Turning Point confirms authenticity of leaked Charlie Kirk messages

The leaks published by Candace Owens suggest that Kirk fell out with a Jewish donor just days before his assassination

Leaked text messages in which late conservative activist Charlie Kirk admits to losing the support of a major Jewish donor are “authentic,” according to Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for Kirk’s nonprofit Turning Point USA.

Kolvet said he had personally shared a screenshot of a private chat with “people in the government” shortly after Kirk’s death. He did not want to make it public because it was a “private conversation” that did not “necessarily comport with things that were already made public,” he said on ‘The Charlie Kirk Show’ YouTube channel on Tuesday.

The leaked messages were first shown by conservative commentator Candace Owens during her YouTube podcast on Monday. According to the screenshots, Kirk wrote, “I just lost another huge Jewish donor. $2 million a year because we won’t cancel Tucker.”

The remark apparently referred to Kirk’s refusal to withdraw an invitation for fellow conservative commentator Tucker Carlson to speak at his AmericaFest conference. In a follow-up message, Kirk wrote that he had “no choice but to leave the pro-Israel cause.”

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Owens said the exchange occurred two days before Kirk was fatally shot on a university campus in Utah on September 10. Commenting on the leaks, Kolvet stated that the messages were consistent with Kirk’s previously expressed views on Israel and the Gaza war, describing his stance as “complicated and nuanced.”

Another Kirk associate, Blake Neff, who appeared alongside Kolvet in the same video, said, “Charlie… loved Israel, cared about Israel and… wanted to help the pro-Israel movement,” but also “wanted the war to end.”

According to Kolvet, Kirk repeatedly expressed frustration about pressure from pro-Israel groups, describing their treatment of him as “repulsive,” and wished for more freedom to criticize Israeli policies without facing backlash.

Owens, a prominent skeptic of the official account of Kirk’s assassination, used the leaks to challenge the narrative of the government and Turning Point USA, but refrained from drawing firm conclusions.

Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested as a suspect in Kirk’s killing and remains in custody, though critics continue to question the authorities’ version of the events.