Evangelist Franklin Graham said in a recent interview that ongoing attacks against Erika Kirk are demonic in nature and aimed at creating division among Christians.
Graham, who leads Samaritan’s Purse, made the comments during an interview with CBN last week while discussing spiritual warfare. He warned that the devil “is wanting to trap every believer, every Christian” by drawing some into spiritual complacency while directing attacks against others.
“The devil is a deceiver, and he deceives Christians every day,” he said. “And then he's attacking those people that put their faith and trust in God. They're being attacked.”
“I think of Erika Kirk,” Graham said, adding that he has been personally angered by the criticism directed at the widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
“She has been attacked since the day her husband was assassinated. And she is a nice, sweet young lady who's grieving for the loss of her husband, and she's attacked all the time, even by Christians. It just makes my blood boil.”
Graham said he believes the attacks reflect a demonic effort to divide Christians and hinder the work of the Gospel.
“All this is coming from the devil. He wants us to be at each other's throats. He wants us to not only attack one another, but he wants us to fail and he wants us to fall,” he said.
Erika Kirk and members of her family were in Utah this week for the preliminary hearing of Tyler Robinson, who is accused of assassinating her husband while he was speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025.
Since Charlie Kirk’s death, Erika Kirk has faced public attacks from figures including Candace Owens, who has suggested that she was somehow involved in a cover-up related to her husband’s death.
Earlier this year, attorneys for Erika Kirk sent cease-and-desist letters to right-wing influencers who had amplified such claims, stating, “Mrs. Kirk had nothing to do with her husband's death. Any statement to the contrary is absolutely false and made with actual malice.”
Owens, a former Turning Point USA employee and onetime friend of Charlie Kirk, has posted frequently on X during Robinson’s preliminary hearing, promoting theories about Kirk’s death and the identity of his killer while criticizing members of TPUSA.
On Wednesday, Owens appeared to suggest that Daily Wire host and former colleague Ben Shapiro may have been somehow involved.
“For ten months, you've been slandering Charlie's wife, his friends, and all of the people he worked with. You're working to acquit his murderer,” Shapiro wrote Thursday in a post directed at Owens on X.
