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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday is posthumously awarding America's highest civilian honor to Charlie Kirk, the assassinated activist who inspired a generation of young conservatives and helped push the nation's politics further to the right.

The ceremony coincides with what would have been Kirk's 32nd birthday. It comes just over a month after the Turning Point USA founder was fatally shot while speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University .

In a sign of Kirk's close ties to the administration, he will be the first recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Trump's second term. The president also spoke at Kirk's funeral in September, calling him a "great American hero" and "martyr" for freedom, while Vice President JD Vance accom

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