The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 1741 - Debunking the Erika Kirk Conspiracy Theories

00:00:00.000 I still remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard about the massacre at Sandy Hook

00:00:04.660 almost 14 years ago. It was the second national tragedy in my lifetime after 9-11 that left an

00:00:11.380 indelible and permanent mark on the conscience, something you remember for the rest of your days.

00:00:17.260 Now, the two events are not the same in terms of their scale, severity, geopolitical importance,

00:00:21.820 or death toll, obviously, but they were so shocking, so morally outrageous that they

00:00:27.680 imprint themselves somewhere deep in your soul, like a kind of psychological impact crater.

00:00:34.200 I also remember just as vividly the conspiracy theories that almost immediately sprouted up

00:00:40.480 like weeds around the Sandy Hook shooting. Within days of the attack, if not hours, it had been

00:00:45.560 decided by legions of internet commenters and a few prominent right-wing personalities, Alex Jones

00:00:51.180 most famously, that the attack never actually happened. It was staged. It was a hoax. The

00:00:57.100 government had perpetrated an elaborate ruse, one that apparently involved hundreds of people,

00:01:02.340 including not just government officials, but members of the media and so on. The dead children

00:01:07.640 were not actually dead or maybe never existed. The grieving parents were frauds, crisis actors,

00:01:14.620 playing a role. Now, none of this was true, of course. There was no evidence to support any of it,

00:01:20.240 but many people apparently believed it anyway. They pointed to weird details surrounding the event,

00:01:26.500 and from those data points, if we can call them that, they constructed an entire cinematic universe.

00:01:33.920 The conspiracy theorists said that the initial reports out of the school were inconsistent and

00:01:38.580 contradictory. There was talk of a second shooter, but then it turned out that it was only one shooter.

00:01:43.680 They pointed to other things, like news articles about the shooting with timestamps appearing to show

00:01:47.780 that the articles were published before the event occurred. And most of all, most of all,

00:01:53.480 they pointed to the mannerisms of the parents. They circulated clips of the parents smiling or

00:01:58.920 appearing to chuckle or behaving in other ways that were deemed strange and inappropriate.

00:02:04.640 Now, rather than conclude that people respond to grief differently, especially when there are cameras

00:02:09.300 pointed at their faces, the theorists decided that an inappropriately timed smile must be evidence that

00:02:16.140 everything we think we know about the crime isn't true. And instead, their wild competing narrative,

00:02:21.920 for which there was no actual evidence, is true. In reality, there were reasonable explanations for

00:02:28.640 all of the weird details. Early reports out of mass casualty events are almost always inconsistent.

00:02:33.580 Reports of phantom second shooters are extremely common. Timestamps on news articles can be wrong.

00:02:40.560 And people who are grieving sometimes smile. Anyone who's ever been to a funeral knows that.

00:02:45.660 At any rate, even if these little tidbits were unexplained, even if we all agreed that they were

00:02:51.220 somehow bizarre and troubling, they still wouldn't prove the conspiracy theory. Indeed, if Sandy Hook

00:02:57.600 was all a highly coordinated government ruse, then why would they post news articles about it ahead of

00:03:04.060 time? Why would they put out inconsistent information? Why would their paid crisis actors be smiling?

00:03:11.440 As is often the case, the conspiracy theory makes less sense of these points than the so-called

00:03:18.100 official narrative does. The conspiracy theory does not do the single thing that a legitimate theory

00:03:24.640 is supposed to do, which is to make sense of the facts on the ground. It makes less sense of them.

00:03:31.320 It introduces even more unexplained and unexplainable variables. It takes a well-supported narrative

00:03:37.060 with maybe a few holes and replaces it with a new narrative that has 10,000 more holes.

00:03:44.600 Now, in the case of Sandy Hook, this wild and baseless theorizing was not just an academic exercise.

00:03:51.100 Real children actually died. Real parents were dealing with a trauma beyond comprehension.

00:03:58.500 And now, thanks to the Sandy Hook truthers, they found themselves cast as the villains of the story. 0.88

00:04:03.500 You know, it wasn't enough to suffer the worst tragedy of their lives. Now, they also had to deal with being

00:04:08.600 demonized and defamed for no good reason.

00:04:14.040 I bring all this up because it reminds me very much, to an almost eerie degree,

00:04:20.100 of the third national tragedy that impacted me and many millions of Americans so deeply

00:04:25.140 that we'll never forget where we were when we heard about it.

00:04:27.720 That would be the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

00:04:31.120 Just like Sandy Hook, Charlie's Kirk assassination has become the subject of wild and baseless conspiracy theories.

00:04:38.420 And just like Sandy Hook, one of the living victims of this tragedy, in this case, Erica Kirk,

00:04:45.440 has become, for no good reason, a target.

00:04:48.360 She's been demonized and defamed and on the exact same basis.

00:04:54.200 The Internet peanut gallery has decided that she smiles at inappropriate times.

00:04:59.180 She rubs them the wrong way. They don't like her vibes.

00:05:02.360 And for that reason, she must be the villain of the story rather than the victim.

00:05:07.660 Now, we're finding out that the Internet is like the Matrix.

00:05:12.100 It allows you to construct whatever reality you want for yourself.

00:05:15.620 That's how the trans craze took hold. 0.99

00:05:18.040 That's every weird subreddit full of bizarre perverts living out their fetishes 0.98

00:05:22.540 in the company of other perverts who share the same interests.

00:05:25.520 And it's what conspiracy theorists do.

00:05:28.080 They marinate in a selectively curated assortment of facts

00:05:31.400 that stitch together whatever story they're telling themselves.

00:05:34.400 The Earth is flat. Sandy Hook was staged.

00:05:36.940 Erica Kirk conspired with a half-dozen foreign intelligence agencies 1.00

00:05:39.840 to murder her husband and frame a gay furry, etc. 0.78

00:05:43.000 And this time around, the chief media personality promoting the alternative version of events 0.98

00:05:48.840 is, of course, Candace Owens.

00:05:51.880 Now, as you may remember a couple of months ago, I laid out the reasons why,

00:05:55.420 contrary to claims by Candace, it's clear that Tyler Robinson killed Charlie Kirk.

00:06:01.300 To the extent there was any evidence of a potential conspiracy,

00:06:04.600 it involved the several trans activists who posted messages online

00:06:08.420 that appeared to indicate, at a minimum, that they may have had advanced knowledge of the assassination plot.

00:06:14.240 And, of course, there were the strange text messages between Robinson and his roommate,

00:06:17.540 in which Robinson stated that his roommate had seen him engraving bullets.

00:06:22.060 But there was no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Charlie Kirk's associates,

00:06:25.900 or Erica Kirk, or Turning Point USA, or the French government, or the Israeli government,

00:06:29.900 or the U.S. military, had anything to do with Charlie's murder.

00:06:35.280 Now, for months, Candace has stated otherwise.

00:06:37.400 In October, she wrote this message on X,

00:06:39.720 quote,

00:06:40.360 With all we've crowdsourced, it looks like a decision to murder Charlie Kirk in Utah

00:06:44.480 was made around July 18th.

00:06:46.660 A military meeting with foreign leaders took place on July 20th on U.S. soil.

00:06:50.820 The plane flew into Provo, direct from France, on September 4th,

00:06:54.120 and stayed until just after Charlie was assassinated, flying out to Wilmington on that day.

00:06:58.760 The plane returned home to Egypt the following day on September 11th.

00:07:03.600 In November, Candace provided the following update,

00:07:06.220 quote,

00:07:07.020 Urgent!

00:07:07.600 Two days ago, I was contacted by a high-ranking employee of the French government

00:07:10.740 after determining this person's position and proximity to the French couple.

00:07:14.360 I deemed the information they gave me to be credible enough to share publicly

00:07:17.480 in the event that something happens.

00:07:18.760 In short, this person claims that the Macrons have executed upon and paid for my assassination.

00:07:23.620 Yes, you read that correctly.

00:07:25.160 I'm told there is one Israeli that is on this assassination squad,

00:07:27.660 and the plans were formalized.

00:07:29.120 Again, this person provided concrete proof that they were well-placed

00:07:31.460 within the French government apparatus.

00:07:33.480 Further to this point, this person claims that Charlie Kirk's assassin

00:07:36.080 trained with the French Legion, 13th Brigade, with a multi-state involvement.

00:07:41.680 I have more specific information, which is definitively verifiable,

00:07:45.180 should they care to reach out to me.

00:07:46.960 That same month, she posted this message,

00:07:49.900 quote,

00:07:50.500 Today is going to be a big day.

00:07:51.600 Today, what we will present in the Charlie Kirk investigation is going to change everything.

00:07:55.620 That is not an exaggeration.

00:07:56.880 Nothing will be the same.

00:07:58.920 In December, Candace followed up with this message on Instagram,

00:08:01.380 quote,

00:08:01.880 It feels like today will be the day that the government can no longer deny it.

00:08:04.860 Charlie Kirk was assassinated, and our military was involved.

00:08:08.760 I can't wait to share this information with you guys today.

00:08:12.700 She also wrote the following on X,

00:08:15.460 quote,

00:08:15.740 I received information last night that put the final pieces together for me.

00:08:18.680 I can now say with full confidence that I believe Charlie Kirk was betrayed by the leadership of Turning Point USA

00:08:22.680 and some of the very people who eulogized him on stage.

00:08:25.660 Yes, I'll be naming names, providing evidence for my claims.

00:08:28.460 You were lied to, and leadership knew.

00:08:31.700 Now, around the same time, Candace interviewed a guy named Mitch Snow,

00:08:34.700 who she says she was connected with via email,

00:08:37.400 and Mitch Snow claimed with 95% certainty

00:08:40.900 that he saw Charlie Kirk's head of security,

00:08:43.820 along with Erica Kirk,

00:08:45.020 at a military installation in Arizona

00:08:47.200 right before Charlie was murdered.

00:08:49.920 Watch.

00:08:51.540 Mitch, welcome to my podcast.

00:08:54.340 It's so great to have you here.

00:08:56.540 It's wonderful to be here, Candace.

00:08:58.100 How are you doing?

00:08:59.280 I'm doing very well.

00:09:00.320 I, uh, I obviously, you know, the story of how I instantly got the email from one of your friends

00:09:06.540 that just said, you should call Mitch after I prayed and said, I'm missing a piece of this.

00:09:10.940 Please, God, give me a piece of this story.

00:09:13.080 And the first email I see when I get back from church on a day of holy obligation is this email.

00:09:18.400 And so, Mitch, my audience is up to date on what happened to you when you were 20 years old.

00:09:25.400 And I'm wondering if you can just sort of briefly recap in case I got some things wrong.

00:09:29.520 Um, I obviously can't confirm that you saw who you say you saw.

00:09:34.060 If you had to put it at a percentage that you saw Brian Harpole, what percentage would you put it at?

00:09:40.640 95.

00:09:41.900 95%.

00:09:42.820 95 to 99.

00:09:44.460 I mean, I, when I saw him, you know, on the interview with the, with his face and gestures, um, I, yeah, with that photo.

00:09:57.820 So, it struck me in my gut.

00:10:02.940 Um, I blew it off until there was, you know, some other pictures that came up with other people.

00:10:14.620 Um.

00:10:15.100 What other people, other pictures?

00:10:19.580 Uh, if you want me to say, uh, there's a picture of Erica Kirk with a ponytail and, um, from, from her past.

00:10:28.980 Um, that person matches who I saw at Fort Huachuca in the lobby the night before.

00:10:36.340 And she was with that, with that man in the lobby.

00:10:40.200 And that man, he was present at that meeting.

00:10:44.360 Uh, the next morning.

00:10:45.800 Um, if you had to put it at a percentage that you saw that the girl in the ponytail matches the description of Erica Kirk, what percentage would you put that at?

00:10:58.920 Those are really rare eyes.

00:11:02.200 Um.

00:11:02.720 Um, that's 95 to 99 percent.

00:11:08.620 Now, that interview has nearly 3 million views.

00:11:11.520 And all the comments, uh, that are visible, every single one of them, treats the interview like a bombshell revelation.

00:11:17.700 Lord, have mercy, one person writes.

00:11:19.220 Nothing will be the same after this.

00:11:21.640 Now, Mitch Snow would later claim on social media that his father was the Zodiac Killer.

00:11:25.000 He would also present no corroborating evidence whatsoever for his claim.

00:11:29.640 The claim that, even taken at face value, makes no sense.

00:11:32.880 If Erica conspired with the U.S. military to kill her husband for reasons that have yet to be explained,

00:11:38.080 why should she be, why would she be meeting at a military base in person to discuss it?

00:11:43.360 I mean, that's not how assassinations actually work in real life.

00:11:45.900 And if all of the most powerful forces on Earth were engaged in this kind of plot,

00:11:50.400 it seems highly unlikely that they'd be so sloppy that some random guy named Mitch could blow the whole thing wide open

00:11:57.020 because he just so happened to be walking by at the exact right moment.

00:12:00.200 So this is a person who is obviously not credible, making wildly implausible claims for which he has no proof.

00:12:06.160 It's hard not to conclude that this is what's fueling most of the conspiracy theories.

00:12:11.760 Random people are sending in tips, making claims, and those tips and claims are taken at face value.

00:12:17.180 Now, the problem is that there are a lot of people feeding information to Candace or posting it online themselves

00:12:23.060 or sending it to other proponents of the conspiracy theory.

00:12:27.020 And there are a lot of reasons why they might be doing that.

00:12:30.560 One of the possible reasons is that they are sincere, sane, honest actors,

00:12:35.660 earnestly trying to help crack the case and find Charlie's real killer.

00:12:39.660 But that is just one possible explanation and by far not the most likely.

00:12:44.800 The other reasons why people might be sending tips to Candace or posting them online

00:12:49.140 or sending them to anybody else or whatever is that they're confused and deluded or they're trolls

00:12:55.240 or they have personal and political grudges that they're trying to settle.

00:13:00.400 Candace has said many times publicly that she has informants inside TPUSA.

00:13:05.040 Why might people inside TPUSA be supplying Candace with ammunition against their own organization?

00:13:09.920 Are these honest crusaders for the truth?

00:13:12.280 It's possible.

00:13:12.800 It's also extremely possible that these are people with personal grudges and professional ambitions

00:13:17.680 that they've decided are served by sending Candace after their rivals within the organization. 1.00

00:13:24.560 And on top of all this, there's the risk that foreign intelligence agencies are contributing to the maelstrom

00:13:30.140 by feeding bad information.

00:13:33.080 Now, certainly the temptation for a foreign intelligence agency to jump into the fray

00:13:36.480 and foment further divisions and chaos with bad intel must be very profound.

00:13:42.960 And if you think that shadowy foreign governments were involved in Charlie Kirk's assassination,

00:13:46.360 despite there being no evidence to support such an idea,

00:13:48.960 consider the possibility that shadowy foreign governments could also be involved in creating

00:13:52.620 and fueling false theories about Charlie Kirk's assassination.

00:13:55.960 If you believe that they do the former, then you must believe that they could do the latter.

00:14:02.840 Now, the point here is that any evidence that is based entirely on unverified tips

00:14:08.240 and unverified claims from random sources cannot actually be taken on its own as evidence of anything.

00:14:13.840 There are just too many other potential reasons why these parties may be involving themselves.

00:14:19.700 But I've already explained in detail why I think Tyler Robinson did in fact kill Charlie Kirk,

00:14:25.920 not at the behest of TPUSA or any foreign government or our own government,

00:14:29.560 but instead moved by his own left-wing pro-trans radicalism. 0.66

00:14:34.860 Trans radicals are murdering people in this country constantly. 0.99

00:14:38.480 There is nothing at all surprising or implausible about the idea that they also killed Charlie Kirk.

00:14:44.020 Now, you can go back and watch that episode to hear that case laid out.

00:14:47.800 I hope you do if you haven't seen it.

00:14:50.300 Today, I want to focus instead on the increasingly aggressive and single-minded attacks on Erica Kirk specifically.

00:14:59.060 As you may have seen, last night, Candace debuted a new series called The Bride of Charlie,

00:15:04.860 which purports to tell us the sinister truth about Erica. 0.78

00:15:08.100 This, of course, didn't come out of nowhere for weeks.

00:15:10.080 Now, Candace has openly suggested that Erica may have committed a crime in connection with her husband's murder.

00:15:15.060 For example, here she was a couple of weeks ago stating that the police should detain Erica,

00:15:19.600 and subject her to interrogation.

00:15:21.980 Watch.

00:15:23.620 Look, I have seen enough, ladies and gentlemen.

00:15:27.180 I've seen enough.

00:15:28.320 Erica Kirk should be dragged into a police precinct for questioning. 1.00

00:15:31.880 Like I said, you can show me the person who disagrees with me on that.

00:15:35.880 After I will reveal to you what we can now confirm,

00:15:40.020 you can show me that individual, and I will show you a full-blown fraud.

00:15:45.200 That's the only people that would disagree with that assessment.

00:15:50.440 Well, but as we'll see, there isn't enough evidence to justify dragging her into a police precinct,

00:15:55.100 much less charging her with a crime, much less convicting her.

00:15:59.500 There isn't any evidence, actual positive evidence, that Erica has committed any crime,

00:16:04.040 or covered up any crime, or had any involvement in any crime,

00:16:08.460 to include especially the crime of murdering her husband.

00:16:11.880 And that's why, although the innuendos about Erica may be compelling fodder for YouTube videos,

00:16:16.280 they would not be compelling to a grand jury, or a prosecutor, or a judge.

00:16:20.780 If you took everything that's been said about Erica, or implied,

00:16:24.900 and tried to present it as evidence in a court of law,

00:16:28.440 you would be laughed out of the room.

00:16:31.260 There's no case here. There's no evidence of anything.

00:16:35.580 Now, these attacks on Erica by Candace and by everyone else engaged in this campaign

00:16:39.760 are wrong, deeply, desperately wrong.

00:16:44.820 Wrong morally and factually.

00:16:46.980 They are wrong morally because they are wrong factually.

00:16:52.900 The whole crux of the matter here is not just that Erica is a grieving widow,

00:16:58.020 but that she is innocent of the accusations that are being made or implied against her.

00:17:04.820 The point is not that, hey, Erica may have killed her husband,

00:17:07.620 or been involved in it, or covered it up,

00:17:09.220 but we should take it easy on her because she's a grieving widow. 0.51

00:17:13.140 The point is that Erica didn't do any of that.

00:17:15.580 There is no evidence that she did any of that.

00:17:19.020 No evidence at all, period.

00:17:21.500 Defaming anybody with untrue accusations is very bad,

00:17:24.820 but defaming a widow, the grieving wife of a man that we all say we loved and admired,

00:17:28.600 is unspeakably, horrifically bad.

00:17:33.460 Now, most of Candace's critics have responded to her latest episode

00:17:36.480 and every other episode over the past several months

00:17:38.820 by shouting angrily, calling her evil, and just leaving it at that.

00:17:45.060 And I understand why people are emotional.

00:17:48.100 But if there's any hope of saying anything that makes any kind of difference,

00:17:52.560 that actually succeeds in cutting through the noise

00:17:54.940 and persuading anyone to back away from these grandiose and baseless conjectures,

00:17:59.560 then it's going to require that we deal with the claims being made

00:18:03.660 and address them head-on.

00:18:06.280 Shouting insults at each other across the void will not actually accomplish anything.

00:18:10.820 It's cathartic.

00:18:11.740 It's not useful.

00:18:13.360 This year, our sponsor, Pure Talk,

00:18:15.060 is giving you great wireless service for only $25 a month.

00:18:18.080 Get unlimited talk, text, and plenty of data

00:18:20.020 for the cost of only one or two meals out.

00:18:22.700 There's no reason wireless service needs to be in the hundreds.

00:18:25.480 So make the switch and feel better about your finances.

00:18:28.720 The low price isn't the only perk either.

00:18:30.760 You can feel good knowing your wireless company is based right here in the U.S.

00:18:33.520 with an American customer service team

00:18:35.140 and a passion for supporting veterans.

00:18:37.440 Pure Talk uses the same towers as the big carriers,

00:18:39.680 so enjoy superior 5G coverage without the inflated price.

00:18:42.840 Just $25 a month for talk, text, and plenty of data.

00:18:46.040 No contract, no cancellation fee.

00:18:47.640 Go to puretalk.com slash Walsh.

00:18:49.280 You'll get 50% off your first month.

00:18:51.320 Again, that's puretalk.com slash Walsh

00:18:53.600 to make the switch to Pure Talk.

00:18:56.000 Getting a good night's sleep starts with finding the right mattress,

00:18:58.640 and it doesn't have to be a complicated task.

00:19:00.580 Our sponsor, Helix, makes the search incredibly straightforward

00:19:03.000 with their sleep quiz,

00:19:04.220 matching you to the perfect mattress

00:19:05.420 based on your specific preferences and sleep needs.

00:19:08.020 But not just another mattress company either.

00:19:09.740 Helix is the most awarded mattress brand out there

00:19:11.840 with glowing reviews from major publications like Forbes and Wired.

00:19:16.020 I've struggled to fall asleep on and off for years,

00:19:17.840 but since my wife and I switched to Helix mattress,

00:19:19.640 the issue has largely gone away.

00:19:21.480 The quality and comfort of our mattress is really a game changer.

00:19:25.020 Can't recommend it enough.

00:19:25.940 They even offer free shipping straight to your door.

00:19:28.400 A 120-night sleep trial so you can test it out in your own home

00:19:31.640 and a limited lifetime warranty.

00:19:33.600 Start sleeping right tonight by ordering a Helix mattress today.

00:19:35.880 Go to helixsleep.com slash Walsh for 27% off site-wide.

00:19:39.080 That's helixsleep.com slash Walsh for 27% off site-wide.

00:19:41.680 Make sure you enter our show name after checkout

00:19:43.900 so they know we sent you helixsleep.com slash Walsh.

00:19:47.200 So let's begin, then, with the first episode of Candace's new series,

00:19:52.680 Bride of Charlie.

00:19:54.360 At no point in this episode, which ran roughly an hour long,

00:19:58.120 did Candace present evidence of any misconduct by Erica Kirk,

00:20:01.520 much less evidence that she had any connection to Charlie's murder.

00:20:05.300 Instead, we were given a demonstration

00:20:06.980 as to why courtrooms have rules of evidence.

00:20:09.960 In particular, she demonstrated why evidence has to be relevant

00:20:12.620 before it's presented to a jury.

00:20:14.160 Otherwise, you get a barrage of irrelevant details,

00:20:16.940 all with vague insinuations of guilt

00:20:19.320 that don't actually mean anything.

00:20:22.060 For 50 minutes, Candace delved into the backstory of Erica's family,

00:20:25.300 pointing out that, for example,

00:20:26.380 some of them were involved in gambling.

00:20:28.600 There seems to be the vague suggestion

00:20:30.420 that these details are sinister,

00:20:32.020 but it was never explained why,

00:20:33.400 and even if they are.

00:20:35.200 Even if Erica comes from a weird family or a bad family,

00:20:38.600 and I have no reason to think that that's the case,

00:20:40.600 it wouldn't prove anything relevant about Erica herself.

00:20:44.820 You could tell me that Erica's mother was a serial killer,

00:20:47.420 and her father was a terrorist,

00:20:48.740 and it wouldn't move us one inch in the direction of proving

00:20:51.540 that Erica has done anything wrong

00:20:53.660 or been involved in her husband's murder in any way.

00:20:58.300 And Candace began the episode by reading a lengthy tweet 1.00

00:21:00.240 from somebody named Elizabeth Lane.

00:21:02.160 Lane says that Erica is a Hillary Clinton-type figure 0.92

00:21:05.820 who married Charlie in order to get ahead in life

00:21:08.320 until it all fell apart.

00:21:11.040 Watch.

00:21:12.800 Despite all that, the public remains unconvinced

00:21:15.380 that she is simply a grieving widow,

00:21:18.220 because she isn't simply a grieving widow.

00:21:19.560 She's also the CEO and chairman of an organization. 0.97

00:21:23.120 In fact, during our preparation for this series,

00:21:26.520 an investigative journalist named Elizabeth Lane

00:21:29.460 went viral on X,

00:21:31.060 because what she authored about Erica was brilliant.

00:21:34.280 It just was objectively brilliant.

00:21:36.060 It gave voice to what millions of people worldwide were feeling,

00:21:39.780 but didn't exactly know how to express.

00:21:41.620 And I'm going to read you her words in their entirety,

00:21:44.520 because I think it's very important, okay?

00:21:46.540 In my head, the story goes like this.

00:21:48.460 For a moment, it works.

00:21:49.720 She becomes the wife of a rising political figure

00:21:51.820 with access to donors, institutions, and national platforms.

00:21:54.960 At that point, the ceiling isn't social media influence.

00:21:57.900 It's empire building, foundations, global reach,

00:22:00.780 a legacy, a brand, the Kirks.

00:22:03.040 It's obvious that Charlie listens to her,

00:22:04.880 whether it's about donors or the trajectory

00:22:06.600 of Turning Point USA.

00:22:07.900 The most influential figure in any mentally healthy man's life

00:22:11.440 is going to be his wife. 0.95

00:22:13.160 She's going to be the biggest influence,

00:22:14.500 and that is just how it is.

00:22:15.940 That is why you need to pick your partner wisely.

00:22:18.580 And everything was going well until Charlie

00:22:20.160 began making decisions based on conscience

00:22:22.320 rather than expansion in money.

00:22:24.440 He turns down money.

00:22:25.720 He refuses to play dirty politics.

00:22:27.720 I am assuming someone like Erica,

00:22:29.480 who married into this because she had a vision

00:22:31.440 for this brand would not be very happy about that.

00:22:34.200 The life she appears to have signed up for,

00:22:36.700 the power couple, expanding influence,

00:22:38.400 historical relevance,

00:22:39.700 was collapsing into something else entirely.

00:22:42.940 Domesticity, housewife, kids,

00:22:44.640 and now Charlie refusing to accept the money

00:22:46.860 that can make him a global power.

00:22:48.760 A supporting role instead of center stage

00:22:50.380 is not her thing.

00:22:53.420 Now this tweet, which goes on at great length,

00:22:57.240 has something like 10 million views,

00:22:59.120 and Candace obviously thinks it's compelling

00:23:00.880 as a way of suggesting that Erica

00:23:02.200 had some motive to be unhappy with Charlie

00:23:04.540 and to want to replace him.

00:23:06.960 Quote,

00:23:07.420 the life she appears to have signed up for,

00:23:09.020 power couple, expanding influence,

00:23:10.520 historical relevance,

00:23:11.680 was collapsing into something else entirely.

00:23:15.300 Now this is not how Charlie would describe himself

00:23:17.600 because he was modest,

00:23:18.960 but if Charlie and Erica

00:23:20.280 were not a political power couple

00:23:22.700 at the time of his death,

00:23:24.800 then no couple qualifies as a power couple.

00:23:28.820 Charlie was one of the top three outside advisors

00:23:31.140 with a direct line to the president.

00:23:32.700 He hosted pretty much all of the president's events

00:23:34.760 from Butler to the election,

00:23:36.620 obviously played a major role in Trump's victory.

00:23:39.480 He could influence legislation and executive action

00:23:41.320 with a phone call.

00:23:42.880 And based on the massive receptions

00:23:44.460 he was getting on college campuses

00:23:45.560 and his fundraising efforts,

00:23:47.280 Charlie was a legitimate contender

00:23:49.020 to be the president of the United States one day,

00:23:51.420 probably sooner than most people think.

00:23:53.000 Now the idea that Erica saw all of this

00:23:56.140 and concluded that her allegedly selfish dreams

00:24:00.360 of being famous and important

00:24:02.020 were slipping away

00:24:03.120 is complete nonsense.

00:24:06.720 But even if you accept the premise

00:24:08.840 that this Elizabeth Lane character

00:24:10.320 has the mind-reading ability

00:24:11.640 she apparently ascribes to herself,

00:24:13.560 still this would not constitute evidence of anything. 0.81

00:24:16.500 Let's say that Erica is a psychotic social climber 1.00

00:24:21.200 interested only in fame and fortune. 0.96

00:24:23.580 She's not.

00:24:24.840 I work in media.

00:24:25.940 I know a lot of people like that.

00:24:27.580 She's not one of them.

00:24:28.460 But even if she were,

00:24:30.960 so what?

00:24:31.920 Imagine calling the police

00:24:34.380 with this bit of evidence.

00:24:36.720 Imagine telling them

00:24:37.600 that they need to come

00:24:38.360 and arrest Erica Kirk right away

00:24:39.840 in connection with the murder of her husband.

00:24:41.240 Why?

00:24:41.880 Well, because it seems like

00:24:42.800 she's a really shallow 0.95

00:24:43.740 and superficial person.

00:24:46.400 What police department

00:24:47.560 on the face of the planet

00:24:49.040 would send the squad cars over

00:24:51.160 to Erica's house

00:24:51.920 and frog march her 0.99

00:24:52.860 and leg irons

00:24:53.540 in front of the cameras

00:24:54.240 on that basis?

00:24:57.440 Well, let's continue

00:24:58.300 and see if we're presented

00:24:59.120 with anything

00:24:59.920 that could be considered

00:25:01.280 a reasonably probable cause.

00:25:03.920 Watch.

00:25:04.740 So they decided to get married

00:25:05.920 on Erica's,

00:25:06.620 what would have been Erica's

00:25:07.360 seventh birthday?

00:25:08.300 Okay, that's strange.

00:25:09.540 I mean, at least the birthday

00:25:10.420 she says she has,

00:25:11.840 but this document is saying,

00:25:13.000 no, she's born two days later,

00:25:13.900 so I guess it wasn't

00:25:14.640 her seventh birthday.

00:25:16.360 Attached to this document,

00:25:17.920 which was filed

00:25:19.540 on July 20th, 1998,

00:25:21.660 is another document

00:25:22.620 that I can only assume

00:25:24.560 was scanned in

00:25:25.740 with an intention

00:25:26.720 to further confuse people.

00:25:28.920 It's a separation agreement,

00:25:30.380 which is not notarized,

00:25:32.160 it's not dated,

00:25:33.380 so it's almost not relevant,

00:25:36.060 and it completely edits

00:25:38.020 the date of the marriage

00:25:39.220 between Kent and Lori

00:25:40.540 from November 20th, 1995

00:25:43.080 down to November 7th, 1982.

00:25:47.020 A casual 13 years

00:25:49.040 and 13 days wiped out, okay?

00:25:52.200 Like I said,

00:25:52.760 you can just ignore that

00:25:53.360 because I think that document

00:25:54.040 was just put in there

00:25:54.820 to confuse people.

00:25:56.320 Take it from me,

00:25:56.940 I'm a notary,

00:25:57.620 one in the state of New York,

00:25:59.620 although my license is expired.

00:26:01.200 You can't just skip over

00:26:02.320 a notary portion of a document

00:26:03.840 and just be fine with that.

00:26:06.400 I do want to note

00:26:07.020 that this was the fastest divorce

00:26:08.580 in the history of divorce

00:26:09.500 because she filed

00:26:10.400 on July 20th, 1998,

00:26:12.240 and then we have a decree

00:26:14.260 on November 10th

00:26:16.120 of the same year,

00:26:17.320 so this is like

00:26:17.920 three months later.

00:26:19.480 Once again,

00:26:20.180 the marriage date is listed,

00:26:22.200 the initial marriage date

00:26:22.940 between Kent and Lori

00:26:23.640 as November 20th, 1995

00:26:25.480 in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

00:26:27.280 But oddly,

00:26:28.480 you can see that

00:26:29.900 somebody just went in

00:26:31.000 and tried to edit that date

00:26:32.880 by hand afterward,

00:26:36.180 adjusting the wedding date

00:26:37.420 down this time to 1985,

00:26:39.980 not 1982,

00:26:41.400 hoping, I guess,

00:26:42.040 that no one would catch that.

00:26:44.020 I guess the unnotarized 1982

00:26:46.380 that we saw in the initial filing

00:26:48.360 was too difficult.

00:26:51.140 It would have been too obvious.

00:26:51.980 So this time,

00:26:52.600 they're attempting to do it by hand

00:26:54.180 and edit the date of marriage

00:26:55.580 back just 10 years,

00:26:56.720 not 13 years.

00:26:58.580 This is not subtle.

00:26:59.680 It is not normal

00:27:00.300 and it bothers me greatly.

00:27:01.900 Take it from someone

00:27:02.660 who is chronically being sued.

00:27:04.900 That is not how modifications work

00:27:07.840 on court documents.

00:27:09.040 You can't just use a pen

00:27:10.540 and write something

00:27:11.120 on a divorce decree.

00:27:12.020 You can't.

00:27:12.480 You just can't do that.

00:27:13.760 People have to initial.

00:27:15.520 You got a date.

00:27:16.500 You got to see who saw it.

00:27:17.640 This is crazy to me.

00:27:19.940 My suspicion,

00:27:20.820 and again,

00:27:21.120 this is just a general suspicion,

00:27:22.340 is that this was done

00:27:24.300 after the fact.

00:27:25.360 Maybe someone had a friend

00:27:26.540 down at the county clerk.

00:27:30.740 Now,

00:27:31.340 none of this leads anywhere.

00:27:32.960 She finds a couple

00:27:33.560 of clerical errors

00:27:34.480 on a divorce filing

00:27:35.420 involving Erica Kirk's parents,

00:27:36.880 including Erica's birth date,

00:27:38.220 and from that,

00:27:39.000 we're supposed to conclude

00:27:40.040 what exactly?

00:27:43.000 Notice the way

00:27:43.660 the information was framed.

00:27:44.900 You're led to believe

00:27:45.660 that random divorce filings

00:27:47.160 and random courthouses

00:27:48.160 are always perfectly correct

00:27:49.780 and never modified

00:27:50.660 in this fashion,

00:27:51.920 but there's no proof of that.

00:27:55.260 Now,

00:27:55.700 if she wanted to,

00:27:56.280 she could have had

00:27:56.740 some kind of local expert

00:27:58.000 come on and give his impression

00:27:59.520 of these documents.

00:28:01.080 Somebody objective

00:28:01.880 doesn't have a sort of

00:28:03.420 a dog in the fight

00:28:04.140 and talk about

00:28:05.700 what they might mean,

00:28:06.480 but that doesn't happen,

00:28:07.340 and if it did,

00:28:08.020 she'd likely be told

00:28:08.720 that clerical errors

00:28:09.580 are not unusual at all.

00:28:12.560 Instead,

00:28:12.980 Candace simply states

00:28:13.720 that it is unusual

00:28:14.580 and that you should draw

00:28:15.440 some unknown conclusion

00:28:17.680 from that information.

00:28:18.720 Again,

00:28:19.660 this is why

00:28:20.240 in the legal system,

00:28:21.680 irrelevant evidence

00:28:22.580 is not introduced.

00:28:24.120 It's not simply

00:28:25.040 a way to save time.

00:28:26.740 I mean,

00:28:26.880 the main reason

00:28:27.440 that we exclude

00:28:28.140 irrelevant evidence

00:28:28.920 is that when you present

00:28:30.360 a mountain of evidence,

00:28:31.500 people in general

00:28:32.300 want to believe

00:28:33.680 that it leads somewhere.

00:28:36.580 They don't want to stop

00:28:37.500 and ask the question,

00:28:38.460 hey,

00:28:38.760 what's the point of this?

00:28:40.140 What does this have to do

00:28:41.120 with anything?

00:28:42.360 Instead,

00:28:42.780 they assume

00:28:43.340 that the lawyers

00:28:44.160 and the more knowledgeable

00:28:45.020 people in the courtroom

00:28:45.820 are introducing the evidence

00:28:47.160 for a reason.

00:28:47.780 It must prove guilt

00:28:48.700 in some way,

00:28:49.400 even if it's hard

00:28:49.920 to see how.

00:28:51.060 People draw inferences

00:28:52.240 that aren't actually

00:28:53.900 supported by the facts.

00:28:54.940 So to prevent that

00:28:55.580 from happening,

00:28:56.200 irrelevant evidence

00:28:56.840 is not allowed.

00:28:58.660 Unflattering

00:28:59.060 but irrelevant details

00:29:00.500 about a suspect

00:29:01.180 would be considered

00:29:03.420 prejudicial

00:29:04.140 because it prejudices

00:29:05.260 the jury

00:29:05.900 against the suspect,

00:29:07.260 giving them

00:29:07.600 a negative impression,

00:29:08.760 which makes them

00:29:09.420 more likely to convict

00:29:10.380 even if there's

00:29:11.060 insufficient evidence

00:29:11.840 of the crime

00:29:12.380 the suspect

00:29:12.720 is accused of committing.

00:29:13.620 And that's what

00:29:15.520 a lot of this stuff is.

00:29:16.540 It's prejudicing

00:29:17.380 the jury.

00:29:18.140 In this case,

00:29:18.620 the jury in the court

00:29:19.500 of public opinion

00:29:21.040 against Erica

00:29:22.720 even without proving

00:29:23.720 that she committed

00:29:24.340 the crime

00:29:24.900 that she is,

00:29:25.580 by insinuation at least,

00:29:27.100 being accused of.

00:29:29.520 There's a lot of other

00:29:30.480 irrelevant evidence.

00:29:31.700 Here's another example.

00:29:35.400 Carl Kenneth Franzfey

00:29:36.620 Franzfey is Erica's

00:29:38.520 paternal grandfather.

00:29:41.140 Okay?

00:29:41.340 He participated

00:29:42.000 extensively in horse racing.

00:29:44.060 More crucially,

00:29:45.240 though,

00:29:45.540 he was an executive

00:29:46.560 at the American Bank

00:29:48.520 Note Company

00:29:49.220 in Illinois.

00:29:50.160 This is the company

00:29:51.100 that was responsible

00:29:51.860 for printing lottery tickets.

00:29:53.900 It's a big contract,

00:29:55.040 a big deal.

00:29:56.000 Here he is

00:29:56.760 in a newspaper

00:29:57.360 in 1974

00:29:58.320 doing just that.

00:30:00.200 It reads,

00:30:00.840 printing began this week

00:30:01.940 on the first

00:30:02.540 Illinois state lottery tickets.

00:30:05.140 Up to 10,000 agents

00:30:06.480 it tells us

00:30:07.000 at the bottom there

00:30:07.580 that Kent Franzfey

00:30:08.360 of the American

00:30:08.920 Bank Note Company,

00:30:10.180 the printer,

00:30:11.380 examines the first tickets

00:30:12.680 of the initial press run.

00:30:15.580 Let's stick with

00:30:16.700 Grandpa Carl Kenneth Franzfey

00:30:18.620 for a little bit

00:30:19.240 because he is,

00:30:20.680 by all accounts,

00:30:21.480 obviously Swedish.

00:30:22.820 Erica herself

00:30:23.520 is therefore

00:30:24.240 Syrian Lebanese

00:30:25.720 on her mother's side

00:30:26.820 and Swedish

00:30:28.040 on her father's side.

00:30:30.080 So something

00:30:30.480 which struck me

00:30:31.240 as immediately odd

00:30:32.340 about Erica

00:30:32.960 is just how deeply

00:30:35.040 she identifies

00:30:36.100 as Swedish

00:30:37.020 despite her public

00:30:38.760 insistence

00:30:39.360 that she was raised

00:30:40.120 by a quote-unquote

00:30:41.040 single mother.

00:30:42.680 Think about that

00:30:43.580 just from a social perspective.

00:30:45.320 If Erica was indeed

00:30:46.440 raised by a single mother,

00:30:48.860 wouldn't you expect her

00:30:49.560 to identify more deeply

00:30:50.780 with those Lebanese

00:30:52.120 Syrian roots,

00:30:53.640 right?

00:30:53.960 You might even

00:30:54.480 understand it

00:30:56.120 if she resented

00:30:57.180 her Swedish roots

00:30:58.140 like my dad

00:30:58.660 didn't do anything.

00:30:59.740 Now I'm paraphrasing,

00:31:00.740 but they said,

00:31:01.140 Candice,

00:31:02.400 Erica is referring

00:31:04.140 to her grandfather

00:31:05.700 as her more far.

00:31:07.360 I was like,

00:31:08.020 okay,

00:31:08.320 so I looked it up.

00:31:09.400 It means grandfather

00:31:10.320 in Swedish.

00:31:10.820 Like she's,

00:31:11.460 maybe she doesn't,

00:31:12.060 you know,

00:31:12.260 but she,

00:31:12.660 it's cute.

00:31:13.400 Okay.

00:31:14.200 Maybe she's not fluent,

00:31:15.180 but she's cute. 1.00

00:31:16.120 And then they explained

00:31:17.060 it to me a little further.

00:31:17.800 They said,

00:31:18.040 no,

00:31:18.480 Candice,

00:31:19.480 the Swedish language

00:31:20.320 is quite literal here.

00:31:21.900 More far quite literally

00:31:23.400 translates into

00:31:25.140 mother's father.

00:31:27.400 More far.

00:31:28.820 And far far quite literally

00:31:30.760 translates into

00:31:31.820 father's father.

00:31:32.720 We have different words

00:31:33.780 for these things.

00:31:34.720 These have entirely

00:31:35.880 different meanings.

00:31:36.760 You would never call

00:31:37.720 your father's mother

00:31:39.860 your more far.

00:31:41.760 You would never call,

00:31:42.300 that's what she's doing.

00:31:42.800 She's calling him

00:31:43.380 her more far.

00:31:44.380 Here's a true timeline.

00:31:46.100 Erica was in Cincinnati,

00:31:48.140 Ohio for daycare in 1992.

00:31:50.000 She attended a place

00:31:51.140 called Walnut Corner

00:31:53.020 Children's Center

00:31:54.100 in Cincinnati,

00:31:54.860 Ohio,

00:31:55.520 located inside of a massive

00:31:57.600 corporate building.

00:31:59.100 Oddly,

00:31:59.420 the filing for

00:32:00.520 that daycare

00:32:01.940 doesn't have a floor number,

00:32:03.480 but I can show you

00:32:04.800 this photo of her

00:32:05.820 at daycare.

00:32:08.360 LOL,

00:32:08.820 by the way,

00:32:09.160 to her being dressed

00:32:09.780 as a little bee

00:32:10.380 and accidentally throwing up

00:32:11.540 some Freemason hand signs.

00:32:12.800 That's just like a nice,

00:32:13.640 nice ad.

00:32:14.420 She looks adorable.

00:32:17.960 Now,

00:32:18.480 the problem is that

00:32:19.600 you could do this

00:32:20.520 to anyone.

00:32:22.380 You could relentlessly

00:32:23.620 dig up old photos

00:32:24.800 and social media posts

00:32:25.980 and legal documents

00:32:26.960 and find minor

00:32:28.100 inconsistencies

00:32:28.840 that have no relevance

00:32:29.620 to anything

00:32:30.080 and present them

00:32:30.720 as a part of

00:32:31.620 a nefarious plot.

00:32:32.920 You could dig

00:32:33.260 into anybody's life

00:32:34.100 and find embarrassing

00:32:34.920 things,

00:32:35.500 weird things,

00:32:36.280 inconsistent things.

00:32:37.600 You could dig

00:32:38.180 into anybody's family

00:32:39.140 and find all kinds

00:32:40.180 of weirdness.

00:32:42.100 Find me a person

00:32:42.740 who claims to not

00:32:43.600 have a weird family

00:32:44.500 and I'll show you

00:32:45.100 a person who apparently

00:32:46.020 doesn't know their family

00:32:47.080 very well

00:32:47.620 or more likely is lying.

00:32:49.420 But again,

00:32:49.780 this is all innuendo.

00:32:50.820 It doesn't prove anything.

00:32:51.680 It's not evidence

00:32:52.440 of anything.

00:32:54.380 Now,

00:32:54.840 to be fair,

00:32:55.180 in recent episodes

00:32:55.800 of her show,

00:32:56.300 Candace has relied

00:32:56.960 less on innuendo

00:32:57.740 and more on

00:32:58.840 direct accusations.

00:33:00.360 Her series about Erica

00:33:01.120 is ongoing.

00:33:02.640 Some of the stuff

00:33:03.260 from her previous episodes

00:33:04.980 might give us a clue

00:33:06.100 as to where

00:33:06.620 the current series

00:33:07.800 is headed.

00:33:08.380 So,

00:33:09.340 let's take a look.

00:33:12.220 I want you to listen

00:33:13.320 to this now

00:33:14.180 with new ears

00:33:15.620 in retrospect.

00:33:16.760 And if you see a clue,

00:33:18.920 I want you guys

00:33:19.320 to shout out

00:33:19.680 the screen.

00:33:21.080 Say,

00:33:21.300 a clue,

00:33:21.800 a clue.

00:33:23.120 Let's listen.

00:33:24.640 For him,

00:33:25.600 that night,

00:33:26.300 he was so excited.

00:33:28.120 I mean,

00:33:28.360 he just was like,

00:33:29.060 I can't wait.

00:33:29.540 It's going to be the best.

00:33:30.880 And he got up

00:33:31.420 around 2,

00:33:32.140 45,

00:33:32.620 3-ish

00:33:33.140 to go into the kitchen

00:33:34.540 to grab a snack.

00:33:35.660 And our daughter

00:33:36.460 had woke up

00:33:37.120 around that same time.

00:33:38.960 We live in a small space

00:33:40.120 so you can kind of hear

00:33:40.780 when everyone's

00:33:41.280 kind of shuffling around.

00:33:42.560 And so she came

00:33:43.040 to our room

00:33:43.540 and she stayed

00:33:45.540 in our bed.

00:33:47.220 And he always loved

00:33:48.200 when Gigi slept

00:33:48.900 in our bed

00:33:49.380 because she's,

00:33:50.220 you know,

00:33:50.500 little ones,

00:33:51.280 they like curl up

00:33:51.980 inside of you

00:33:52.680 and like they're just

00:33:53.520 nuzzled in.

00:33:55.460 But she,

00:33:56.500 you also know

00:33:57.380 that it can be

00:33:57.900 very acrobatic

00:33:58.620 when a three-year-old

00:33:59.600 is in your bed

00:34:00.260 and somehow their feet

00:34:01.540 end up on your face.

00:34:02.680 So I said,

00:34:03.340 I want you to have

00:34:03.820 a good night's sleep.

00:34:04.700 Go ahead and sleep

00:34:05.280 in her room.

00:34:06.860 And I'll turn the air down

00:34:07.960 so it's nice and cozy

00:34:09.200 in there.

00:34:09.780 And I just want you

00:34:11.080 to get a good night's sleep

00:34:11.900 so you can be amazing

00:34:13.200 tomorrow.

00:34:14.620 And so Gigi and I

00:34:15.820 stayed in our room

00:34:16.540 and that morning

00:34:17.640 he woke up super early

00:34:18.640 and he came into

00:34:19.600 our bedroom,

00:34:21.480 into the bathroom

00:34:22.420 because that's where

00:34:22.920 his wedding ring was

00:34:23.920 and his necklace.

00:34:24.960 And he came in

00:34:25.460 and he grabbed that

00:34:26.240 and then he left.

00:34:28.060 I didn't even get

00:34:28.400 to give him a kiss goodbye.

00:34:30.980 Oh, what's that?

00:34:32.000 In the chat,

00:34:32.540 people are saying,

00:34:33.780 a clue, a clue.

00:34:34.560 Did you guys see clues?

00:34:36.180 Oh, okay.

00:34:36.980 Well, let me revisit that.

00:34:37.760 Let me actually reiterate

00:34:39.040 what Erica is saying

00:34:40.620 happened the night before

00:34:41.960 because it doesn't make

00:34:43.280 any sense.

00:34:44.020 Well, to me,

00:34:47.300 it makes perfect sense.

00:34:48.400 I mean, there's nothing

00:34:48.900 unusual about anything

00:34:50.160 in that interview,

00:34:50.980 but let's see what

00:34:53.220 Candace says about it.

00:34:55.900 She says,

00:34:56.660 Charlie was so excited

00:34:57.760 and then she quotes.

00:34:59.900 He was like,

00:35:00.720 I can't wait.

00:35:02.080 It's going to be the best.

00:35:04.020 End quote.

00:35:05.040 It's a quotation from Charlie.

00:35:06.100 I can't wait.

00:35:07.080 It's going to be the best.

00:35:08.340 Okay, can I ask why?

00:35:10.160 Why was UVU

00:35:12.260 going to be the best?

00:35:14.600 Has Charlie never been

00:35:15.260 to UVU before?

00:35:15.940 No, he has actually.

00:35:16.580 He's been with me.

00:35:17.100 I've done UVU with him.

00:35:18.340 I honestly have done

00:35:19.080 a lot of college events.

00:35:19.920 I've never seen

00:35:21.160 this level of excitement

00:35:22.320 to go sit down

00:35:24.100 with a bunch of teenagers,

00:35:25.560 mostly who are over-coddled

00:35:27.420 by their parents

00:35:28.280 and who are going to be shouting

00:35:30.060 all sorts of questions like you.

00:35:32.260 It was going to be the best?

00:35:34.140 We already did it.

00:35:35.120 Why was it going to be better?

00:35:36.000 I feel offended.

00:35:37.220 I thought we had

00:35:37.960 a good experience up at UVU.

00:35:40.760 Certainly wouldn't have

00:35:41.420 described it as the best

00:35:42.300 and wouldn't be on the brink

00:35:43.400 of my seat

00:35:45.160 looking to go back,

00:35:46.740 itching to go back to UVU.

00:35:48.400 So that's weird.

00:35:50.420 So the idea is that Charlie

00:35:51.800 wouldn't have been excited

00:35:53.740 about the start

00:35:54.380 of his fall campus tour,

00:35:55.500 even though he'd be greeted

00:35:56.340 by thousands of fans

00:35:57.680 and clearly enjoyed

00:35:58.680 getting out of the studio.

00:36:00.540 There's nothing weird

00:36:01.700 about the fact

00:36:02.320 that Charlie enjoyed

00:36:03.420 doing his life's work.

00:36:05.000 It also is, by the way,

00:36:06.080 perfectly consistent

00:36:06.720 with everything I saw

00:36:07.740 from him personally.

00:36:08.420 He was always amped

00:36:09.700 and excited at any event

00:36:11.040 where I saw him.

00:36:13.500 Let's continue.

00:36:14.880 She then says that Charlie 0.97

00:36:16.520 woke up for a snack

00:36:18.100 at 2.45 in the morning

00:36:20.200 and apparently he was so loud,

00:36:23.140 the apartment's small,

00:36:24.520 and maybe it was his excitement,

00:36:25.580 he's like,

00:36:25.940 yeah, UVU, yeah,

00:36:28.940 I'm so excited.

00:36:29.920 Who knows?

00:36:30.840 Okay, we're not clear on that.

00:36:32.980 But the implication is

00:36:34.440 that's what woke up

00:36:35.360 her three-year-old daughter

00:36:36.260 at 2.45 in the morning.

00:36:38.080 That's not when toddlers

00:36:39.080 at the age of three

00:36:39.600 wake up, okay?

00:36:40.340 These are sleep-trained toddlers, okay?

00:36:43.300 Gigi wakes up at 2.45,

00:36:44.560 three-year-old kid

00:36:45.200 who should be

00:36:47.220 in the REM stage of sleep.

00:36:49.160 Toddlers knock out.

00:36:50.160 Maybe Gigi is a light sleeper.

00:36:51.900 It's also just curious

00:36:54.360 that they're all awake.

00:36:56.200 It's 2.45 a.m. in the morning.

00:36:58.700 I don't know what's going on.

00:37:00.760 But toddlers do wake up

00:37:02.280 at 3 a.m.

00:37:02.920 I mean, I have a toddler right now

00:37:04.200 who wakes up in the middle of the night

00:37:05.340 almost every night.

00:37:06.260 In fact,

00:37:06.780 every one of our six children

00:37:08.200 have gone through that phase

00:37:09.560 around that age.

00:37:11.740 It's the most normal thing

00:37:13.060 in the world.

00:37:14.420 So there's simply no reason at all

00:37:15.820 to think that she lied about this.

00:37:17.720 And even if you do think

00:37:20.180 she lied about it,

00:37:21.660 still,

00:37:22.260 and maybe you're sensing

00:37:23.040 a theme here,

00:37:24.080 it would not be evidence

00:37:25.800 of any crime.

00:37:28.500 But it continues.

00:37:29.620 Watch.

00:37:29.840 Maybe,

00:37:31.940 maybe there's noise,

00:37:34.860 not from excitement,

00:37:35.780 but maybe an argument.

00:37:38.200 Maybe there was an argument.

00:37:39.240 That would make more sense to me,

00:37:40.520 especially when we add in

00:37:42.620 how she concludes that portion

00:37:44.280 by telling us

00:37:45.300 that Charlie took off

00:37:46.220 his wedding ring

00:37:47.200 during that same night,

00:37:49.060 which is why he,

00:37:50.600 of course,

00:37:50.780 then had to put it back

00:37:51.540 on the next morning.

00:37:53.660 And Erica says

00:37:54.900 that he snuck in

00:37:55.460 the next morning

00:37:55.880 to put that wedding band on.

00:37:57.560 I immediately,

00:37:58.980 immediately clocked that.

00:38:00.540 Even when that interview was live,

00:38:01.740 I said,

00:38:02.020 that's weird,

00:38:02.400 just because I know Charlie.

00:38:03.380 But I couldn't explain that

00:38:04.060 to the audience.

00:38:04.500 I know Charlie.

00:38:04.960 Charlie's the kind of person

00:38:05.820 who could sleep

00:38:06.800 with his boots on,

00:38:07.760 like this little ring.

00:38:09.060 I don't know

00:38:10.080 virtually any men.

00:38:12.360 Truly,

00:38:12.580 I don't know any,

00:38:13.220 but obviously,

00:38:13.980 I'm assuming there are.

00:38:14.720 Maybe you've got a funky

00:38:15.520 little band

00:38:16.600 and maybe your hands

00:38:18.240 swollen with some of her.

00:38:18.800 I don't know,

00:38:19.320 that like meticulously

00:38:20.620 take that little band off.

00:38:22.400 Charlie doesn't strike me

00:38:23.740 as the type of person

00:38:24.260 who would do that.

00:38:25.000 I said,

00:38:25.380 that seems a little off.

00:38:29.340 Now,

00:38:29.960 you know,

00:38:30.080 I mentioned before

00:38:30.880 how these kinds

00:38:31.620 of conspiracy theories

00:38:32.500 not only draw

00:38:33.380 unsupported conclusions

00:38:34.540 based on irrelevant

00:38:35.600 and sometimes imaginary details,

00:38:37.360 but that the theories

00:38:38.480 actually make less sense

00:38:40.140 of the irrelevant details.

00:38:42.480 And we see that again here.

00:38:44.220 If Erica is a criminal mastermind

00:38:46.540 who's managed to avoid detection

00:38:47.960 for her nefarious plots 1.00

00:38:49.180 and she's in league 0.93

00:38:50.700 with the U.S. military

00:38:51.560 and other extremely

00:38:53.060 powerful organizations,

00:38:54.520 then why would she also confess

00:38:56.500 live on primetime television

00:38:57.780 to numerous incriminating details

00:38:59.640 for no reason whatsoever?

00:39:02.580 She didn't have to mention

00:39:03.560 anything about the wedding ring,

00:39:04.860 which, by the way,

00:39:05.920 many men do take off at night.

00:39:08.460 She didn't have to mention

00:39:09.440 anything about the bed

00:39:10.640 that Charlie slept in

00:39:11.600 or the toddler waking up.

00:39:13.560 But Erica slipped up, 0.99

00:39:15.300 apparently,

00:39:15.640 and revealed all of these

00:39:16.600 incriminating details

00:39:17.340 because in all her sinister planning,

00:39:19.540 she couldn't think

00:39:20.120 of a good cover story.

00:39:22.100 Now, if Erica is hiding 0.97

00:39:23.160 some sinister truth,

00:39:25.140 none of that makes sense.

00:39:27.900 She would be doing

00:39:28.700 the opposite

00:39:29.380 of what she's actually doing

00:39:31.700 in real life.

00:39:34.140 Continuing.

00:39:36.300 I also want to add

00:39:38.260 this little tidbit.

00:39:39.500 Erica is,

00:39:41.060 as you're going to see,

00:39:42.760 exceedingly uncomfortable

00:39:44.500 discussing Charlie's final day.

00:39:46.820 Fox News had to use

00:39:48.380 a lot of cuts.

00:39:49.920 A lot of,

00:39:50.800 you could,

00:39:51.160 now that I'm telling you that

00:39:51.940 and you watch,

00:39:52.400 you're going to go,

00:39:52.780 oh yeah,

00:39:53.000 they're cutting

00:39:53.540 and kind of like

00:39:55.180 putting her answer

00:39:55.940 in a different place.

00:39:57.040 Very obviously

00:39:58.240 and poorly edited out

00:39:59.740 entire portions

00:40:01.000 when Jessie asks her

00:40:02.240 a fairly simple question.

00:40:04.000 Tell me about

00:40:05.180 the day before the shooting.

00:40:07.100 That would be

00:40:07.440 Charlie's last full day

00:40:09.080 on Earth.

00:40:12.240 So Erica is exceedingly

00:40:13.620 uncomfortable describing

00:40:14.520 Charlie's final day.

00:40:15.500 Well, that again

00:40:16.340 makes perfect sense to me.

00:40:18.260 She is uncomfortable

00:40:19.140 describing the last day

00:40:20.280 that her husband

00:40:20.820 was alive on this planet.

00:40:23.420 I think I would be too

00:40:24.580 in her shoes.

00:40:26.580 And this is another

00:40:27.340 common theme.

00:40:28.260 Things that are

00:40:28.820 perfectly understandable

00:40:29.900 and normal

00:40:30.860 are recast

00:40:32.680 as ominous

00:40:33.660 and bizarre.

00:40:34.580 For example,

00:40:35.060 Erica has

00:40:35.600 frequently been criticized

00:40:37.000 for not announcing

00:40:38.280 the exact location

00:40:39.440 of her husband's

00:40:40.440 burial site.

00:40:42.140 And the implication,

00:40:42.920 again,

00:40:43.280 is that she's hiding

00:40:44.480 some dark secret.

00:40:45.660 But the much more

00:40:46.220 reasonable and plausible

00:40:47.360 and totally

00:40:48.360 understandable explanation

00:40:49.820 is that she doesn't

00:40:51.260 want leftists

00:40:52.140 showing up

00:40:52.820 and defacing

00:40:53.960 her husband's grave,

00:40:55.000 which we all know

00:40:55.820 they would do.

00:40:56.680 And she doesn't want 0.98

00:40:57.580 random deranged people

00:40:58.760 showing up

00:40:59.300 and trying to exhume

00:41:00.260 his body

00:41:00.700 so that they can conduct

00:41:01.460 their own unofficial

00:41:02.500 forensic analysis,

00:41:03.620 which would also

00:41:05.280 probably happen.

00:41:06.260 So again,

00:41:06.920 we have no evidence

00:41:08.200 of any crime at all,

00:41:09.760 least of all the crime,

00:41:11.120 of conspiring 0.93

00:41:11.880 to kill her husband. 0.99

00:41:13.920 But by far, 1.00

00:41:14.920 the number one piece

00:41:15.620 of evidence

00:41:16.060 against Erica,

00:41:17.560 the thing that really

00:41:18.920 got the conspiracy

00:41:19.620 theories rolling

00:41:20.420 and which fuels them

00:41:22.240 even now,

00:41:23.260 is the same thing

00:41:24.760 that put the Sandy Hook

00:41:25.720 parents in the crosshairs.

00:41:27.480 It is Erica's

00:41:28.640 general demeanor

00:41:29.800 in public,

00:41:30.640 her facial expressions,

00:41:32.720 what she wears.

00:41:33.660 It's definitely

00:41:34.700 not just Candace

00:41:35.840 drawing sinister conclusions

00:41:37.300 based on Erica's

00:41:38.300 wardrobe and body language.

00:41:39.620 It's all over the internet.

00:41:40.400 It's all over the place.

00:41:41.040 The Daily Mail

00:41:42.040 even published

00:41:42.700 this headline this week.

00:41:44.700 As Erica Kirk

00:41:45.320 finally comes out of hiding

00:41:46.600 at the State of the Union,

00:41:47.780 shock new expose

00:41:48.920 plagues giggling widow 0.94

00:41:50.480 who can't shake questions

00:41:52.100 over her tears

00:41:52.960 and those leather pants.

00:41:56.000 Now, it's strange

00:41:57.000 that Erica is accused

00:41:58.060 of being in hiding.

00:41:59.160 She's also accused 0.58

00:41:59.860 of being too public,

00:42:01.620 too hungry for the spotlight.

00:42:03.520 So somehow she's guilty

00:42:04.900 of being too visible

00:42:05.980 and not visible enough

00:42:08.100 at the exact same time.

00:42:09.280 I've never seen anyone

00:42:11.880 in my life

00:42:12.940 who has been put

00:42:13.600 in such a morbidly absurd

00:42:15.400 lose-lose situation.

00:42:17.320 If Erica laughs,

00:42:18.540 she's criticized

00:42:19.040 for not crying.

00:42:20.080 If she cries,

00:42:20.980 her tears are fake.

00:42:21.920 If she's out in public,

00:42:22.840 she should be home grieving.

00:42:23.740 If she's home grieving,

00:42:24.440 she should stop hiding

00:42:25.320 and come out in the public.

00:42:26.520 If she laughs, 0.81

00:42:27.320 she's a cruel, 1.00

00:42:28.360 unfeeling psychopath. 1.00

00:42:29.400 If she frowns, 0.99

00:42:30.560 she's an icy, 0.72

00:42:31.540 scheming villain. 0.89

00:42:32.260 Literally no matter

00:42:35.140 what this woman does, 1.00

00:42:37.160 no matter what she says,

00:42:38.560 how she looks,

00:42:39.440 what facial expression

00:42:40.460 she displays,

00:42:41.500 it is used as evidence

00:42:43.020 against her.

00:42:44.680 Look at this tweet

00:42:45.640 from the news outlet RT.

00:42:48.320 It says,

00:42:48.860 Erica Kirk's

00:42:49.680 State of the Union

00:42:50.360 demeanor goes viral.

00:42:52.140 Commenters on social media

00:42:53.440 argued Charlie Kirk's widow

00:42:54.680 was acting weird,

00:42:55.820 fake,

00:42:56.040 and performative

00:42:56.780 at the State of the Union address.

00:42:58.600 Do you spot anything?

00:42:59.640 And you can see the video there.

00:43:03.340 Well, the answer is no.

00:43:06.360 I don't spot anything strange.

00:43:08.540 She's just sitting there.

00:43:11.360 What do you want her to do? 0.98

00:43:13.440 At some point,

00:43:14.480 she looks like

00:43:15.260 she's getting emotional.

00:43:16.260 At other points,

00:43:16.720 she smiles in response

00:43:17.780 to something Trump says

00:43:18.680 from the podium.

00:43:19.760 She looks up.

00:43:20.900 She looks down.

00:43:23.500 What do you want?

00:43:25.180 What is the precise

00:43:26.500 facial expression

00:43:27.500 that Erica Kirk

00:43:28.380 is supposed to have?

00:43:29.540 Maybe one of her critics

00:43:30.660 can show us.

00:43:31.640 Go ahead and prescribe

00:43:32.520 for Erica

00:43:33.300 exactly what her face

00:43:34.880 is supposed to look like

00:43:36.480 at all times. 0.98

00:43:39.340 This is completely ridiculous. 0.97

00:43:42.220 I mean, 0.98

00:43:42.420 we're at the point now

00:43:43.360 where Erica's facial expressions

00:43:44.780 are being judged

00:43:45.820 on a second-by-second basis.

00:43:48.900 People are parsing

00:43:49.880 the slightest move

00:43:50.880 of an eyebrow

00:43:51.540 and looking for evidence

00:43:53.320 of something sinister.

00:43:55.840 I don't think

00:43:56.620 it's an exaggeration

00:43:57.380 to say that nobody

00:43:58.300 in history

00:43:59.520 has ever been subjected

00:44:01.680 to this intense level

00:44:03.300 of scrutiny

00:44:03.860 so much

00:44:05.380 that they literally

00:44:06.140 can't smile

00:44:07.260 or use a tissue

00:44:08.500 without 10,000 people

00:44:11.040 on the internet

00:44:11.540 attacking them

00:44:12.300 in the most ruthless

00:44:13.080 and uncharitable terms

00:44:14.020 possible.

00:44:14.600 I've never seen

00:44:15.340 anything like it.

00:44:15.940 If you have,

00:44:16.400 let me know.

00:44:18.760 Now,

00:44:19.240 I've heard it argued

00:44:19.900 by Candace

00:44:20.580 and many others

00:44:21.200 that Erica

00:44:22.760 has put herself

00:44:23.740 in line

00:44:24.200 for this level

00:44:24.900 of scrutiny

00:44:25.420 by assuming

00:44:26.120 the role

00:44:26.720 of CEO.

00:44:28.360 Now,

00:44:28.960 I'm not sure

00:44:29.600 why a person

00:44:30.740 becoming CEO

00:44:31.500 of an organization

00:44:32.240 inherently justifies

00:44:33.540 ripping their life apart.

00:44:35.120 I'm not aware

00:44:36.120 of any other CEO

00:44:37.060 who's ever been subjected

00:44:38.420 to anything like this.

00:44:40.420 It seems more

00:44:41.340 that her becoming CEO

00:44:42.260 offers a pretense

00:44:43.560 for the criticism,

00:44:45.020 not a necessary reason

00:44:46.680 for it.

00:44:48.220 And in any case,

00:44:49.820 even if becoming CEO

00:44:51.180 makes her a candidate 0.75

00:44:52.080 for increased scrutiny,

00:44:54.620 what it doesn't do

00:44:56.360 is lower

00:44:57.720 the evidentiary bar

00:44:59.500 for everybody else

00:45:00.860 before accusing her

00:45:02.360 of nefarious crimes

00:45:03.560 or implying

00:45:04.260 that she's guilty

00:45:04.920 of them.

00:45:06.220 Her becoming CEO

00:45:07.080 does not give anyone

00:45:08.340 moral license

00:45:09.620 to make wild

00:45:11.080 and defamatory

00:45:12.080 speculations

00:45:12.940 about her.

00:45:13.880 And anyway,

00:45:14.540 her decision

00:45:14.980 to become CEO

00:45:15.480 is not surprising.

00:45:17.880 It certainly

00:45:18.400 is not scandalous.

00:45:19.540 Wanting to keep

00:45:21.980 a man's life work

00:45:22.980 in the family

00:45:23.760 to preserve his legacy

00:45:24.840 is an understandable

00:45:26.660 instinct,

00:45:27.600 and by the way,

00:45:28.480 a very conservative one.

00:45:31.300 Now, as to her behavior,

00:45:32.860 I personally don't think

00:45:34.140 that she's been acting

00:45:34.860 strange at all.

00:45:36.340 But if you do,

00:45:38.440 then here's your explanation.

00:45:40.620 Not that Erica owes you one.

00:45:42.840 Any human being

00:45:44.020 under that much scrutiny

00:45:45.240 in a situation

00:45:46.920 this traumatic

00:45:48.680 and terrible

00:45:49.240 would behave strangely.

00:45:51.720 Indeed,

00:45:52.040 I don't even know

00:45:52.740 what a normal reaction

00:45:53.760 would be.

00:45:55.480 This is not

00:45:56.280 a normal circumstance.

00:45:57.600 We have no frame

00:45:58.500 of reference for it.

00:46:00.080 Our only frame

00:46:00.960 of reference

00:46:01.360 is how private people

00:46:02.720 mourning much less

00:46:03.860 public deaths

00:46:04.840 behave.

00:46:06.200 And even based

00:46:06.800 on that comparison,

00:46:07.520 a comparison which is

00:46:08.200 not entirely fair to Erica,

00:46:09.920 still her behavior 1.00

00:46:10.720 is wholly understandable.

00:46:12.780 Grieving people

00:46:13.460 often laugh.

00:46:14.840 They smile.

00:46:15.540 Other times,

00:46:16.080 they're crying.

00:46:16.600 They try to compartmentalize

00:46:17.860 their grief and carry on

00:46:19.060 hiding their trauma

00:46:19.920 as best they can.

00:46:21.040 That's what Erica

00:46:21.720 is clearly doing.

00:46:22.820 And she's doing it

00:46:23.500 while trying her best

00:46:24.300 to carry on her husband's

00:46:25.400 legacy and life's work,

00:46:27.380 which is what she feels

00:46:29.260 called to do.

00:46:29.960 Again,

00:46:30.500 that is not difficult

00:46:31.340 for a reasonable person

00:46:32.940 to understand.

00:46:34.260 But all of this

00:46:37.280 is irrelevant.

00:46:39.080 Even if you don't like

00:46:40.460 how she acts,

00:46:42.500 the pants she wears,

00:46:44.140 her facial expressions,

00:46:45.460 anything else,

00:46:47.320 you have no actual

00:46:48.980 evidence-based reason

00:46:50.460 to think that she is

00:46:51.800 guilty of committing

00:46:52.680 any crime.

00:46:54.260 And if she isn't guilty

00:46:55.420 of a crime,

00:46:56.740 then all you're doing

00:46:58.960 is nitpicking a widow,

00:47:01.060 which is every bit

00:47:02.440 like critiquing the color

00:47:04.080 of somebody's nail polish

00:47:05.600 while you watch them

00:47:06.560 drown in the ocean

00:47:07.620 and make no attempt

00:47:08.540 to help.

00:47:09.180 Yes,

00:47:10.040 maybe she made 0.95

00:47:10.960 an odd choice

00:47:11.640 of nail polish that day.

00:47:13.660 She's also drowning. 0.96

00:47:15.620 And that would seem

00:47:16.760 to be the more salient fact.

00:47:19.500 And it's interesting

00:47:20.260 to me to note

00:47:21.460 that Tyler Robinson

00:47:22.580 is not subjected

00:47:23.800 to even a fraction

00:47:25.180 of the public scrutiny,

00:47:26.720 even though all

00:47:27.660 of the evidence,

00:47:29.740 literally all

00:47:30.800 of the evidence

00:47:31.660 points to him.

00:47:33.460 There is no evidence

00:47:36.120 connecting Erica

00:47:37.400 to the crime.

00:47:38.520 All of it.

00:47:39.720 All of the evidence

00:47:40.740 we do have,

00:47:41.540 every bit of it

00:47:42.400 connects Tyler Robinson

00:47:43.600 to it,

00:47:44.000 and yet for some reason

00:47:44.840 he's not the subject

00:47:46.520 of public scorn.

00:47:49.380 Instead,

00:47:49.960 it all goes

00:47:50.600 to the widow

00:47:51.640 of the man he killed.

00:47:56.020 So I've laid out

00:47:57.200 over these past

00:47:59.000 45 minutes or so

00:47:59.980 the argument.

00:48:02.040 I've made the case.

00:48:03.180 I've tried to explain

00:48:05.160 as thoroughly

00:48:06.860 and systematically

00:48:07.860 as I can

00:48:08.660 why Candace's 0.93

00:48:11.460 claims about Erica

00:48:12.720 and insinuations

00:48:14.140 about her

00:48:14.640 are not based

00:48:16.100 in fact.

00:48:17.740 And having done that,

00:48:19.060 I'd like to now,

00:48:21.220 if you'll forgive me,

00:48:22.540 merely as epilogue,

00:48:24.300 speak on a more emotional

00:48:25.580 and personal level

00:48:26.480 for a moment.

00:48:27.720 I admit

00:48:30.360 that I have

00:48:30.880 a certain advantage

00:48:31.880 when it comes

00:48:32.360 to assessing

00:48:32.860 Erica's actions

00:48:33.820 and motives.

00:48:34.540 I've spoken to her

00:48:35.300 multiple times

00:48:35.980 since Charlie died.

00:48:37.320 You don't need

00:48:38.040 to know her

00:48:38.500 or speak to her

00:48:39.160 to understand

00:48:39.620 that the accusations

00:48:40.560 and insinuations

00:48:41.300 against her

00:48:41.860 are utterly

00:48:42.780 without merit.

00:48:43.900 You don't need

00:48:44.460 to know her

00:48:45.120 or speak to her

00:48:45.880 to understand

00:48:46.420 that there is

00:48:46.880 no legitimate reason,

00:48:48.120 no evidence

00:48:48.700 to justify treating her

00:48:49.760 with anything but

00:48:50.640 compassion and sympathy.

00:48:52.720 You don't need

00:48:53.220 to know her

00:48:53.840 or speak to her

00:48:54.420 to understand

00:48:54.900 the biblical mandate

00:48:55.980 to be kind

00:48:56.760 to widows.

00:48:58.380 But if you did

00:48:59.380 speak to her,

00:49:00.800 you would see,

00:49:03.000 as I have

00:49:03.940 clear as day,

00:49:05.040 that this woman

00:49:06.340 is completely

00:49:07.340 devastated,

00:49:09.140 broken into

00:49:09.940 a thousand pieces

00:49:11.160 by this tragedy.

00:49:12.460 She is shattered.

00:49:13.500 She is crushed.

00:49:15.060 And now,

00:49:16.020 already grief-stricken

00:49:17.260 and gutted,

00:49:18.580 she must deal

00:49:19.720 with public scorn,

00:49:21.180 mockery,

00:49:21.640 and defamation

00:49:22.260 unlike anything

00:49:23.140 I've ever seen

00:49:23.960 in my life,

00:49:25.200 much less

00:49:26.100 experienced myself.

00:49:28.880 If you're worried

00:49:29.800 that she isn't

00:49:30.560 sad enough,

00:49:34.020 fear not,

00:49:34.740 I can report

00:49:35.400 she's sad.

00:49:36.700 She is very,

00:49:37.640 very sad.

00:49:39.960 And if for some

00:49:41.000 unknown reason

00:49:41.720 it makes you feel

00:49:42.340 better to know that,

00:49:44.040 well,

00:49:44.560 now you do.

00:49:46.860 The other thing

00:49:47.600 you notice about

00:49:48.560 Erica,

00:49:49.360 if you talk to her

00:49:49.840 in real life,

00:49:50.360 is that she is

00:49:51.400 a real person

00:49:52.220 dealing with

00:49:53.740 a real thing.

00:49:56.100 Everybody else

00:49:56.840 on the internet

00:49:57.260 has the benefit

00:49:57.880 of treating

00:49:58.320 this whole thing

00:49:58.960 like some kind

00:49:59.640 of game,

00:50:00.280 a piece of content

00:50:01.600 that you watch

00:50:02.440 and then scroll past.

00:50:03.820 You engage

00:50:04.320 with the story

00:50:04.900 in bits and pieces

00:50:05.600 when you want to

00:50:06.240 here and there,

00:50:06.940 and then you don't.

00:50:08.080 I'm talking about it

00:50:08.860 right now

00:50:09.260 as an episode

00:50:09.840 of my podcast.

00:50:12.320 Candice has done

00:50:12.980 many episodes

00:50:13.580 about it.

00:50:15.980 Erica lives

00:50:16.600 with it

00:50:16.940 every second

00:50:17.660 of every day.

00:50:19.440 This is her life.

00:50:21.980 It's not a game

00:50:22.860 for her.

00:50:23.240 It's not content.

00:50:24.020 It's her life.

00:50:25.900 Now,

00:50:26.300 I've talked about

00:50:26.920 how deeply

00:50:27.420 Charlie's death

00:50:28.160 affected me

00:50:28.800 and it did.

00:50:30.060 I was changed

00:50:30.940 by it

00:50:31.320 and not for the

00:50:31.940 better,

00:50:32.220 I'm sorry to say.

00:50:32.940 I'm an angrier

00:50:33.580 person now.

00:50:34.220 I admit that.

00:50:36.320 But I also

00:50:37.020 recognize that

00:50:37.760 even in the

00:50:38.280 immediate aftermath

00:50:39.020 of his death,

00:50:39.800 I could still

00:50:40.460 put my phone

00:50:41.140 down and turn

00:50:42.200 off the TV

00:50:42.840 and try to

00:50:44.580 take my mind

00:50:45.380 off the tragedy

00:50:46.160 and go spend

00:50:46.900 time with my

00:50:47.520 family,

00:50:48.040 with my wife

00:50:48.680 who is alive

00:50:49.320 and my children

00:50:50.120 who are happy

00:50:50.780 and safe

00:50:51.860 with two parents

00:50:52.620 who love them.

00:50:53.640 I have that luxury.

00:50:55.040 So does Candice.

00:50:57.240 Erica does not.

00:50:59.720 When I was trying

00:51:00.480 to take my mind

00:51:01.140 off of things,

00:51:01.680 do you know

00:51:01.880 what Erica was doing?

00:51:02.700 She was explaining

00:51:03.400 to her young children

00:51:04.240 that their daddy

00:51:04.920 will never be coming

00:51:05.760 home.

00:51:07.180 Do you know

00:51:07.740 what that's like?

00:51:09.740 Have you ever

00:51:10.420 had to have

00:51:11.020 a conversation

00:51:11.480 like that?

00:51:14.320 I haven't.

00:51:15.080 I pray I never

00:51:16.740 do.

00:51:18.000 And every night

00:51:18.960 since that day

00:51:19.780 while I am happily

00:51:20.720 at home with my

00:51:21.460 family and Candice

00:51:22.420 is with hers,

00:51:23.140 Erica is home

00:51:23.820 with two children

00:51:24.580 who are suffering

00:51:25.660 a trauma that

00:51:26.420 they're far too

00:51:27.060 young to process

00:51:27.740 while she carries

00:51:28.880 a grief that

00:51:29.520 most of us

00:51:29.980 can't comprehend

00:51:30.640 and all the while

00:51:31.760 she is gleefully

00:51:32.660 ripped to pieces

00:51:33.640 by hordes of people

00:51:35.360 who cannot muster

00:51:36.820 even the faintest

00:51:37.760 shred of sympathy

00:51:38.640 for her.

00:51:42.640 Will anything

00:51:43.440 I'm saying

00:51:43.880 right now

00:51:44.240 change that?

00:51:46.060 Will it make

00:51:46.840 any difference

00:51:47.380 at all?

00:51:49.500 I don't know.

00:51:51.040 Probably not.

00:51:53.220 Is it likely

00:51:54.100 to persuade Candice

00:51:55.140 or any of her fans

00:51:56.140 or anyone else

00:51:56.920 who's been attacking

00:51:57.540 Erica?

00:51:59.800 That's probably

00:52:00.560 unlikely

00:52:00.980 though I can

00:52:02.300 always hope.

00:52:04.540 You know

00:52:05.100 there's a debate

00:52:05.620 on the right

00:52:06.140 right now

00:52:07.380 about the best

00:52:08.180 way to defend

00:52:09.160 Charlie's family

00:52:10.080 and legacy

00:52:10.600 through all of this.

00:52:12.480 Is it better

00:52:13.320 to starve

00:52:14.000 the conspiracy

00:52:14.620 theories

00:52:15.080 of attention

00:52:15.580 deprive them

00:52:16.300 of oxygen

00:52:16.840 or should we

00:52:18.120 focus on them

00:52:18.700 intently?

00:52:19.420 Should we

00:52:20.000 scream and shout 0.85

00:52:20.920 and get angry?

00:52:22.140 Should we

00:52:22.820 approach the issue

00:52:23.700 objectively

00:52:24.360 and offer a

00:52:25.100 dispassionate

00:52:25.880 rebuttal?

00:52:26.320 I'll be honest

00:52:28.820 I'll be honest with you

00:52:29.020 I've argued

00:52:29.440 with myself

00:52:29.900 about this

00:52:30.440 I don't know

00:52:32.200 the answer

00:52:32.640 all I know

00:52:34.420 is that Erica

00:52:34.940 Kirk is a victim

00:52:35.940 not a culprit

00:52:36.680 or a conspirator

00:52:37.560 she doesn't

00:52:39.060 she doesn't deserve 1.00

00:52:39.700 she doesn't deserve 1.00

00:52:39.720 any of this

00:52:40.400 what she deserves

00:52:42.260 is sympathy

00:52:43.040 and maybe a little

00:52:45.520 bit of grace

00:52:46.120 and if we really

00:52:48.060 loved and admired

00:52:48.860 Charlie

00:52:49.260 then extending

00:52:51.420 that basic level

00:52:52.640 of decency

00:52:53.180 to his wife

00:52:53.900 is the least

00:52:56.520 we can do

00:52:57.000 that'll do it

00:53:00.120 for the show

00:53:00.480 today

00:53:00.760 and this week

00:53:01.460 I'll talk to you

00:53:02.380 next week

00:53:03.200 have a great

00:53:04.520 weekend

00:53:04.860 Godspeed

00:53:06.200 The 2026 Maverick

00:53:08.980 with Ford Flex

00:53:09.800 Bed Storage System

00:53:10.740 for those that

00:53:11.960 see more than

00:53:12.520 a stack of lumber

00:53:13.380 more than

00:53:14.820 four empty walls

00:53:15.940 more than

00:53:18.440 just a blank page

00:53:19.720 The Ford Maverick

00:53:21.440 made to fit

00:53:22.580 designed to flex

00:53:23.900 Right now

00:53:25.000 get purchase financing

00:53:25.940 from 4.99% APR

00:53:27.680 for up to 72 months

00:53:28.800 on all 2026

00:53:30.000 Maverick models

00:53:30.880 Visit your

00:53:32.060 Toronto area

00:53:32.660 Ford store

00:53:33.260 or Ford.ca

00:53:34.220 today

The Matt Walsh Show - February 26, 2026

Ep. 1741 - Debunking the Erika Kirk Conspiracy Theories

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript