Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, met Monday with podcaster Candace Owens amid an intensifying public feud over Owens’ promotion of conspiracy theories surrounding Kirk’s death.
Both ladies described the assembly as “productive” in social media posts Monday evening. Owens wrote that their dialog lasted 4.5 hours and she promised to share extra particulars on her Tuesday present.
“We agreed much more than I had anticipated,” she said. “Of course, we also disagreed on various points and people as well. Most importantly, we were able to share intel and clarify intent.”
The assembly marked the primary direct dialog between Kirk and Owens after a gunman fatally wounded Charlie Kirk throughout an look on a Utah school campus in September. In the months following the killing, the 2 ladies communicated solely by intermediaries as their relationship deteriorated, based on an individual with information of their interactions.
Owens has unsettled a conservative motion nonetheless grappling with Kirk’s loss of life by devoting hours of her common podcast to unproven claims surrounding the taking pictures and by casting doubt, with out proof, on the federal government case in opposition to the accused gunman.
The hypothesis has posed an unwelcome problem for Kirk’s group and his widow, who’ve sought to hold ahead her husband’s mission with out its charismatic chief. Erika Kirk is now main Turning Point whereas additionally selling her husband’s posthumously revealed e-book and elevating their two younger kids.
This week, Turning Point USA will host AmericaFest, its largest annual gathering, in Phoenix. Owens, who usually appeared at its previous occasions, will not be among the many introduced audio system.
Owens has alleged Charlie Kirk was betrayed by shut mates, advised a multinational conspiracy involving Israel and France was liable for his killing and accused the Egyptian army of monitoring Erika Kirk for years. (She famous in a separate video posted Monday on Instagram that she requested Erica Kirk “every single question,” together with about her allegation that Egypt was monitoring Kirk, and would share extra particulars Tuesday.)
She typically attributes her information to obscure “sources” and insiders at Turning Point USA, the conservative youth group Charlie Kirk based and built into a major political force. Owens labored at Turning Point from 2017 to 2019 and had an in depth relationship with Kirk.
Her concentrate on Kirk’s assassination has coincided with important development in her podcast viewers. She now has greater than 5.6 million subscribers on YouTube and 7.5 million followers on X.
At first, individuals near Charlie Kirk opted to not reply publicly to Owens, permitting her house for grief and anticipating her concentrate on the killing to ultimately fade, the supply conversant in their interactions mentioned. Turning Point at one level confirmed the authenticity of some non-public textual content messages despatched by Charlie Kirk and posted by Owens.
But their method shifted as Owens continued to launch episodes centered on Kirk’s loss of life, drawing hundreds of thousands of views. Private efforts to dissuade her, together with outreach to her internal circle, have been unsuccessful, the supply mentioned.
Owens has mentioned on her podcast that she would cease what she referred to as her “investigation” into Charlie Kirk’s loss of life if Erika simply referred to as her and requested her to take action. Asked about Owens throughout a CBS city corridor that aired Saturday, Kirk responded: “Stop. That’s it. That’s all I have to say. Stop.” She additionally referred to as Owens’ feedback “sick” throughout an look on conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s podcast.
“Everyone wants an answer to this evil and sometimes the answer is very clear,” Kirk mentioned. “The truth is very clear.”
Responding on her podcast, Owens mentioned she couldn’t cease except Erika Kirk is “more explicit” about which remarks are false.
“I would like to be very clear: Nothing that feels right to me about the Charlie Kirk assassination and especially the way that some of his employees and friends have been behaving since that assassination,” she mentioned.
Owens’ rebuttal racked up 2.6 million streams on YouTube in a number of days. Erika Kirk’s look on Beck’s present, in the meantime, totaled 62,000 views.
While some conservatives have condemned Owens, who has additionally espoused antisemitic views, others have prevented direct criticism.
Tucker Carlson, a good friend of Charlie Kirk’s and a scheduled speaker at AmericaFest, just lately embraced Owens’ principle about Egyptian plane following Erika Kirk whereas showing on comic Theo Von’s podcast. He later posted a video on X saying he beloved each Owens and Erica Kirk.
“Anybody who is earnestly searching for the truth … I’m not going to criticize, no matter what track they’re on,” he mentioned.
Milo Yiannopoulos tweeted, “Pray for Candace. What these conniving vipers are doing to her is cruel and dangerous and they are only just getting started.”
Others are much less charitable. Laura Loomer has repeatedly taken pictures at Owens, calling her a “grifter.” Podcaster Tim Pool mentioned that after Kirk’s assassin, “Second on the list of individuals who are doing everything in their power to stop what remains of Charlie Kirk’s dream is Candace Owens. No one doing more damage. No one causing more harm to his family.”
Lately, Kirk’s allies have tried to confront Owens head on. Blake Neff, the producer for Kirk’s podcast, introduced that Turning Point would handle the conspiracies on the present “to set the record straight once and for all” and invited Owens to the recording in Phoenix. Owens, who’d beforehand mentioned she’d meet them any time anywhere, mentioned her husband instructed her she couldn’t go as a result of that they had firm visiting from out of city.
Owens has largely prevented different encounters the place her assertions could be challenged. But in an interview with NCS this fall, Owens mentioned, “There’s going to be a lot of financial reports that are coming out” that affirm Kirk was betrayed. None have since emerged. CBS News reported that the Treasury Department just lately took the bizarre step of releasing a letter to Erika Kirk saying the group was not underneath investigation by the IRS.
During the NCS interview, Owens additionally said she didn’t consider that the alleged murderer, Tyler Robinson, killed Charlie Kirk. Asked the premise for that assertion, Owens mentioned, “I don’t know, maybe the weird fed messages that were concocted out of thin air that had no time stamp and were written like they were speaking in 1822?”
The comment referred to textual content messages allegedly despatched by Robinson that have been included in his indictment. When requested if she had any proof that investigators made up the messages, Owens didn’t present it. She additionally advised the messages originated on Discord – an assertion disputed by the indictment.
“I actually did not read that they were text messages,” she mentioned.
In an X publish on Monday evening, Erika Kirk signaled she was prepared to maneuver previous the controversy.
“Time to get back to work,” she wrote.
Owens started her video after the assembly promising to supply extra particulars in her subsequent present.
“Four-and-a-half hours later, I’m alive,” she started. “I’m alive.”