you’re going to burn in hell. You have to approachable, you have to use reason, you can’t be afraid to share your faith, as Charlie wasn’t,” he added.

Pro-life organization 40 Days for Life has seen an uptick in interest in the wake of Turning Point USA’s founder and CEO Charlie Kirk’s assassination. ( Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images; Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

CHARLIE KIRK’S COLLEAGUES AND PASTORS PRAISE HIS PATRIOTISM AS TRUMP READIES HIGHEST CIVILIAN HONOR

Carney said that 40 Days for Life has seen an uptick in interest, particularly among young activists, in the wake of Kirk’s assassination.

“His tragic assassination was just two weeks before we kicked off one of our largest fall 40 Days for Life campaigns around the world,” Carney said. “Over 700 cities participating, and we saw a huge uptick, a 36% increase in participation. We had so many young people come out… who knew who Charlie Kirk was, and were inspired by him to participate in 40 Days for Life, who then brought their parents out to pray at our vigils.”

An image of slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk is placed at a memorial in his honor, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

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He recalled one young woman — who he did not name — who said she was “so afraid” to participate in pro-life activism prior to Kirk’s death. Carney noted that despite the “horrible images” of the assassination, many felt empowered and compelled to speak up about their beliefs.

“You thought the opposite would happen, that she’d be more afraid and others would be more afraid, but that didn’t happen,” he said. “It literally inspired her to overcome years of fear.”

Carney also spoke about a TPUSA chapter leader whose mother tried to talk her son out of participating in either TPUSA or 40 Days for Life. The young man apparently told his mother that Charlie would have wanted him to speak out and not to run from culture wars.

Members of the pro-life 40 Days For Life group hold a vigil near to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on March 05, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland.  (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

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When asked what Kirk’s message to pro-life activists would be if he were still alive, Carney said it would be to not give up. Carney added that he has heard newcomers inspired by Kirk say they believe that the TPUSA founder would want them to be outspoken and not to “cower.”

“Right now in our culture, there’s a lot of reasons to be afraid, we can’t give in to them, we have to go out, we have to speak the truth and love, and that is what changes hearts and minds, and that’s the best way we can honor Charlie,” Carney told Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social Friday that he commuted the sentence of disgraced former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., after several campaign finance violations.

“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump wrote. 

“I started to think about George when the subject of Democrat Senator Richard “Da Nang Dick” Blumenthal came up again…. This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” President Trump added.

“George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated. Therefore, I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY.”

FORMER CONGRESSMAN GEORGE SANTOS DELIVERS ‘GLAMOROUS’ FAREWELL BEFORE GOING TO PRISON: ‘THE CURTAIN FALLS’

Santos had reported to serve his sentence in federal prison at the end of July earlier this year, with a theatrical X post in which he wrote, “Well, darlings… The curtain falls, the spotlight dims, and the rhinestones are packed.”

The former representative pleaded guilty in 2024 to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Santos was assessed the maximum sentence in April by U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert. Seybert also ordered Santos to pay nearly $374,000 in restitution and forfeit more than $205,000 in fraud proceeds.

Santos “traded in his integrity for designer clothes and a luxury lifestyle,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement at the time.

The former representative and his campaign treasurer had doctored donor reports to qualify for national Republican Party funding, including falsely reporting a $500,000 loan from Santos when he had under $8,000 cumulatively in his accounts.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE URGES TRUMP TO COMMUTE GEORGE SANTOS’ FEDERAL PRISON SENTENCE: ‘FAR WORSE OFFENSES’

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos arrives at court in Central Islip, N.Y., Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

According to the DOJ, Santos made unauthorized charges to fund both campaign and personal expenses from stolen donor credit card information, including those from “victims he knew were elderly persons suffering from cognitive impairment or decline.” He also used a fake political fundraising company to solicit tens of thousands of dollars which he spent on “designer clothing.”

Santos flipped New York’s third congressional district in 2022 for the GOP despite falsifying his biography, including claiming his family had ties to 9/11 and the Holocaust that were debunked at the time.

Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., poses for a photo outside the U.S. Capitol after the House failed to pass the Spending Reduction and Border Security Act, Sept. 29, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Santos was expelled by the House of Representatives in December 2023, after a scathing ethics report, making him the sixth member of Congress in history to have been removed.

In Santos’ July X post, he added, “I may be leaving the stage (for now), but trust me legends never truly exit.”

“Good luck George, have a great life!” the President concluded.

SACRAMENTO — Gubernatorial hopeful Katie Porter said Friday that she mishandled a recent television news interview that called her temperament into question, but explained she felt the reporter’s questioning implied she should cater to President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Porter, an outspoken Democrat and former U.S. House representative from Orange County, said that she was “pushing back on” the reporter’s implication that she needed to be more temperate politically.

“I think Trump is hurting Californians,” said Porter, speaking at the UC Student and Policy Center in Sacramento. “I am not going to sell out our values as a state for some short-term political gain to try and appease people who are still standing and still supporting what this president is doing as he is trampling on our Constitution.”

Porter came under fire last week for snapping at the CBS reporter and threatening to end the interview. A second video has since emerged of Porter cursing at a young staffer who walked behind her during a video conference in 2021.

Porter, who was speaking as part of the policy center’s California Leaders Speaker Series, said she apologized “in real time” to her staffer.

“It was inappropriate,” she said. “I could have done better in that situation and I know that. I really want my staff to understand that I value them.”

After the videos emerged, several of Porter’s rivals criticized her behavior, including former state Controller Betty Yee, who said she should drop out of the race.

Marisa Lagos, a correspondent with KQED radio who moderated Friday’s discussion, asked if Porter felt any of the blow back was unfair, especially given Trump’s mannerisms.

Trump has a long history of belittling or targeting journalists, continually accusing them of being the “enemy of the people” and, during his 2016 presidential campaign, mocking the appearance of a disabled reporter with a congenital joint condition.

“Let me just say, Donald Trump should not be anyone’s standard for anything,” Porter said. “From how to use self-tanner to how to deal with the press, that is not the benchmark.”

Porter said she would work to demonstrate throughout the rest of her campaign that she has the right judgment to serve as governor.

“I think we all know that those were short videos that were clipped, there is always a larger context, but the reality is every second of every minute I am responsible for thinking about how to lead California and do my best,” she said.

Throughout the discussion Friday Porter also shared her support for Proposition 50, a ballot measure that would change congressional district boundaries and likely shift five more seats to Democrats in the U.S House of Representatives. The measure, which will be on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot, was drafted to counteract a redistricting plan in Texas intended to give Republicans more seats.

Lagos asked Porter how she would respond to residents who fear they’re being disenfranchised, especially those from rural areas.

Porter said she grew up in a rural area and wanted rural Californians to feel heard. But she said California was approaching redistricting in a different way than Texas by giving residents the opportunity to vote on it.

“It’s a question being put to each Californian about what they want to do in this political moment,” she said. “Circumstances were one way, and we had one policy, but the world has changed — in light of that, what do you as a Californian want to do about that?”

During a question-and-answer round at Friday’s event, a student referenced legislation on antisemitism and asked for Porter’s thoughts on whether criticizing Israel counted as antisemitism.

Porter said it was a complex issue but that criticizing Israel was not automatically antisemitic.

“There are plenty of people in Israel who criticize Israeli policy,” she said. “There are plenty of people around the world who don’t like Donald Trump and criticize (the United States) all the time. There is a right to criticize policy.”