Charlie Kirk reportedly told a private group of donors in Aspen, Colorado, weeks before he was killed that he wanted his wife, Erika, to run Turning Point USA if something happened to him.

“I appoint my wife to run Turning Point USA if something happens to me. Erika would do a great job,” he reportedly said at the August 2025 retreat, according to reporting that cited social media accounts, videos and people said to have attended the gathering. Kirk was shot and killed on September 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University, and eight days later TPUSA’s board unanimously voted to appoint Erika Kirk as the organization’s new CEO.

The Aspen footage has never been made public. One board member said the board already understood the plan because it had discussed it with Kirk and that “everybody knew.” The reported comments have taken on new weight because they appear to predate both his death and the formal handoff that followed, putting a private remark at the center of a public succession battle.

Daily Mail said it reviewed the full Aspen recording and spoke with multiple donors who were allegedly present. That account has not settled the debate. Candace Owens, who has publicly questioned the authenticity of audio played during TPUSA’s AmericaFest convention introducing Erika as CEO, said on her podcast, “The more I listen to it, the more AI it sounds.” She also wrote on X, “Why won’t they release the video? Surely, if they captured the audio they have the video,” and later posted, “The claim made is that at an Aspen retreat weeks before his death, Charlie answered a donor who asked ‘what would happen if you died’ to which he replied that he would want Erika to take over. I would like to see the video of that.”

Owens later added that releasing the footage “would certainly go a long way” toward dispelling the idea that Erika wanted the job for herself, calling it “an easy PR win.” Turning Point, however, has refused to release the video. A representative told Daily Mail, “We never release investor videos to protect the privacy of those present at those gatherings, and we are not changing that policy now,” leaving the public to rely on competing claims about what Kirk said and how the organization decided to move on after his death.

For TPUSA, the issue now is not just who leads next, but whether the private Aspen conversation was as decisive as supporters say and whether the group’s refusal to release the tape will keep fueling suspicion around one of the movement’s most sensitive transitions. The answer on the record is narrow: Erika Kirk is now the CEO, and the reported successor plan appears to have been in place before Charlie Kirk died.