By Catholics for Catholics
In a recent interview, podcasters Candace Owens and Baron Coleman discussed information they had both received about a recent slew of layoffs at Turning Point USA (TPUSA), the organization formerly headed by the late Charlie Kirk. His widow, Erika Kirk, is now at the helm as CEO.
Although the exact number of firings is disputed – Coleman heard somewhere between 30 and 40 people were fired, while Owens said she thought the figure was more like between 12 to 15 – some of these recently fired TPUSA employees have come forward and shared the bizarre circumstances in which they were let go.
Owens shared a clip from a female employee who secretly recorded her interaction with a man named “Frank,” assumed to be Frank Carni, the General Counsel for TPUSA. In the video, this female employee sounds caught completely off guard that she is being fired, saying she’s been working 80-90 hour weeks and has never had any questions about her work performance. Frank offers her no explanation, and just repeats that she needs to leave the property. The employee repeatedly asks for documentation or a letter of some sort, and Frank continues to ask her to leave the property with no further detail. “This feels very heartless,” she says.
She then brings up what seems to be a recent event with Frank, in which he allegedly behaved entirely differently:
I sat in your office when that whole GC situation happened and you said, and I quote, that “if you don’t get that job, I’m gonna personally think that you got screwed over.” And now I’m sitting here and I’m getting screwed over in a completely different capacity with no explanation.
Another female employee who worked remotely and part-time shared that she was home alone with her kids when she received a phone call from “general counsel” – assumed to be Frank – who said he was at her door, she was fired, and he needed her work computer. He warned that if she tried to delete anything, TPUSA would find out. She complied, albeit confused, claiming she had nothing to hide.
Another employee was allegedly fired because she had a screenshot from one of Owens’ podcast episodes on her desktop.
The firings are being characterized as paranoid. Over the past few months, Owens has revealed that multiple sources at TPUSA have leaked information to her directly, but none of the recently fired persons were any of these sources.
To make matters worse, many employees are apparently especially blindsided by the firings because of statements that Erika Kirk made back in September. Owens revealed that in a Zoom call just five days after Charlie’s murder, Erika promised “I will fight like hell to make sure that all of you have a job here. I don’t want anyone to think their job’s in jeopardy because you’re family. If you want to, if you choose to leave, that’s different,” she said. “I will make sure that I never allow a point to where you have to leave because we cannot financially afford you…that is a promise. I want our family to stay together the best it can.”
pic.twitter.com/e4Fls77A7D FULL LEAKED TPUSA ZOOM CALL of Erika Kirk talking to staff just 5 DAYS AFTER CHARLIE KIRK'S ASSASSINATION.
— The Resonance (@Partisan_12) January 29, 2026
What do you notice?
The public has had a mixed reaction to the calls, documents, and information leaked from TPUSA to Owens, including the Zoom calls with Erika.
Owens in particular takes issue with Erika’s general tone and choice of words, saying things like Charlie was “celebrating in heaven” just five days after he was killed. In another leaked audio file from a Zoom call on September 22, less than two weeks after the assassination, Erika is heard with a rather upbeat tone referring to Charlie’s memorial service as the “event of a century” and discussing TPUSA’s merchandise sales and hat orders needing fulfillment. She acknowledges that employees have been working “20-hour days.” In this light, the recent firings seem particularly cold to some observers.
Critics say it is odd that Erika suggested that employees use their paid time off to grieve if necessary, while she intended to work “full steam ahead.” Others are defending Erika, saying that everyone grieves differently, and perhaps throwing herself into work was her way of coping.
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