Sinister truth about Candace Owens video showing Charlie Kirk assassin's 'military crawl'... and fears over unstoppable invasion of 'broader network'

By CHARLIE SPIERING, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 21:11, 6 August 2026 | Updated: 21:11, 6 August 2026 Family members of the late Charlie Kirk wept quietly in a Provo, Utah, courtroom during a preliminary hearing last month as they watched new security video evidence prosecutors say shows his alleged murderer Tyler Robinson. The campus surveillance footage allegedly showed Robinson climbing the stairwell to the Losee Center roof at Utah Valley University, prosecutors detailed, followed by distant security footage of a figure running across the rooftop.  The courtroom audience watched a figure lowering himself and crawling to a corner of the building at 12.22pm and lying in a prone position. Kirk was shot dead at 12.23pm. Robinson, 22, a left-wing college dropout, has been charged with killing Kirk, the 31-year-old former leader of Turning Point USA (TPUSA). He has not yet entered a plea.  Kirk's friends in the room breathed sighs of relief. After months of suffering wild online conspiracy theories, here was the evidence they believed would put questions and conspiracies to rest.  Robinson's defense objected to the video being aired to the public on the grounds that it was 'altered' and 'extremely prejudicial.' But last week, controversial conservative podcaster Candace Owens, a vocal conspiracy theorist who had a public falling out with the organization, published a copy of the rooftop video from the trial, stripped of the context provided by the prosecutors. In the shocking video reviewed by the Daily Mail, she suggested that Robinson may be innocent.  Robinson (pictured) a left-wing college dropout, has been charged with killing Kirk Kirk (pictured with wife Erika and their children) was the 31-year-old former leader of Turning Point USA Candace Owens has dedicated a significant portion of her show each night to her investigation of the assassination of her friend Charlie Kirk  It could 'free a young man who is being wrongly framed' for the murder of Kirk, she stated on social media, as she aired zoomed-in security footage of the figure on the roof. The video appeared to be recorded by a third party source from a screen, further distorting the already low-resolution security footage. That did not stop her, however, from asserting significant conclusions without evidence.  The figure was obviously someone in military intelligence, she claimed, pointing out that the individual employed a 'lateral military crawl' on the roof to position for the shot. 'That person looks like they've got training, it's not giving Tyler Robinson to me,' she said. While Owens, 37, is leading the pack as one of the most vocal influencers, online content questioning the official narrative of Kirk's death has exploded in popularity, and the audience for the Kirk conspiracy theories has turned into a perfect storm for digital creators. Since Owens focused her attention on Kirk investigations, she has gained roughly a million subscribers on her YouTube account, which now has a total of over six million.  TPUSA figures once dismissed Owens and her conspiracies as a 'distraction,' but now they feel required to address every development in the case online, pointing out inconsistencies and context in the various theories posted online. One digital creator compared it to the fringe far-right QAnon movement that captured the imaginations of a large section of politically conservative Americans around the 2016 election before fizzling out.  QAnon employed an 'us vs them' narrative, and while claims and assertions of future events often came up empty, organizers kept viewers distracted with more outrageous claims.  'It didn't make much sense but it kept churning content. Every day there was a new development, a new message. Eventually the public lost interest and the money dried up,' the digital creator explained. In a similar way, Owens refers to the investigation she's leading as an organized movement that can not be stopped. Others are starting to capitalize on the Kirk momentum.  'A Charlie Kirk, true crime, soap opera drama, that needs to have a plug every single week, is generating a super-high [cost per mile] rate for the content,' one digital creator told the Daily Mail, estimating that the online market was generating 'millions' of dollars in rewards.   Robinson appeared in a preliminary hearing in July Kirk was killed on September 10, 2025, while at Utah Valley University An early photo of Kirk and Owens documents their working together at Turning Point USA  Podcaster Baron Coleman has also jumped on the news and claimed that Owens' video had 'nuked' the 'fed slop talking points,' calling into question the timeline and evidence presented by the prosecutors.  He has now dedicated his entire podcasting platform to Robinson's case, and has generated significant attention in the months since Kirk was killed.  Coleman's content went from a handful of subscribers on his YouTube account in September 2025 to over 350,000 subscribers with over 44 million views of his investigative videos less than a year later. In January 2026, Coleman started a members-only tier on YouTube for $10 a month, spending the episodes answering questions from supporters who pay him member 'super chats' to ask questions.  Coleman has generated over $400,000 in super chat revenue alone according to third-party tracker Playboard, on top of significant ad revenue.  On X, Coleman now has over 159,000 followers, and his 586 subscribers gain exclusive looks at his research and unfiltered views about the case for five dollars a month.  Coleman admitted in an interview with podcaster Julian Dorey that he was 'not the biggest Charlie Kirk fan,' when he was alive, believing him to be a 'water carrier' for Republicans and the 'uni-party.' Coleman's motivation, he says, is holding powerful government interests accountable.   'What keeps me up at night is what the government can do,' he said in an interview.  Coleman did not return the Daily Mail's request for comment.  He was lifted from relative obscurity after podcaster Ian Carroll discovered and shared his work in October 2025. Baron Coleman in his podcast studio offers frequent updates to his audience about Kirk's death Baron Coleman teams up with Billie Webb and Brandi Siciliani to scrutinize evidence in the Kirk trial  Carroll praised Coleman for investigating Kirk's assassination and urged his followers to subscribe to his channel. 'His s**t's fire,' Carroll said. Already a successful online figure, Carroll began his career with white-board explainers on corporate price controls on consumer products. He also generated millions of views with content surrounding the Epstein files and other conspiracy theories that caught the attention of podcaster Joe Rogan. When Kirk was alive, Carroll taunted him on social media for being a 'pawn of the system' and a 'stooge for the ruling class.' A day after Kirk was killed, Carroll blamed Israel for his death without providing any proof. 'He was their friend. He basically dedicated his life to them. And they murdered him in front of his family. Israel just shot themselves,' he wrote on social media without evidence.  Carroll pivoted into investigations of Kirk's murder, as videos of him examining and questioning the evidence in the case drew some of his highest online audience views in months. By January, both Carroll and Coleman teamed up for a three-hour podcast on the Kirk case, describing it as the 'biggest cover up in ages.' Their work caught the attention of Owens, who brought Coleman as a guest on her show in January, prompting a massive boost to his audience and viewership. Other online creators have been inspired to start their own platforms solely dedicated to the Kirk assassination. Billie Webb of the Brandi and Billie Show previously documented her van life before turning to the investigation of Kirk's murder  Brandi Siciliani of the Brandi and Billie Show Podcast met Kirk at a event in 2022, according to a photo she posted on Instagram Online creator Bille Webb got her start as a creator who fought off homelessness by documenting her 'van life' on TikTok and converting a 1990 Chevy van to live in. Now she's focused on Kirk's assassination, teaming up with a fellow independent investigator Brandi Siciliani to launch a show about the case. In July, the two women traveled to the preliminary court hearing for Tyler Robinson and even attended part of the hearings sitting next to his family, and reported live to their more than 50,000 followers across Instagram and YouTube. Siciliani told the Daily Mail she met her cohost Webb by chance at a McDonald's in Portugal at 4am. She overheard Webb talking about living in Salt Lake City and she introduced herself because she was also preparing to move to the city from her home in Arizona. 'Once I moved, we became friends,' she said. Siciliani described herself as a 'big fan' of Kirk who listened to his podcast every day. She and her co-host started investigating the case, she said, because 'in my opinion, the official narrative wasn't adding up.' At this point, Siciliani said she had invested more of her own money into equipment, travel and time than she ever received from online revenue. 'I've spent significantly more than I've earned. I have a full-time job, and I do this in my free time,' she said. Siciliani dismissed critics of her efforts, denying that she and her cohost were 'grifters.' 'Whether people agree with my conclusions or not, my motivation has never been financial gain. It's been about seeking answers and sharing my findings,' she said. Podcaster Candace Owens has boosted her audience significantly since focusing on Kirk's death Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet and his colleagues mourned the death of their friend Kirk, but are now faced with a flood of conspiracies about his death   Erika Kirk, TPUSA CEO and widow of Charlie Kirk, leaves the court after attending the preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson Webb told the Daily Mail that she had no idea who Candace Owens or Charlie Kirk were until she heard from her best friend about the case. After seeing the attention the case was drawing online, Webb put her influencer experience to work and reached out to people connected to it. Her investigation with Siciliani soon consumed their spare time, Webb said, but noted they kept their day jobs. 'It was like our entire life. We would eat, sleep, and breathe - podcast, and then work 40-45 hours a week on top of that,' Webb said. Others are concerned that Owens, her followers, and other creators and podcasters may be the subject of online manipulation by foreign influence operators. Those operatives, one source familiar with foreign intelligence operations told the Daily Mail, routinely manipulate independent journalist 'tip lines' to feed them misleading information disguised as being sourced from authentic and knowledgeable sources. 'They view her as a useful idiot,' one source claimed to the Daily Mail. 'She has no idea what's happening in this world. It's part of a very much broader network.'  A spokesperson for Candace Owens disputed the claim in a statement to the Daily Mail: 'This is 100% false. Candace's sources are not foreign operatives. These allegations are absurd spin.' Foreign influence social media 'bots' continue to amplify posts mentioning Kirk to divide the conservative movement that he supported, other sources warned.   The conspiracy culture has bled over into hostile criticism of Kirk's organization TPUSA, his widow Erika Kirk who now runs the organization as CEO, and the online figures who still support the organization.  Podcast host Tim Pool said the daily chase for ad revenue would continue to reward creators for focusing on Kirk's death and content defending TPUSA. Digital platform algorithms like YouTube, Pool added, tend to feature content generating the most ad revenue. 'People chase after what gets the viewership,' he said. 'They struck a gold mine with this.'