Tag: utah

Candace Owens Gets Inside TPUSA’s Head

TURNING POINT USA COMMUNICATIONS staffer Aubrey Laitsch was called into a meeting last month and abruptly told she was being fired, according to a video she posted online last week.

In her telling, the reason Laitsch was given for being let go involved a convoluted story about an Uber ride. It went like this:

A TPUSA executive had taken an Uber and asked his driver what he thought of the organization. The driver replied that he had heard it was in chaos in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination—and that no one inside TPUSA liked Erika Kirk, Kirk’s widow and now TPUSA’s CEO. Then the Uber driver revealed to the TPUSA executive that the source of his information was Laistch, who the driver claimed was a high school friend of his daughter’s.

A strange story, and one Laitsch said she didn’t buy. She then offered up another explanation—one she said didn’t come up during her discussion with TPUSA executives but which she sensed was a factor in her termination.

Laitsch, as she outlined in her video, seems to genuinely believe that her own organization had something to do with its founder’s murder or an ensuing coverup.

The unfounded claim that Charlie Kirk’s assassination was some sort of inside job is growing in popularity on the right after being promoted by YouTuber and former TPUSA employee Candace Owens. Laitsch claims that others at TPUSA are suspicious about Kirk’s murder too—and that they had been discussing among themselves how they couldn’t raise the issue internally.

“I just have a gut feeling that I was terminated from Turning Point because I am questioning the narrative of what happened to my role model and CEO, Charlie Kirk, on the day of his assassination,” Laitsch said in the video.

Laitsch did not respond to a request for comment.

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Top GOP official is arrested over claims he ‘WATERBOARDED’ his terrified 16-year-old daughter

A GOP leader in Utah was arrested on Tuesday after his 16-year-old daughter accused him of ‘waterboarding’ her as a punishment for not cleaning her room.

David Nephi Johnson, the chair of the Republican Party in Wasatch County, has been charged with aggravated child abuse for the alleged drowning incident in January.

The vice chair of county GOP, Patty Sprunt, told KSL News Radio that she had only ever observed a healthy relationship between Johnson and his family. She said people should not jump to conclusions.

The investigation into Johnson, 54, began on January 21, when the Herber City Police Department was informed that a teenager had been interviewed by the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.

The girl told authorities that her father, Johnson, got upset with her about two weeks earlier because she went out with her friends before making sure her bedroom was ‘spotless to his expectations’, according to a police affidavit.

When she got home, Johnson allegedly grabbed her by the back of her neck and ‘took her into the bathroom while the sink was filling with water,’ the affidavit stated.

Johnson ‘dunked her head under, brought it out, splashed water in her face, then dunked the victim’s head under again,’ the affidavit stated.

The girl couldn’t recall how long she had been under water but claimed she wasn’t able to breathe for ’20 to 30 seconds,’ according to the affidavit.

Though the girl described what her father allegedly did to her as waterboarding, there was no claim that her father carried out waterboarding in the strict sense of the torture method, which involves covering someone’s mouth with a cloth and pouring water through the cloth and into the mouth.

The teen said that after she was allegedly attacked, her immediate thought was that she was at fault and that she should have cleaned her room, according to the affidavit. She also reported having trouble breathing afterwards and feeling sick.

She told investigators that Johnson abused her and her siblings on other occasions, according to police.

‘The victim described one incident a few years prior involving her now 8-year-old brother, stating that after a minor argument, David became upset, grabbed her brother by the neck, took him into the bathroom, and forced his head under the water,’ the affidavit stated. 

‘The victim stated that David removed her brother from the water, splashed water on his face and nose, knocked him down, and repeated the act multiple times. Following the incident, the now 8-year-old sibling ran upstairs to his bedroom, crying,’ it continued.

Additionally, the girl recalled a time when Johnson allegedly ‘backhanded her on the torso because she wasn’t compliant to do something’, according to the affidavit.

Johson was then accused of making fun of her for crying,’ the affidavit alleged.

‘I don’t feel very safe. When I go to bed, I feel like I can’t sleep because I don’t feel safe. When my dad’s not home, I feel fine. But when he’s home, I never feel safe because I feel like something is going to happen,’ the girl said to investigators.

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Utah father rescues his four kids from Croatian orphanage after mom took them out of US over doomsday fears

Four children finally returned home to Utah after they were allegedly kidnapped by their mother, who feared an impending apocalypse. 

Elleshia Anne Seymour, 35, sparked an international manhunt in December when her ex-husband, Kendall Seymour, realized she had taken Landon, 11, Levi, eight, Hazel, seven, and Jacob, three, to Europe to escape the ‘end times.’

The mom reportedly brought the youngsters to live with another woman, Lovie McVeigh, and her 13-year-old son, who later realized the family was the subject of an international manhunt. 

She was then arrested in Croatia, where she is now being held on suspicion of violating children’s rights. The four youngsters were temporarily left in legal limbo in an orphanage in the city of Dubrovnik.

They have since been released into Kendall’s custody, he shared in an update to an online fundraiser he had set up to help with his and his fiancée’s trip to Europe on January 29.

Finally, on Sunday, he shared that ‘WE ARE TAKING THE KIDS HOME!’

Kendall explained that Social Services in the country informed him and his fiancée, Heather, that they had concluded their investigation into the kidnapping, returned the youngsters’ passports and ‘gave us the go-ahead to pick up the kids from the children’s group home in the morning.’

That included Kendall’s children, the three eldest, and Jacob, Seymour’s child from another marriage, over whom Kendall received power of attorney.

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Man who falsely claimed to be Charlie Kirk’s assassin convicted of having child sex abuse materials

The man who falsely claimed to be Charlie Kirk’s assassin in order to distract police has pleaded guilty to having child sex abuse materials on his phone that were discovered after his arrest.

George Zinn, 71, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of sexual exploitation of a minor and felony obstruction of justice in a Utah municipal court. He could spend up to 15 years in prison when a state parole board reviews his case at a later date.

Moments after Kirk was fatally shot Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University, Zinn began screaming that he had killed the conservative activist, court documents show.

Authorities tackled and arrested Zinn amid the chaos, but when police asked him where the gun was, Zinn said, “I am not going to tell you where it is. I shot him, now shoot me,” the documents note.

Zinn was taken to a hospital after experiencing a medical episode during his arrest, the documents say. While receiving treatment, Zinn admitted to being “glad he said he shot the individual so the real suspect could get away.”

Detectives later charged Tyler Robinson in Kirk’s slaying.

Zinn also said he was uneasy about the police confiscating his phone because he had child sex abuse materials on the device.

Charging documents said investigators found more than 20 images of children in which youths were partially naked or posing in a “sexual” manner.

“I wish the court to know I am not and will never be a danger to children or their parents,” Zinn said during his hearing last week, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

“I want to put the past behind me and move forward,” he said through tears.

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Senior FBI Official Describes ‘Surreal’ Call Where Kash Patel Dictated Social Media Strategy Right After Kirk Assassination

In the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination in September, FBI Director Kash Patel prioritized social media strategy over the bureau’s response to the killing, according to a senior FBI official.

On Thursday, The New York Times published accounts of Patel’s tenure from 45 people who either currently work at the FBI or left during President Donald Trump’s second term.

“Beginning with Trump’s selection of Patel, our sources narrated the events that most troubled them over the last year,” the Times stated. “Many details of what we learned are reported here for the first time.”

Kirk, the conservative activist and founder of TPUSA, was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. In an unusual move for an FBI director, Patel traveled to the crime scene that day. Previously, it had been reported that Patel refused to get off the FBI plane in Provo until he was given a medium-sized raid jacket. In its report on Thursday, the Times cited an anonymous “senior executive” in the bureau who described a conference call on the day of the killing.

The official said Patel prioritized social media strategy over next steps in the investigation:

Whenever there’s a critical incident, one of the first things that happens is a conference call with everybody — all the executives, most of the field offices dial in. The director rarely speaks, because someone with situational awareness is leading the call. They’ll say: Here’s what happened. Here’s what we know. Here’s what we need. But we get on, and it’s just Kash berating the special agent in charge in Salt Lake. He’s super emotional.

And then it turns surreal. He and [then-Deputy Director Dan] Bongino start talking about their Twitter strategy. And Kash is like: I’m gonna tweet this. Salt Lake, you tweet that. Dan, you come in with this. Then I’ll come back with this. They’re literally scripting out their social media, not talking about how we’re going to respond or resources or the situation. He’s screaming that he wants to put stuff out, but it’s not even vetted yet. It’s not even accurate.

When I was an agent, I did hundreds of these cases. The initial information that comes in is always wrong. There’s too much coming in, and it takes time to vet. And it was obvious that Kash can’t understand that and doesn’t want to understand that.

Everyone on the call is just like: This guy is completely out of control. On another call, he said: When a crisis happens, the only thing you need to do is call me. The most important thing in any crisis is controlling the narrative. I was like: No, no, no. We actually have to do some work here. We’re going to have to investigate, to solve this.

Hours after Kirk’s assassination, Patel posted on X that the shooter was in custody, but later said the person had been released. The next day, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson turned himself in to authorities.

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Utah Sen. Mike Lee Calls for Public Execution of Man Charged in Charlie Kirk Killing

Utah Sen. Mike Lee is drawing national attention after publicly calling for the execution of the man charged with killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, using social media to demand the punishment be carried out “in public,” as reported by The New York Post.

“Execute Tyler Robinson. In public,” Lee wrote in a post on X.

The comments followed a court filing Monday by Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, who called for a speedy trial in the case. In the filing, she accused the defense team of the accused killer of employing delay tactics as the high-profile prosecution moves forward.

Robinson, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Kirk during a Turning Point USA event held last September at Utah Valley University.

Prosecutors have already indicated they will seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted.

Lee’s remarks marked the second time in recent days that the Utah Republican has publicly called for Robinson to receive the death penalty.

In a similar X post on Friday, Lee wrote, “Tyler Robinson publicly executed Charlie Kirk,” followed by another statement saying, “Tyler Robinson should be publicly executed.”

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Kirk Assassin Tyler Robinson Moves to Disqualify Utah Prosecutors

Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson is seeking to disqualify Utah prosecutors on the case over a conflict of interest.

Robinson fatally shot TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025 during an event at Utah Valley University.

Robinson was charged with:

– Count 1: Aggravated murder (capital offense)
– Count 2: Felony reckless discharge of a firearm causing bodily injury
– Count 3: Felony obstruction of justice for hiding the firearm
– Count 4: Felony obstruction of justice for discarding the clothing he wore during the shooting
– Count 5: Witness tampering for asking roommate to delete incriminating messages
– Count 6: Witness temperating for demanding trans roommate stay silent, and not speak to police
– Count 7: Commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child

Utah prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty.

Robinson, 22, has three public defenders: Kathy Nester, Michael Burt, and Richard Novak.

Robinson has not entered a plea.

Tyler Robinson’s defense attorneys on Friday were back in court and sought to disqualify several prosecutors from the Utah County Attorney’s Office.

A child of one of the Utah County Attorney’s Office prosecutors was 85 feet away from Charlie Kirk and police rushed in to protect her.

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Potential Conflict of Interest Rocks Charlie Kirk Murder Case – Utah Prosecutor’s Relative Was in the Crowd During the Assassination, Defense Demands Disqualification

Newly revealed court documents in the prosecution of Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of assassinating conservative icon Charlie Kirk, have exposed a potential conflict of interest within the Utah County Attorney’s Office.

Defense attorneys are pushing to boot the entire prosecution team, citing personal ties to the crime scene.

Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was killed on September 10 while addressing a massive crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University during his “American Comeback Tour.”

The conflict centers on an unnamed prosecutor whose family member, a student, was present at the event, just 85 feet from Kirk when he was killed.

According to court filings, which were made in October but just released to the public on Monday, the relative texted the prosecutor in a group chat amid the pandemonium, “SOMEONE GOT SHOT,” followed by, “I’m okay, everyone is inside.”

The prosecutor immediately shared these messages with Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray while both were attending a separate presentation.

Later, the prosecutor and an investigator visited the campus to pinpoint the relative’s exact location and learned that the family member had abandoned their backpack while fleeing the scene.

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Judge Orders Release of Secret Tyler Robinson Hearing in Charlie Kirk Assassination Case, Transparency Wins Over Defense Objections

A Utah judge has ruled that transcripts and audio from a previously sealed hearing in the high-profile assassination case of conservative icon Charlie Kirk will be made public, albeit with redactions.

Fourth District Court Judge Tony Graf announced during a Monday video hearing that a redacted transcript of an October 24 closed-door session will be released by the end of the following day, with audio potentially released within two weeks.

The decision comes amid intense scrutiny of the case against 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, who is accused of fatally shooting Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on September 10.

Kirk was struck by a single bullet to the neck while addressing thousands on campus as part of his “American Comeback Tour.” He leaves behind his wife, Erika Kirk, and two young children.

Robinson faces seven felony charges, including aggravated murder, a capital offense in Utah, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, potentially by firing squad.

The secret October hearing focused on whether Robinson could appear in future court proceedings in civilian clothing and without visible restraints.

Judge Graf ultimately ruled that Robinson could wear street clothes but must remain shackled for security reasons, citing the “extraordinarily serious” nature of the charges.

Defense attorney Staci Visser has vigorously fought against media access, arguing that cameras and public scrutiny could prejudice potential jurors and create an unfair trial.

During earlier proceedings, Visser complained about media capturing images of Robinson in shackles, stating, “We don’t want the chaos that is out in the media in this courtroom,” according to a report from the New York Post.

However, Kirk’s widow, Erika, has been a strong advocate for openness, pushing for cameras in the courtroom to allow the public to see Robinson and counter any emerging conspiracy theories surrounding her husband’s murder.

Media coalitions, including local and national outlets, have also demanded greater access, requesting limited redactions to sealed materials and the opportunity to challenge future closures.

Robinson has appeared mostly via video or audio from jail. His first in-person court appearance earlier this month showed him calm, even chuckling with his lawyers, while family members attended in support.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 18, with ongoing debates over media coverage expected to continue into January.

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Erika Kirk slams CONSPIRACY theories about her late husband Charlie’s assassination

In an emotional and defiant interview on Fox News‘ “Outnumbered,” Erika Kirk, widow of slain Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk, lashed out at conspiracy theorists spreading unfounded claims about her husband’s assassination.

She called such rhetoric a “mind virus” and demanded an end to the harassment of her family and organization. The remarks come as prominent right-wing commentator Candace Owens and others have fueled speculation about Charlie’s death, questioning the official narrative and even suggesting TPUSA leadership may have been involved.

According to BrightU.AI‘s Enoch, Charlie’s assassination in September 2025 has been the subject of various conspiracy theories . Some conspiracy theorists argue that the incident was a staged event, orchestrated by Kirk himself or his organization, to gain sympathy, attention or funding.

The decentralized engine adds that other theories suggest the incident being a false flag operation, carried out by unknown parties to advance a political agenda. Some argue that the event was designed to stoke fear and division among conservatives, while others suggest it was an attempt to discredit or silence Kirk and his organization.

“Come after me, but leave my family alone”

Erika, who assumed leadership of TPUSA following her husband’s murder, did not hold back in her condemnation of those profiting from baseless theories.

“Come after me. Call me names. I don’t care. Call me what you want. Go down that rabbit hole. Whatever,” she said. “But when you go after my family, my TPUSA family, my ‘Charlie Kirk Show’ family – when you go after the people that I love and you’re making hundreds and thousands of dollars every single episode going after the people that I love because somehow they’re in on this? No.”

Her frustration was palpable as she described the toll these theories have taken on TPUSA staff, many of whom witnessed Kirk’s murder firsthand during a campus event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.

“My poor team is exhausted, and every time they bring this back up, what are we supposed to do, relive that trauma all over again?” she asked. “They watched my husband get murdered. I have no idea how I would have reacted if I was there that day.”

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