Who is Josh Hammer to Charlie Kirk? Candace Owens targets conservative after ‘betrayal dream’
Candace Owens, the right-wing commentator, is now targeting Josh Hammer – a fellow conservative political commentator – as she follows theories in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing.
On October 7, Candace Owens shared screenshots of a group chat where Kirk and nine TPUSA affiliates were reportedly present.(X/@RealCandaceO, X/@josh_hammer)
The 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA was fatally shot when attending an event at the Utah Valley University on September 10. In recently released information by Owens, she points to purported tensions between Kirk and pro-Israel donors.
On October 7 – the anniversary of the Hamas attack – Owens shared screenshots of a group chat where Kirk and nine TPUSA affiliates were reportedly present. The screenshots allegedly showed Kirk’s frustration over losing a major donor because he refused to cut ties with Tucker Carlson.
While Owens initially withheld the names of the people in the group, she later revealed that Josh Hammer was among them, and said a purported text from Hammer read: “This might feel good short term, but it’s not good long term in my opinion.” She stated that this was Hammer replying to Kirk about brining Owens in to replace Carlson. Notably, TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet confirmed the texts released by Owens to be authentic, and said Kirk’s views on Israel were “complicated and nuanced” and that he’d shared frustrations about the matter privately and publicly.
Who is Josh Hammer?
Joshua Benjamin Hammer is an American conservative political commentator. Besides, he’s a columnist and podcast host. Hammer has authored ‘Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.
He is also the host of The Josh Hammer Show – a podcast and syndicated radio show. Hammer also was involved in Senator Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign. He’s debated Peter Beinart and Alan Dershowitz, among other prominent figures, on topics linked to Israel, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and Israeli judicial reform among others.
Hammer, who is also the senior editor-at-large for Newsweek wrote an opinion piece following Kirk’s assassination. There, he called Kirk a ‘personal friend’ and shared that the two had spoken ‘less than 24 hours before the fatal bullet struck’.
What Candace Owens said about Josh Hammer
Owens, meanwhile, shared a post which hinted that Hammer might have had foreknowledge of Kirk’s killing. “I knew nothing about Josh Hammer’s random tweet about public executions the night before Charlie was publicly executed. In what context does that tweet make sense? Literally WTF,” she wrote.
Independent journalist Yashar Ali suggested that Hammer had been speaking about the Iryna Zarutska case – where the Ukrainian refugee was murdered in the US, when Hammer had dragged up an old Trump post on public executions, a day before Kirk’s killing.
However, Owens doubled down, saying “There is not a single shred of proof that you can produce that Josh Hammer was referring to Iriyna. Not one. Not even his own public statements about Iriyna’s murder. There was no new information about her murder that day so it wasn’t even trending. You are just covering for him and it won’t work.”
Following this, Owens also expressed fear for her life, and said on X “Expanding the network: Tate brothers, Dave Smith, Max Blumenthal, Tucker Carlson, Mel and more will have legal files and personal text messages related to my time at Turning Point, PragerU, and Daily Wire, plus my private conversations with people like Seth Dillon and Dave Rubin.”
She continued, “These people have my EXPLICIT permission to release everything publicly if anything happens to me. Charlie’s death and the audacity of the people like Josh Hammer eulogizing him means we must all share information and let the truth rise up like a lion.”
In the time since Kirk’s assassination, Owens has made numerous outrageous claims, and most recently shared that Kirk had apparently appeared to her in a dream, over the weekend, and revealed to her that he’d been betrayed. Meanwhile, Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old native from Utah, has been arrested by authorities and charged with murder in Kirk’s shooting. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.
