Candace Owens leaks new Erika Kirk footage taken after assassination

Candace Owens has leaked a new video call of Erika Kirk addressing Turning Point USA employees less than a week after her husband, Charlie, was assassinated. Owens told viewers of her hugely popular YouTube show on Wednesday that it was the first instance of Erika using the words: ‘Everyone grieves differently.’ She alleges Erika and TPUSA have weaponized the phrase in a ‘well-financed PR campaign against people asking meaningful questions.’ Erika, 37, who took over as CEO of TPUSA from her slain husband, stuck a motivational tone as she urged staff to support each other on the September 16 call.

The widowed mother-of-two joked that ‘weddings and funerals bring out the weirdest side of people’ as she encouraged staff not to ‘read into’ their colleagues’ behavior. Owens, who has launched increasingly vile attacks on Erika since her husband’s death, claimed that the TPUSA chief was trying to prevent staff from questioning her authority as they worked towards his memorial in Phoenix, Arizona. ‘You can’t question why,’ Owens said. ‘If this is Charlie’s vision, he’s dancing in heaven watching how a bunch of students that slaved for him 20-hour days to put together the memorial events.’

Owens, who claimed Kirk was her ‘best friend’, has run a committed smear campaign against Erika and TPUSA, which she has framed as a search for ‘truth’ and ‘justice’. Owens has pushed an agenda against Erika which now frames her as disingenuous for ‘creating an emotional dependence’ among TPUSA employees in describing her team as a ‘family.’ The provocateur claims to have spoken to disgruntled employees at TPUSA and alleges that the organization laid off staff who worked 20-hour days, despite raising a quarter of a billion dollars after Kirk’s assassination. In the new video call leaked by Owens, Erika told staff that her husband would not want them ‘to be sitting on the couch alone in your room,’ and that ‘he would want you to build.’

Owens responded by critiquing Erika’s framing as cult-like while adding that TPUSA staff were ‘manipulated’ by her rhetoric. The podcast host aired a separate conference call earlier this week in which Erika praised staff after the Charlie Kirk memorial on September 21. During the call, Erika said that Kirk was watching TPUSA from heaven and would be proud of their achievements. She told staff she was optimistic about the future, while acknowledging that her enthusiasm might sound odd in the tragic circumstances.

‘It’s weird to say that I’m excited. I really hesitate saying that. It’s a really weird thing to say. But I think it comes from a space of peace knowing that God’s using this and we’re humbly witnessing the gospel in real time,’ Erika said on the cal. Owens responded: ‘All of this makes my skin crawl.’ The podcaster has accused the widow of using Charlie’s legacy to promote and enrich herself, and take TPUSA in a direction its late founder never intended. Erika has not directly responded to Owens’ repeated attacks, but last month slammed ‘evil’ conspiracy theorists for making spurious claims linking TPUSA to Kirk’s assassination.

She pointedly told Fox News on December 10: ‘When you go after the people that I love, and you’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars every single episode, going after the people that I love because somehow they’re in on this? No.’ Erika also held a face-to-face discussion with Owens that appeared to result in a truce, which has since proved short-lived. A spokesman for Owens told the Daily Mail on Wednesday: ‘Erika violated the “truce” when she and Andrew Kolvet [Executive Producer of the Charlie Kirk Show] got caught, red-handed, orchestrating PR attacks against me recently. That’s how we arrived at this moment.’

The spokesman alleged that Erika had ‘fired employees, without cause, after moving management to press them about their perceived loyalty to her.’ Owens’ camp further claimed that the TPUSA chair had avoided responding to ‘meaningful criticism regarding her executive actions and behavior.’ Kirk was shot dead during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on September 10.Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with his murder. The Daily Mail has contacted TPUSA for comment.