A board member for Turning Point USA says Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens ended their long-running working relationship more than a decade ago after Owens’s views grew too extreme for the group. Eric Bolling, a Newsmax host and TPUSA board member, described the split during an appearance on Patrick Bet-David’s PBD Podcast this week, saying Kirk and Owens were once tight through their work at TPUSA but had a break-up because Owens’s theories went too far down the rabbit holes for the organization’s taste. Bolling added that Kirk, to his credit, maintained a cordial friendship with Owens for years, but the two stopped communicating for an extended period.
Owens served as TPUSA’s communications director from 2017 to 2019. After leaving the formal leadership ranks, she did not hold a formal position with TPUSA, but she continued to appear at its events as recently as 2024 and was listed on the organization’s website. Bolling’s account, which Reuters summarized from the podcast remarks, helps explain why Owens has remained a visible figure around TPUSA even as her formal ties have faded.
I last saw Candace Owens in person around 2015 or 2016, Bolling said, adding that there has been little contact since. He also said Owens does not have a relationship with Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk. The Post sought comment from Bolling for this report, and he did not respond immediately.
Owens responded to inquiries from The New York Post on X, claiming the outlet was “an outfit of the Mossad” and alleging that billionaire hedge-fund mogul Bill Ackman was using The Post to smear her. She declined to address Bolling’s specific remarks about the supposed rift.
The contention that Ackman played a role in pressuring Kirk has circulated in smaller-right media circles and within Owens’s own public claims. Bolling on the podcast referred to those allegations in the context of a broader dispute over Israel-related issues raised by Owens. Owens has suggested that Ackman acted in concert with the Israeli government to “blackmail” Kirk after he faced criticism for inviting libertarian stand-up comedian Dave Smith to a TPUSA event. Ackman has denied any involvement in such a plot.
Ackman has publicly denounced the claims, posting screenshots of text exchanges with Kirk in an effort to rebut the narrative. He has said there was no intervention, no blackmail and no threat to Kirk. The remarks from Bolling come as the New York Post and others sought comment from Ackman and TPUSA about Owens’s allegations and the broader dispute over how the right handles provocateurs and controversial speakers.
In a separate thread of online commentary accompanying the reporting, a gray area of influence discussions has persisted around TPUSA and allied activists. Some observers have pointed to reports in other outlets that linked Israel-related funding or influence to internal debates within the movement. Netanyahu’s office later posted a video denying that Israel played any role in Kirk’s death, a claim that has circulated in fringe circles since Kirk’s 2023 passing and has not been substantiated by mainstream reporting. Ackman, for his part, has posted his own communications from Kirk to show there was no coercion or coercive arrangement.
Bolling’s characterization of the relationship between Kirk and Owens underscores how large portions of the movement’s early ascent were built on close-cut networks, personal collaborations and media strategy around a shared emphasis on college activism and media engagement. Owens’s ongoing presence at TPUSA events—despite stepping back from a formal leadership role—illustrates how the group has continued to leverage high-profile personalities who once worked closely with its founders.
The Post has contacted representatives for Kirk and TPUSA for comment on Bolling’s remarks and the broader implications of Owens’s statements. While the precise boundaries of the Kirk–Owens split remain contested in public, Bolling’s account adds detail to the historical narrative of how a once tightly knit alliance within a prominent conservative student-activist network evolved into a public disagreement that continues to surface in interviews and podcasts.
