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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.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he would address the Israeli Knesset before visiting Cairo as part of a trip to mark his historic peace deal between Israel and Hamas. He is expected to return to the White House to honor Kirk on Tuesday, October 14, which would have been the conservative activist's 32nd birthday.
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“It's not going to be easy for me to come back. It's a very quick trip, but I'm going to have two major stops and then I'm going to be on the plane trying to get back to Charlie in time,” Trump said on Friday. “They're going to have a big 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)
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that the president will arrive in Israel early Monday and is expected to address the Knesset and meet with recently freed hostages. Under the peace deal, Hamas must hand over all 48 hostages and deceased hostages within 72 hours starting Friday evening local time.
“They've found them and they've found the bodies, about 28 bodies… It's a tragedy,” Trump said. “… I will go to Israel. I think I will speak to the Knesset very early, and then I will go to Egypt as well.”
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Egypt will host an international summit on Monday in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh to finalize a peace deal. A spokesman for Egypt's president said on Saturday that more than 20 world leaders, including Trump, are expected to attend, Reuters reported.
“I'm going to Cairo, and I think that's where we're going, not where the signing is,” Trump told reporters. “We've got a lot of leaders from around the world coming as well. I know they've been invited.”
Argentine President Javier Milley, Israeli Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Israeli President Isaac Herzog attend a session of the Knesset at the Knesset headquarters in Jerusalem in June. (Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump is scheduled to return to Washington on Tuesday to attend a White House ceremony honoring Kirk, who was assassinated on September 10 during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University.
“Then I'll come back and I believe it's Tuesday night for Charlie Kirk, who's a friend of mine, a friend of all of us, a friend of a lot of people here,” Trump said.
The president called the event a “great celebration,” noting that the activist's widow, Erica Kirk, and many others will be in attendance.
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“We award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor – military or civilian – other than the Congressional Medal of Honor that can be awarded to him,” he said. “But it's the greatest honor, and his beautiful wife Erica will be here, and so will a lot of people.”
On September 10, Charlie Kirk was assassinated during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
Trump first announced last month that he would posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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“I will posthumously award Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom very soon,” Trump said at the time. “The date for the ceremony will be announced and I can only promise you one thing. There will be a lot of us. A very, very big one.”
Hamas on Thursday agreed to a peace deal pushed by Trump to end the war in Gaza and return hostages, two years after the terror network attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Sophia Compton is a contributor for Fox News Digital. Sofia was previously a business journalist covering finance, energy and travel, and has experience as a television news producer. She graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2021 with a degree in journalism.