PinnedSpeakers have begun addressing the tens of thousands of mourners who packed a stadium in Arizona on Sunday to pay their respects to Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist whose assassination nearly two weeks ago has rippled through the country.The service drew a wide range of political figures and celebrities, and members of the Trump administration — including President Trump and Vice President JD Vance — were scheduled to be among the speakers. The event, at a stadium in a Phoenix suburb where the Arizona Cardinals play, is meant both to celebrate Mr. Kirk and galvanize a political movement in his name.The service began after attendees packed the 73,000-seat stadium while evangelical songs filled the air from a stage below. Bagpipers played a rendition of “Amazing Grace” next to a large framed portrait of Mr. Kirk.Before dawn, huge crowds clogged roads as far as a mile away, spilling into neighborhood streets and forcing police cars and ambulances to drive down the wrong sides of streets to get to their assigned locations. Thousands of people were already gathered outside the stadium in Glendale, Ariz., by 5:30 a.m., some of them praying or singing. An arena next door was set up to accommodate those who could not fit inside the stadium.Here is what else to know:The attendees: The program is drawing a who’s who of figures from the right, including Trump cabinet members Marco Rubio, the secretary of state; Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary; and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence. They will be joined by the commentator Tucker Carlson and scores of other elected officials and notable conservatives.The venue: The memorial is being held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., home to the Arizona Cardinals, which can fit more than 70,000 people. But organizers with Turning Point set aside a 19,000-person arena next door, where the Phoenix hockey team once played, for overflow crowds, and said they were also planning a second overflow location.Security: The Homeland Security Department has designated the service as a top-level security event, akin to the Super Bowl or the New York City Marathon. Attendees were being warned to expect long screening lines and that they would not be allowed inside with any bags.The assassination: Mr. Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on Sept. 10 as he spoke to students at Utah Valley University. Prosecutors last week filed a murder charge against a 22-year-old man, Tyler Robinson, who officials said had told his romantic partner that he had “had enough” of Mr. Kirk’s “hatred.”Chelsia Rose Marcius and Elizabeth Dias contributed reporting.Sept. 21, 2025, 3:23 p.m. ETPresident Trump has arrived at State Farm Stadium for the memorial serviceSept. 21, 2025, 3:22 p.m. ETWould-be attendees arrived at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., early on Sunday morning for the memorial service to honor Charlie Kirk.Credit...Ash Ponders for The New York TimesOn Sunday, before the sun even rose, tens of thousands of people began to arrive at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., for the memorial service for Charlie Kirk.Wearing red ties, flag prints and every manner of MAGA merchandise, they came from as far away as Idaho, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Mississippi. Some were elderly, using canes and walkers to navigate the crowd. There were families with children. College students. Others were men around the age of Mr. Kirk, wearing slacks, sport coats and dress shoes, standing in the stifling Arizona heat as they waited in line, hoping to get into the memorial.Danney Tanner, 58, drove 1,600 miles in his 1970 Chevy Chevelle — featuring a Stars and Stripes paint job — from Marshall, Minn., to Glendale.This week, Mr. Tanner added three new words to his custom paint job: “I am Charlie.”“When you believe in people, and you believe in what they stand for, you’re connected,” said Mr. Tanner, who stood next to his car outside the stadium. “We are all Charlie.”Mr. Tanner was not able to gain entrance to the stadium. Neither could thousands of others who waited for hours in line hoping to see the ceremony.Debra Archuleta, 64, and her husband drove three days from Arlington, Va.But when Ms. Archuleta arrived on Sunday, she had to park in an overflow lot and walk two miles just to reach the stadium. Then she saw the line was at least a mile long, and people were already being turned away.“Lord, make the way where there seems to be no way,” said Ms. Archuleta, who wore a white Charlie Kirk T-shirt she received at a small gathering on Saturday night at Turning Point headquarters in Phoenix.“I want to see it but it’s still good just to be here,” she added.Nick Younger, 36, who flew from Boise, said he felt depressed in the days after the assassination. But he said his boss bought him a plane ticket so that he could attend the service, and vowed to press forward even as many of those around him turned around.“God is with us,” he said.After getting word that the gates to main stadium were closed, many headed for Desert Diamond Arena, the overflow venue next door.By 10:30 a.m., many others, realizing they would not get into the memorial, began to head back to their vehicles.Among them was Jordan Call, 38, who has been following Mr. Kirk since 2012, when he was virtually unknown.Mr. Kirk’s message resonated with Mr. Call, a conservative Christian who continued to follow him up until he was killed.“We need free discussion, to invite both sides to express their opinions and beliefs,” Mr. Call said. “I hope that’s what comes of this.”Sept. 21, 2025, 3:06 p.m. ETMedia at the memorial for Charlie Kirk on Sunday.Credit...Loren Elliott for The New York TimesFox News is providing wall-to-wall coverage of Charlie Kirk’s memorial on Sunday afternoon. The network kicked off a four-hour programming bloc, called “Remembering Charlie Kirk,” at 2 p.m. Eastern time, though the network had been running live coverage from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. — where the memorial is taking place — for many hours.NewsNation and Newsmax are also in special report mode. CNN is providing coverage as well. The network aired a live rendition of bagpipers performing “Amazing Grace” at the memorial just after 2 p.m. “Beautiful rendition,” Dana Bash, the CNN anchor, observed. MSNBC has reporters on the ground but is largely covering other stories of the day so far.The broadcast networks are airing their usual Sunday sports programming. There is live coverage, however, on the broadcast networks’ free news digital outlets.Sept. 21, 2025, 3:02 p.m. ETElon Musk, the billionaire and former top adviser to Trump, is among those in attendance for Kirk’s memorial serviceCredit...Carlos Barria/ReutersSept. 21, 2025, 2:54 p.m. ETJack HealyReporting from Glendale, Ariz.Turning Point, the organization founded by Charlie Kirk, is expected to shoulder much of the cost of the memorial, according to a spokesman for the Glendale Police Department. But many details of who will pay for what and how much this event will ultimately cost are unclear, including the price of renting the venues and paying the police officers working overtime on a Sunday.Sept. 21, 2025, 2:49 p.m. ETAir Force One has touched down at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. The president will be making his way to the memorial service.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York TimesSept. 21, 2025, 2:37 p.m. ETPastor Rob McCoy is opening the memorial service with an altar call, asking people to stand if they want to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. People popped up across the arena, though it was hard to immediately count how many. He asked Christian believers to pray with them. Then people stood for the national anthem.Sept. 21, 2025, 2:34 p.m. ETJack HealyReporting from Glendale, Ariz.The arena is stocked with people of all ages, from newborns in their parents’ arms to octogenarian veterans in military uniform, but there is a striking number of young people, many who credited Charlie Kirk for bringing them into the conservative political fold. “He showed us it’s OK to be Republican. It’s OK to be Christian,” said Karstin Wagner, 19, who drove from San Diego with a few friends, all wearing matching T-shirts that said “Justice for Charlie Kirk.” “Charlie showed me, ‘You need to go speak your truth.’”Sept. 21, 2025, 2:32 p.m. ETPastor Rob McCoy, the pastor of Godspeak Calvary Church who is a co-chair of TPUSA Faith, is speaking, identifying himself as Charlie Kirk’s pastor. Kirk focused on mobilizing pastors to get involved in politics, particularly after the pandemic and after Trump lost re-election in 2020.Sept. 21, 2025, 2:11 p.m. ETThe service is starting. A Scottish bagpipe group played “Amazing Grace.”Sept. 21, 2025, 1:56 p.m. ETSome of those attending the memorial service for Charlie Kirk came a long way. Danney Tanner, 58, drove 1,600 miles in his 1970 Chevy Chevelle — featuring a Stars and Stripes paint job — from Marshall, Minn., to Glendale, Ariz., for the service. This week, he added three new words: “I am Charlie.”Standing next to his car outside the stadium, he said “When you believe in people, and you believe in what they stand for, you’re connected. We are all Charlie.” But Tanner was among the thousands who waited in line for hours but couldn’t get in to see the ceremony.Credit...Chelsia Rose Marcius/The New York TimesSept. 21, 2025, 1:43 p.m. ETEvery person here — in a packed stadium that seats more than 60,000 — seems to know the lyrics to the Christian worship songs filling the arena. The scene is different from that of a Trump rally, which leans heavily on America-themed tunes and crowd-pleasers like “Y.M.C.A.” This is a worship service fully merged with a political event. The crowd is on its feet at times singing a cappella when the worship leader cuts the music to hear the sounds of voices raised in song.Sept. 21, 2025, 12:52 p.m. ETCharlotte DulanyGov. Spencer Cox, Republican of Utah, who has offered unifying messages since Charlie Kirk’s killing at Utah Valley University, urged American in an interview to focus on their own actions, not political rhetoric. “I don’t know why we feel like we need to take our cues, that we as Americans have to get up in the morning and decide how we’re gonna react or act based on what the president says, or what the government says, or what anyone else says,” the governor told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “No president is going to lead us out of this. It’s going to be every single one of us.”Sept. 21, 2025, 12:41 p.m. ETJack HealyReporting from Glendale, Ariz.Several boldface names from the conservative political and media world are circulating through the VIP level of the stadium as the upper tiers start to fill up at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. Kyle Rittenhouse, who was embraced by the right after fatally shooting two people during protests in Wisconsin in 2020, posed for photos. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado made her way up an escalator. The conservative media figure James O’Keefe, who previously led Project Veritas, was chatting and shaking hands.Sept. 21, 2025, 12:04 p.m. ETGov. Josh Shapiro, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the country must come together to find “our better angels” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing. Shapiro, who was targeted in a violent attack earlier this year when his official residence was set on fire while he and his family were inside, said he was still recovering from “emotional scars” left by that episode. But political violence has harms beyond the individuals targeted, Shapiro added, saying that attacks targeting prominent figures like Kirk and himself are intended “to silence others, and we’ve got to fight back against that.”Sept. 21, 2025, 12:00 p.m. ETEvangelical praise and worship is filling the stadium where Charlie Kirk’s memorial service will begin in a couple of hours. Leading Christian music artists, including Kari Jobe Carnes and Phil Wickham, are leading thousands in familiar classics they might sing in their home churches, like “How Great Thou Art” and “Oh Praise the Name.” For many, Kirk and Turning Point offered a new kind of worship, blending politics and faith to a united end. Hands are rising high at the chorus, as everyone stands in worship.Credit...Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York TimesSept. 21, 2025, 11:58 a.m. ETIn his remarks before heading to Arizona, President Trump said that the United States would help defend Poland and the Baltic States if Russia kept escalating tensions, after Russian jets violated Estonian air space on Friday. While Trump previously said an earlier Russian incursion into Poland could have been a “mistake,” he said he was briefed on the Estonian incident and did not like it.In an interview with CBS broadcast on Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron of France said he did not think the incursion into Poland had been a mistake, but part of a pattern of escalation. Macron also said he approved of Trump’s efforts to make peace between Ukraine and Russia, but said additional sanctions should be leveled on Russia to pressure them to make a deal to end the war.Credit...Elizabeth Frantz for The New York TimesSept. 21, 2025, 11:54 a.m. ETSenator Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, dismissed concerns that the indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show has dangerous implications for free speech during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” ABC pulled the show from the air after the F.C.C. chairman sharply criticized remarks Kimmel made about Charlie Kirk and President Trump, but Mullin said it was not the result of pressure from the federal government.Mullin said criticism is coming from “the left that’s being extremely hypocritical of themselves,” likening the suspension to the cancellation of Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show in 2023. But outrage has come from both sides: Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, said on Friday that it is “dangerous as hell” for the government to threaten retaliation for speech by political adversaries.Sept. 21, 2025, 11:48 a.m. ETOfficials outside the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., said the venue has reached capacity for the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. Still, thousands of people are waiting in a line that snakes through the parking lot and down North 91st Street for at least a mile. Hundreds of people — some in dresses and heels, others in suits and red ties — walked at least two miles in the heat before even reaching the entrance.Credit...Cheney Orr/ReutersSept. 21, 2025, 11:24 a.m. ETIn a recorded interview with Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing,” President Trump said that Lachlan Murdoch, who recently secured control of his family’s sprawling media empire, was one of the potential investors who would be part of a consortium of American investors who would take a stake in TikTok to separate the app from ByteDance. Trump said Larry Ellison and Michael Dell are also involved in the group.Sept. 21, 2025, 11:12 a.m. ETJack HealyReporting from Glendale, Ariz.The atmosphere inside the stadium where Charlie Kirk’s memorial service will begin in a few hours feels like a fusion of a megachurch service and a Trump rally. A Christian band is playing devotional rock and thousands of people who began lining up before dawn are now filtering into the stadium, many of them wearing red Trump baseball caps. Several also have hats that bear Kirk’s initials, or say Make America Charlie Kirk.Credit...Ash Ponders for The New York TimesSept. 21, 2025, 11:10 a.m. ETRep. Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas, defended her vote against a House resolution honoring Charlie Kirk on Friday, telling CNN’s Dana Bash that she believed Kirk’s rhetoric “specifically targeted people of color.” In a podcast this summer, Kirk had accused Crockett and other Democrats of pursuing the “great replacement of white people.”“Yeah, I’m not honoring that kind of stuff,” Crockett said. She added that “it honestly hurts” that more of her colleagues didn’t join her in voting against the resolution and “could not see the amount of harm that this man was attempting to inflict.”Sept. 21, 2025, 11:06 a.m. ETA day after he demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi move quickly to prosecute individuals that he views as his political opponents, President Trump said Bondi was doing “a great job.” The president — who wrote on Saturday night that “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” — said that he had not threatened the leadership of the Justice Department if they did not prosecute Letitia James, the New York attorney general, but he said he had “read the facts” and it “looks like she’s very guilty.”Sept. 21, 2025, 11:00 a.m. ETPresident Trump, speaking to reporters, appeared to disagree with new restrictions the Department of Defense is seeking to impose on journalists. Asked if the Pentagon should be part of deciding what the news media can report on, the president said: “No, I don’t think so. Nothing stops reporters.”Sept. 21, 2025, 9:35 a.m. ETWorkers installed a banner at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., ahead of a memorial service to be held for Charlie Kirk on Sunday.Credit...Cheney Orr/ReutersAn anticipated crowd of perhaps more than 100,000 people, including President Trump and several cabinet members, has made security a major focus in the planning for Charlie Kirk’s memorial on Sunday.The service in Glendale, Ariz., will be held at State Farm Stadium, home of the N.F.L.’s Arizona Cardinals, which can hold up to 73,000 people. A nearby hockey arena that holds about 19,000 people will serve as an overflow area if needed.The Department of Homeland Security designated the service as a top-level security event, akin to the Super Bowl or New York City Marathon.Jose Miguel Santiago, a spokesman for the police department in Glendale, said that setting up security measures for the event was an “all hands on deck” operation, similar to how agencies prepared for Super Bowl LVII that was held at the stadium in 2023.But a major difference between that event and the memorial on Sunday is that the police had years to prepare for the Super Bowl and just about a week to form a plan for Mr. Kirk’s service. Still, Mr. Santiago was confident that officials with his department — as well as the many federal and local agencies they are collaborating with — would be ready.Hundreds of police officers will be circling the stadium, Mr. Santiago said, in addition to drones in the air and metal detectors on the ground. He said the police department had access to more than 300 security cameras in locations around the stadium.“Every kind of security measure you can possibly think of will be in place,” he said.Mr. Santiago said that Turning Point USA, the organization Mr. Kirk founded that organized the service, reported that more than 200,000 people had registered to attend the event.Turning Point has told people to expect “T.S.A.-level screening,” referring to the airport security agency, and has warned of long wait times. The group has also said that no bags will be allowed inside the stadium, even if they are clear.Security concerns were heightened after law enforcement officials investigated a number of potential threats connected to Mr. Kirk or the service. There was also confusion this weekend after the authorities arrested an armed man who had entered the stadium on Friday. But Turning Point USA later said the man had been doing advance security work for one of the guests who was planning to attend the service.