Erika Kirk Was Used to Make America “Feel Bad,” Candace Owens Accuses White House Military Office

Candace Owens has accused the White House Military Office (WHMO) of orchestrating a media campaign to promote Erika Kirk‘s emotional video after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) shooting on Saturday, April 25. 

Owens alleged that the WHMO sent an internal military email one hour after the shooting, and directed the amplification of Kirk’s crying clip while exiting the ballroom, where a visibly shaken Kirk was seen saying, “I just wanna go home.” The video had gained quick traction on social media after it first emerged online. 

Owens took to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, May 14, and reiterated what she had earlier said on her podcast. “Approximately 1 hour following the WHCD shooting, the White House Military Office sent an email directing the amplification of Erika Kirk’s ‘I want to go home’ video clip,” she tweeted. 

The commentator then alleged that the unverified e-mail was mistakenly sent to the wrong internal groups, and that recipients were ordered to destroy it after IT “failed to revoke” them. 

“I have manually retyped the relevant portion of the email that they wanted destroyed,” she wrote.

Owens added a snapshot of the unverified e-mail, which included a “current digital assessment” of Kirk’s crying clip that had the “highest engagement” among all other content emerging from the incident. 

The digital assessment, as per the image shared by Owens, noted that the aforementioned video had the “strongest emotional-response asset associated with the incident, high cross-ideological circulation, elevated repost velocity among political commentary accounts, and increasing use as a symbolic framing device regarding media conduct and national stability narratives.”

The alleged email also contained an instruction asking recipients to “coordinate with our digital partners and approved surrogates to elevate reach and ensure dominant placement in the overnight information environment.”

Owens then posed two pointed questions: “Why did the military so quickly prioritize making Erika Kirk the face of WHCD shooting? Is that normal emergency protocol or was this unnaturally preplanned?”

In another follow-up post, Owens claimed that the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s team was “cc’ed on the email.” “This is weird and the public should demand answers regarding why an hour after the shooting, the military is concerning itself with boosting Erika Kirk as a part of a psychological operation.”

She also asked why Erika Kirk, 37 — widow of the late Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA CEO — was present at the West Wing before the shooting. She further questioned who the “surrogates” named in the e-mail are. 

Owens claims that, through the alleged coordination, the Donald Trump government wants to make the public “feel bad for Erika Kirk,” according to IBT UK. The political commentator, 37, said that this has been a consistent aim of the government. 

‘That’s kind of been a focus of the White House,’ Owens said. “There is an unnatural alliance here between Turning Point USA and the White House. It’s too much. It’s feeling a bit squishy in here.”

She said that current ties between TPUSA and the Trump administration should invite skepticism from those with “common sense.” She also raised questions about the financial and political ties involving Kirk’s TPUSA. 

The alleged e-mail shared by Owens has not yet been verified externally, and the White House has not publicly confirmed or denied her bombshell claims.