Walking slowly into the Oval Office, JD Vance locked eyes with Donald Trump.

‘Mr President, I’m sorry, but Charlie has passed,’ the vice president said – and the room fell silent in shock.

Kirk was Vance’s close friend and confidant, and one of the main inspirations behind his journey to the White House.

According to insiders, his assassination triggered a profound emotional reaction and further fueled the vice-president’s determination, as reported by the Daily Mail.

In the days that followed, friends and staff watched closely as the vice-president mourned his closest political ally.

Alongside Second Lady Usha Vance, he flew to Utah to escort Kirk’s coffin aboard Air Force Two to Arizona.

Vance comforted his widow Erika, and stood watch at his funeral.

Supporters highlight the gravity of the situation, suggesting it’s difficult to shake off the feeling of being a potential target. “How do you get through the day thinking you could be next?” a close confidant of the vice-president shared with the Daily Mail.

Vice-President JD Vance gestures while on stage at the memorial service for political activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium earlier this month.

Vance (right) Second Lady Usha Vance (center) and Erika Kirk disembark Air Force Two while escorting Kirk’s body in Phoenix, Arizona, on September 11

Kirk was firmly in Vance’s inner circle of companions in politics, and was often the person the VP went to when his temper boiled over.

‘I can’t call my friend because he was murdered for speaking the truth,’ Vance said at the funeral.

That service, though, became a rallying cry.

‘The spirit on the ground was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before,’ said one source close to Vance.

Senior aides say the vice-president, the president and the wider administration emerged with a new sense of purpose: a determination to honor Kirk by carrying his work forward.

The Daily Mail traveled with Vance to North Carolina on Wednesday, where the atmosphere turned even grimmer.

As his plane prepared to take off, news broke of another politically motivated attack -a gunman opening fire at an ICE facility in Dallas.

Vance’s response was immediate. ‘The obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop,’ he wrote on social media as Air Force Two set off into the sky.

By the time the plane landed, sniper teams dotted rooftops, police convoys sealed off streets, and the vice-president was hustled into a waiting SUV.

Vance is escorted as he walks from Marine Two to board Air Force Two

Vance speaks at Concord-Padgett Regional Airport in North Carolina

His motorcade rolled first to a fundraiser at Richard Childress Racing, then on to Concord – a community still reeling from the brutal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a commuter train weeks earlier.

‘She came from a war-torn country, she sought shelter in the United States of America and, because of soft on crime policies, she was murdered here, not in the war-torn country she came from,’ he said.

There, flanked by police and armored vehicles, Vance delivered his most aggressive speech yet.

The vice-president thundered that the left could ‘go straight to hell’ for stoking violence, vowing to restore law and order and rid the streets of the ‘crazy’ attackers terrorizing America.

‘If you want to stop political violence,’ he declared, ‘stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi.’

Insiders say the assassination has hardened Vance’s resolve.

Once seen as Trump’s protégé, he is now positioning himself as one of the many keepers of Charlie Kirk’s flame.

Kirk’s friends and followers are watching, and admit to feeling comforted by Vance’s response.  

‘At a time when our nation, party, and movement have been in shock and mourning, there’s no question vice-president Vance has shown great clarity, support, and resolve to millions of Americans,’ Mark Bednar, Republican strategist and former communications director to Speaker Kevin McCarthy, told the Daily Mail. 

‘His calls for renewed purpose, restored faith, and how we move forward honoring Charlie Kirk’s legacy have been incredible.’ 

The new determination from the frontrunner for the 2028 Republican nomination could terrify his potential rivals.

At Kirk’s funeral, Vance’s voice cracked with emotion as he offered a final vow: ‘I love you. We’ve got it from here.’