Candace Owens was sued for defamation again yesterday. The plaintiff in this case is Brian Harpole, Charlie Kirk’s former security chief. Harpole’s attorney, Matt Sarelson, announced the lawsuit on X:
On behalf of Brian Harpole, I filed this defamation lawsuit against Candace Owens and Mitchell Snow. We will not be providing any other statements. You can follow me for updates.https://t.co/Bu89sCxalB
— Matt Sarelson, Esq. – Celebrity Attorney & Advisor (@MSarelson) April 30, 2026
Here’s a bit of the criminal complaint.
On the day of the assassination, Harpole and his company Integrity Solutions were responsible for providing security for Charlie Kirk. Neither Harpole nor his company Integrity Security Solutions had foreknowledge of, were involved in, acted negligently with respect to, or participated in any cover-up of the assassination…
Shortly after the assassination, Owens began disseminating content asserting that Kirk was betrayed by individuals close to him, that the government orchestrated a cover-up of the assassination, that Turning Point USA was implicated in the event, and advancing numerous additional conspiracy theories suggesting that somebody other than Tyler Robinson was involved in the murder…
As further alleged herein, what began as Owens’s generalized conspiracy theories about the assassination quickly escalated into a sustained campaign to publish and disseminate dozens of social media posts and YouTube videos falsely implicating Harpole in Kirk’s assassination.
…beginning with the December 9, 2025, episode of her podcast, Owens began accusing Harpole of direct involvement in the assassination.
On Owens’s December 9, 2025, podcast episode, (“Charlie Kirk’s Last Trip to Asia…”), Owens opened by teasing that she had uncovered new evidence regarding Kirk’s assassination: “Well, what I’m about to tell you guys today is going to positively blow your mind. I just cannot see how this would lead to anything other than a full confession from the government about the military’s involvement in [Charlie Kirk’s] assassination but I’m just going to deliver the facts and see where they land.”
In this episode Owens claimed that on December 8, 2025, she received a “credible” tip from a former military member – first referred to by Owens as “Harry Meyers” but later identified as Defendant Mitch Snow – claiming that he inadvertently entered a classified meeting at Fort Huachuca on September 9, 2025, the day before Charlie Kirk’s assassination, observed senior government officers in attendance, and that following the assassination, identified Harpole as one of the individuals present for the meeting. (It is unclear how someone can “inadvertently” enter a classified meeting at a U.S. Army base where the government was secretly plotting to kill a prominent political activist, but Snow claims to have pulled it off.). Upon information and belief, it was during this December 8, 2025, conversations that Owens and Snow agreed to enter into a conspiracy to defame Harpole by using Owens’s network, including her podcast, social media accounts, and websites, to spread this maliciously false theory.
Although Owens asserted that she had “fact-checked” Snow’s account and that the facts are “one-hundred percent honest,” she provided no explanation of how this was done or what indicia of credibility supported her conclusion.13 The purpose of these statements was to assert by implication that there was a government conspiracy to assassinate Kirk and that Harpole was a part of this conspiracy.
Owens then reported that Snow told her that he is confident he saw Harpole walking out of the meeting with the military officials, reiterating that she believed Snow and his story were “very credible.” Again, she did not explain why she believed the story to be credible.
Importantly, the description of the episode reads: “After today, I do not know how this leads to anything other than a full confession from the government about their [sic] involvement in Charlie Kirk’s assassination.” The description, read within the context of the content of the episode, clearly sends the message that Snow witnessed Harpole leaving a meeting where he was conspiring with the military and/or federal government to have Charlie Kirk assassinated.
The claim that Harpole was present at Fort Huachuca on September 9, 2025, for an alleged meeting is verifiably false—as Harpole’s travel records plainly place him in Dallas, Texas. There would also be records showing Harpole’s access to the base. Owens had access to these records, but dismissed them without any investigation, claiming they did not provide an alibi for when the meeting concluded. To avoid any uncertainty, Brian Harpole has never been to Fort Huachuca. Not ever. Additionally, there is no evidence that such a meeting even took place, with or without Harpole.
Despite the verifiable falsity of her statements, Owens’s viewers and supporters understood, via responses, that she was claiming that Harpole conspired with the Trump Administration to assassinate Charlie Kirk.
Owens eventually reached out to Harpole but he didn’t respond.
On December 17, 2025, apparently fearing a lawsuit, Owens reached out to Harpole, asking if he wanted to “have an off the record discussion.” Harpole did not respond.
Owens then used Harpole’s silence to further defame him. On the December 19, 2025, episode of her podcast (“What Does Ben Shapiro Know About Erika Kirk and Fort Huachuca?”), Owens implied Harpole’s failure to respond to her text message as suspicious. In the same podcast, Owens again placed Harpole at Fort Huachuca, characterizing the alleged meeting as a form of planning or coordination related to the assassination of Kirk. She stated that she found Snow’s narrative to be “compelling” because she had been “given travel logs for Brian Harpole and it is entirely possible that Brian Harpole could have made it for that meeting. I can tell you that definitively. Brian Harpole could have made it to that base for that early morning meeting.” This is blatantly false…
Owens soon texted Harpole a third time, asking him again if he would like to speak about the events that transpired on the morning of September 9, 2025. Owens concluded her text message by stating that she found it “odd” she could not get Harpole “to confirm or deny” his location on the morning of September 9th. Owens already knew why Harpole did not respond. Her repeated texts to Harpole to get him to respond to the defamatory conspiracy theories that she had been promoting present a cynical attempt to profit from a situation she had manufactured. By spreading defamatory lies about Harpole and then cajoling him to giver her the “exclusive content” of a response, she stood to profit from increased attention and viewership to her platform at Harpole’s expense.
The key to this case may be a message Owens published on X dated Dec. 22, 2025 in which she admitted she had looked at Harpole’s flight records.
Owens’s post confirms that by the time she had recorded and published her podcast episodes, she had already viewed Harpole’s flight records. Accordingly, she knew that it was physically impossible for Harpole to have attended the alleged meeting on September 9, 2025. She nonetheless published the false and defamatory remarks accusing Harpole of attending the alleged meeting.
Why is this important? Because one of the key elements for proving defamation is going to be reckless disregard for the truth. If Owens had looked at the records and knew Harpole was in another state, she knew her theory was likely false and spread it anyway. At least that’s going to be what Harpole’s attorney claims in court.
The complaint ends with six counts against Owens and asks for a jury trial, with suitable damages in the millions of dollars to be decided at trial.
Owens, for her part, is treating this as fresh content.
And for her next act…
Candace Owens will try to convince her fans that getting sued for defamation is a good thing.
THIS IS HILARIOUS !!!! 😂
Because she already got Mitch Snow sued for following up with her nonsense.
Candace doesn’t want to go down alone.
So now she’s… pic.twitter.com/TtoQgJBmHK
— Cinema Shogun (@CinemaShogun) April 30, 2026
In her actual show, she tries to walk away from her own guest’s claims that Harpole was at the secret meeting (that didn’t happen).
WOW 😮
Candace Owens throws Mitch Snow under the bus‼️ 🚌
THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG…😂
She’s now putting all of the Fort Huachuca blame on Mitch Snow.
Separating herself from his claims saying she never confirmed herself that any of it was real.
We all know she’s been pushing… pic.twitter.com/mK0PC9gkYO
— Cinema Shogun (@CinemaShogun) May 1, 2026
This is going to be her defense, I guess. The guy I brought on my show and propped up for weeks as a truth teller lied to me. I guess we’ll see how that works for her at trial. Isn’t she supposed to be a brilliant investigator? How did she get fooled so easily?
My own guess, and that’s all it is, is that Owens will try to settle this. I’m hoping Harpole doesn’t accept whatever she offers to put this behind her.
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