Erika Kirk and Candace Owens meet amid an escalating feud over Charlie Kirk’s assassination

Erika Kirk, left, met Monday with podcaster Candace Owens amid an intensifying public feud over Owens’ promotion of conspiracy theories surrounding Kirk’s death. (Getty Images/SIPA via CNN Newsource)

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 women described the meeting as “productive” in social media posts Monday night. Owens wrote that their conversation lasted 4.5 hours and she promised to share more details on her Tuesday show.

“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 meeting marked the first direct conversation between Kirk and Owens after a gunman fatally wounded Charlie Kirk during an appearance on a Utah college campus in September. In the months following the killing, the two women communicated only through intermediaries as their relationship deteriorated, according to a person with knowledge of their interactions.

Owens has unsettled a conservative movement still grappling with Kirk’s death by devoting hours of her popular podcast to unproven claims surrounding the shooting and by casting doubt, without evidence, on the government case against the accused gunman.

The speculation has posed an unwelcome challenge for Kirk’s organization and his widow, who have sought to carry forward her husband’s mission without its charismatic leader. Erika Kirk is now leading Turning Point while also promoting her husband’s posthumously published book and raising their two young children.

This week, Turning Point USA will host AmericaFest, its largest annual gathering, in Phoenix. Owens, who regularly appeared at its past events, is not among the announced speakers.

What Owens has said

Owens has alleged Charlie Kirk was betrayed by close friends, suggested a multinational conspiracy involving Israel and France was responsible for his killing and accused the Egyptian military of tracking Erika Kirk for years. (She noted in a separate video posted Monday on Instagram that she asked Erica Kirk “every single question,” including about her allegation that Egypt was tracking Kirk, and would share more details Tuesday.)

She often attributes her knowledge to vague “sources” and insiders at Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization Charlie Kirk founded and built into a major political force. Owens worked at Turning Point from 2017 to 2019 and had a close relationship with Kirk.

Her focus on Kirk’s assassination has coincided with significant growth in her podcast audience. She now has more than 5.6 million subscribers on YouTube and 7.5 million followers on X.

At first, people close to Charlie Kirk opted not to respond publicly to Owens, allowing her space for grief and expecting her focus on the killing to eventually fade, the source familiar with their interactions said. Turning Point at one point confirmed the authenticity of some private text messages sent by Charlie Kirk and posted by Owens.

But their approach shifted as Owens continued to release episodes centered on Kirk’s death, drawing millions of views. Private efforts to dissuade her, including outreach to her inner circle, were unsuccessful, the source said.

Owens has said on her podcast that she would stop what she called her “investigation” into Charlie Kirk’s death if Erika just called her and asked her to do so. Asked about Owens during a CBS town hall that aired Saturday, Kirk responded: “Stop. That’s it. That’s all I have to say. Stop.” She also called Owens’ comments “sick” during an appearance on conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s podcast.

“Everyone wants an answer to this evil and sometimes the answer is very clear,” Kirk said. “The truth is very clear.”

Responding on her podcast, Owens said she couldn’t stop unless 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 said.

Owens’ rebuttal racked up 2.6 million streams on YouTube in a few days. Erika Kirk’s appearance on Beck’s show, meanwhile, totaled 62,000 views.

While some conservatives have condemned Owens, who has also espoused antisemitic views, others have avoided direct criticism.

Tucker Carlson, a friend of Charlie Kirk’s and a scheduled speaker at AmericaFest, recently embraced Owens’ theory about Egyptian aircraft following Erika Kirk while appearing on comedian Theo Von’s podcast. He later posted a video on X saying he loved both 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 said.

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 less charitable. Laura Loomer has repeatedly taken shots at Owens, calling her a “grifter.” Podcaster Tim Pool said that after Kirk’s murderer, “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.”

Turning Point shifts its strategy

Lately, Kirk’s allies have attempted to confront Owens head on. Blake Neff, the producer for Kirk’s podcast, announced that Turning Point would address the conspiracies on the show “to set the record straight once and for all” and invited Owens to the recording in Phoenix. Owens, who’d previously said she’d meet them any time any place, said her husband told her she couldn’t go because they had company visiting from out of town.

Owens has largely avoided other encounters where her assertions can be challenged. But in an interview with CNN this fall, Owens said, “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 recently took the unusual step of releasing a letter to Erika Kirk saying the group was not under investigation by the IRS.

During the CNN interview, Owens also stated she did not believe that the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, killed Charlie Kirk. Asked the basis for that assertion, Owens said, “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 remark referred to text messages allegedly sent by Robinson that were included in his indictment. When asked if she had any proof that investigators made up the messages, Owens did not provide it. She also suggested the messages originated on Discord – an assertion disputed by the indictment.

“I actually did not read that they were text messages,” she said.

In an X post on Monday night, Erika Kirk signalled she was ready to move past the controversy.

“Time to get back to work,” she wrote.

Owens began her video after the meeting promising to offer more details in her next show.

“Four-and-a-half hours later, I’m alive,” she began. “I’m alive.”

By Steve Contorno, Elle Reeve, Kristen Holmes, CNN