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President Donald Trump said Friday he plans to travel to Israel and Egypt before quickly returning to Washington, D.C., to honor the late Charlie Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he will address Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, and then visit Cairo as part of a trip marking the historic peace deal he secured between Israel and Hamas. He is expected to return to the White House to honor Kirk on Tuesday, Oct. 14 — which would have been the conservative activist’s 32nd birthday.
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“It’s not easy for me to get back. It’s a very quick trip, but I’ll be making two major stops, and then I’ll be on the plane trying to get back in time for Charlie,” Trump said Friday. “They’re going to have a great celebration at the White House — in the East Room of the White House.”
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The President will arrive in Israel early Monday, where he is expected to deliver an address at the Knesset and meet with recently freed hostages, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel. Under the peace deal, Hamas must hand over all 48 living and deceased hostages within a 72-hour window that began Friday night local time.
“They’re getting them, and they’re also getting the bodies, approximately 28 bodies. … It’s a tragedy,” Trump said. “… I’ll be going to Israel. I’ll be speaking at the Knesset, I think early on, and then I’m also going to Egypt.”
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Egypt will host an international summit in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday to finalize the peace agreement. More than 20 world leaders, including Trump, are expected to attend, an Egyptian presidential spokesperson said Saturday, according to Reuters.
“I’ll go to Cairo, I think that’s where we’re going, as opposed to the place of the signing,” Trump told reporters. “We have a lot of leaders from all over the world coming too. I know they’ve been invited.”
Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Israeli Parliament (Knesset) Speaker Amir Ohana, and Israel’s President Isaac Herzog attend a session of the Israeli parliament at the Knesset headquarters in Jerusalem in June. (Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump is scheduled to return to Washington by Tuesday for the White House ceremony honoring Kirk, who was assassinated Sept. 10 during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University.
“And then I’m coming back, I believe it’s Tuesday night for Charlie Kirk, a friend of mine, a friend of all of us, a friend of a lot of the people right here,” Trump said.
The president called the event a “great celebration,” noting that Erika Kirk, the activist’s widow, and many others will be in attendance.
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“We’re giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor you get outside the Congressional Medal of Honor — one’s military, one’s civilian,” he said. “But it’s the greatest honor, and Erika, his beautiful wife, is going to be here and a lot of people are going to be here.”
Charlie Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
Trump first announced last month that he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously.
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“I will soon be awarding Charlie Kirk posthumously, the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump said at the time. “The day of the ceremony will be announced, and I can only guarantee you one thing. That we will have a very big crowd. Very, very big.”
On Thursday, Hamas agreed to a peace deal pushed by Trump to end the war in Gaza and return the hostages, two years after the terrorist network attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.