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President Donald Trump is planning to unveil a “comprehensive” plan to address violent crime and protect free speech, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles told Salem Radio Network host Scott Jennings Thursday.
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Wednesday during a “Prove Me Wrong” event at Utah Valley University by a lone gunman. Wiles told Jennings the Trump administration had already started working on a plan following the stabbing death of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. (RELATED: Susie Wiles Reveals What She Told White House Staff After Charlie Kirk Assassination)
“We were actually already working, spurred as much by that Ukrainian woman, who was killed on the train, as by Charlie’s tragic passing, on a more comprehensive plan on violence in America, the importance of free speech and civil speech, the ways that you can address these, these, they can all be called hate groups that may agree with this kind of behavior,” Wiles told Jennings.
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“So in the coming days, the president will be telling the American people about what we plan to do,” Wiles added. “It will not be easy. There’s layer upon layer upon layer as some of this hate-filled rhetoric is multi-generational, but you’ve gotta start somewhere, and the president is committed to doing that.”
Trump announced Thursday he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously, a day after he ordered flags to be flown at half-staff through Sept. 14. Wiles said that despite anger over Kirk’s assassination, the measures would not target freedom of speech.
“I don’t expect a 9/11-type response,” Wiles told Jennings. “I think it is as much in hearts and minds as it is in public safety. We believe in the First Amendment in this country, period, full stop.”
After Trump launched a crackdown on crime in the District of Columbia, the district did not report a homicide for nearly two weeks. In the two weeks after Trump’s Aug. 11 order taking over control of the Metropolitan Police Department, carjackings fell 96%, while robberies dropped 68%, and homicides went down 67% from the same period in 2024.
Since the crackdown in the nation’s capital started, 2,130 arrests have been made and 225 guns have been seized, according to a Wednesday post on X by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
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