Turning Point USA campus tour event takes place at USU with Gov. Cox & Sen. Lee as speakers

LOGAN, Utah (ABC4) — The second Utah stop on Turning Point USA’s American Comeback Tour took place at Utah State University tonight, the tour continuing after Charlie Kirk was murdered in Orem earlier this month.

The event at USU was organized by the USU chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), and USU Public Safety has been working with the student club, TPUSA, and local and federal officials

to take security measures to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

The lineup of panelists at the event was announced last week. The event was hosted by podcaster and TPUSA figure Alex Clark, and the panel consisted of Governor Spencer Cox, Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and former Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz. Senator Mike Lee was originally scheduled to be on the panel, but he was unable to make it.

Prior to the event, Former Rep. Chaffetz spoke to ABC4 about witnessing the killing of Charlie Kirk at UVU.

“I was there. I saw it, I heard it, and it was shocking. I don’t know that I’ve still fully gotten over that, and perhaps I never will, but very honored that I would be asked to come fill in and talk about what Charlie would talk about–faith, family, freedom, and belief and love of country. It’s an honor, but it’s still tough,” Chaffetz said.

Event begins

The event began with a highlight reel dedicated to Charlie Kirk and the founding of Turning Point USA. The first speaker was Laine Schoneberger, chief investment officer and managing partner of Yrefy, a sponsor for the American Comeback Tour. The national anthem was performed, and then the chapter president for TPUSA at USU Kaitlin Griffiths spoke about getting involved with TPUSA.

Alex Clark, host of the podcast Culture Apothecary, said that this event had the largest attendance of any TPUSA event in their history, with over 6,500 attendees. She brought the UVU TPUSA chapter president up on the stage to applause and cheers.

“I’m not here to eulogize Charlie Kirk, I’m here to pass the torch on to every one of you,” Clark told the crowd.

She also spoke about the importance for the broader conservative movement to reach women, and especially young women and the Make America Healthy Again movement.

Lee’s message for the event

Sen. Lee was unable to make the panel in person, and he sent a video message instead, stating that he couldn’t make it because of the impending government shutdown and the senate vote schedule this week.

“It really is an honor and a pleasure to be asked to pay tribute to my friend Charlie Kirk, and when I say friend there, I genuinely mean it. I’ve known Charlie since he was a teenager. I was introduced to him by someone who explained that he had decided rather than going to college to devote himself to the betterment of the republic,” Lee stated.

He discussed the accomplishments Charlie Kirk made in his life and the accomplishments he could have made if he had not been killed. “I still can’t believe he’s gone, a couple weeks after his passing,” Lee said. “Still on a regular basis, I find myself wishing that that day had turned out differently.”

Panel discussion

The panel discussion focused on each of the panelists’ experiences on the day that Charlie Kirk was murdered and what they’ve learned in the aftermath.

Jason Chaffetz was at the event with his daughter and her husband, and he said that the tragedy is still very raw.

“It was scary because you didn’t know if there were going to be more shots fired,” Chaffetz said. “There were 3,000 people there who lived through that terror and that trauma, and that should never happen.”

When Governor Cox began to speak, some members of the crowd booed him while others cheered. Cox said that he had a hard time processing what he was being told when he learned that Kirk had been shot.

“My first thought was just, ‘please don’t die, please, we’ve got to keep him alive,’ and then I knew about Charlie’s wife, I knew he had two little kids, and that’s the humanity of all of this, right? And I think it changed all of us, because what I realized very quickly was that this was an attack on Charlie Kirk because of his political beliefs. We knew that,” Cox said. “It was a political assassination, and people were afraid to say that, we should not be afraid to call things what they are.”

He said that his second thought was that they needed to find the person responsible and hold them accountable. He also realized that this was more than an attack on Charlie Kirk, but it was an attack on free speech and American values.

Rep. Andy Biggs discussed the stark political divides across the country and the importance of engaging politically with honesty and integrity to move the nation forward, like Charlie Kirk did.

Following the discussion, the panel opened up to questions to the audience.