Shaky Secret Service Tested by Massive Charlie Kirk Funeral
President Donald Trump and a number of high-profile Republicans will be in attendance at State Farm Stadium in Arizona on Thursday.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
The Secret Service will face its toughest test of the second Trump administration at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service on Thursday, an event that could draw more than 60,000 people.
President Donald Trump confirmed yesterday that he would be in attendance at the event, which will be held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The event will be open to the public, eight days after the 31-year-old conservative activist was slain by a sniper’s bullet at an event held by his organization, Turning Point USA.
The high-profile attendees, the size of the crowd, and the tense backdrop led a former agent to tell CNN on Thursday that the memorial “is going to push the Secret Service to its limit.”
A memorial is held for Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed in Utah, at the Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, Sept. 10, 2025.
Caitlin O'Hara/Reuters
“It’s all hands on deck—but there’s multiple decks,” the former agent, Jonathan Wackrow, said.
The agency only has a few days to plan for the event, which was announced by Turning Point USA on Saturday. It will need to survey the inside and outside of the stadium, set up metal detectors, and plan for potential disruptions.
State Farm Stadium, which can hold up to 63,000 people, is home to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. Kirk lived with his wife, Erika, and two children in Scottsdale, about 25 miles away from the Phoenix-area arena.
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The Secret Service is barely a year removed from a near-catastrophic security failure, when a would-be assassin came within inches of killing Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In the aftermath of that incident—which, like Kirk’s shooting, involved a shooter firing from a rooftop at an open-air event—the director of the Secret Service resigned and Congress pledged to dedicate more funding to the agency.
Secret Service agents usher Donald Trump off stage at a campaign event in July 2024, where an shooter hit Trump in the ear with a bullet. One person died in the attempted assassination, the first of two documented attempts during the 2024 campaign cycle.
REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images
The Secret Service thwarted another assassination attempt two months later, when a man poked a rifle through the bushes at Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
That attempt, which took place a year ago on Monday, further increased scrutiny on the service, which ranks near the bottom in surveys of the best places to work in the federal government.
In the aftermath of Kirk’s killing, several lawmakers and high-profile politicos have cancelled speaking engagements due to rising fears of politically-motivated violence.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez postponed two public events in North Carolina over the weekend, saying that Congressional security details are “not designed for a digital threat environment era.”
I carried for the first time in a long time today. I also had an armed guard. This is our new normal. We’ve received so many death threats we stopped counting.
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) September 15, 2025
I won’t be silenced. And I won’t allow you to be silenced either.
Together, we will pray for all these lost souls and…
On the other side of the aisle, conservative firebrand Nancy Mace wrote on social media on Sunday night that she carried a weapon “for the first time in a long time today.”
“This is our new normal,” the South Carolina representative wrote. “We’ve received so many death threats we stopped counting.”
Despite the heightened threat environment, Trump still attended a baseball game at Yankee Stadium last Thursday on the anniversary of 9/11.
Fans noticed the additional security precautions during the game in the Bronx, which included snipers positioned on the roof of the stadium.
Snipers on top of the Yankee Stadium facade and the buildings across the street. Pretty nuts pic.twitter.com/9IOCiWUs9w
— Max Mannis (@MaxMannis) September 11, 2025
Trump also tested his security team the weekend prior, when he attended the U.S. Open in Flushing, New York on Sept. 7.
His brief appearance led the match, the men’s singles final, to be delayed by 30 minutes and sparked long lines to enter the tournament grounds.
Trump has also attended the Super Bowl, multiple UFC fights, and the FIFA Club World Cup final so far in his second term, all events that had tens of thousands of people in the crowd.
The president was not in attendance, however, at a prayer vigil for Kirk that was held on Sunday night at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The White House press schedule showed that he spent the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Authorities have yet to reveal substantial details about the motivations of Kirk’s suspected killer, but family members of the 22-year-old suspect say that he expressed a hatred for Kirk’s political views.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
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