About
Charlie Kirk is a young, conservative activist whose organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was involved with the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C., that preceded the insurrection.
In 2012, Kirk founded TPUSA, which aims to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government,” according to its website.
Krik is a member of the Council for National Policy, a secretive, right-wing, Christian fundamentalist organization whose members, including Kirk, were involved in organizing “Stop the Steal” rallies across the country. He has reportedly acknowledged support for Convention of States, which aims to hold a constitutional convention to dramatically alter how the federal government operates.
January 6, 2021
- Turning Point Action, TPUSA’s 501(c)(4) affiliate, was listed as a coalition partner on the “March to Save America” website, which has since been taken down.
- Kirk announced on Twitter that Turning Point Action and the affiliated group Students for Trump would send 80 or more buses to the Capitol rally, but the group ended up only sending seven.
- In an interview a few days after the insurrection, Kirk defended the mob, saying, “Just because you do something that is regrettable does not mean that you are planning an armed insurrection against the United States government.”
The Big Lie
- Academic Kate Starbird referred to Kirk’s Twitter account as a “superspreader” of election disinformation. Kirk has implied a connection between Covid-19 and voter fraud and said that Donald Trump’s legal attempts to challenge the 2020 election failed because they were “poorly written.” He also argued with Geraldo Rivera after the election was certified, saying that there were “plenty of pending legal challenges.”
- Kirk was listed as an organizer of a Stop the Steal protest at a Maricopa County, Arizona vote tabulation center on Nov. 6, 2021.
- He tweeted on Nov. 5, 2021, after Election Day, “It has been very instructive to see which ‘conservatives’ have stepped up to fight during this critical moment and who decided to run to the hills.”
- On Jan. 4, 2021, Kirk urged Vice President Mike Pence to discard electors from “states that are compromised.”