Podcast Summary: Candace – “Charlie’s Final Hours. What Else Is Josh Hammer Lying About?”

Host: Candace Owens
Date: October 8, 2025 | Episode 250
Theme:
Candace Owens delivers a solo, unfiltered examination of the aftermath surrounding Charlie Kirk’s assassination, focusing particularly on the controversy around Josh Hammer’s conduct and narrative. She questions Hammer’s public statements, explores suspicious behavior from various commentators, and responds to accusations and attacks from other conservative figures. The episode also explores Candace’s approach to releasing information, her safety protocols, and reflections on broader trust issues within the conservative movement.

Main Topics and Purpose

• Scrutinizing Josh Hammer’s narrative about Charlie Kirk’s final views, conduct, and the “public execution” Trump tweet retweet.
• Dissecting attempted posthumous shaping of Charlie Kirk’s legacy by various actors.
• Candace discusses the hostile reaction from pro-Israel commentators, including Dinesh D’Souza.
• Announcement and rationale for activating a personal “kill switch” (dead man’s switch) with sensitive information in case of her harm.
• Calls for transparency, truth, and resistance to manipulation in conservative circles.
• Request for specific crowd-sourced footage related to Charlie Kirk’s assassination event.

Key Discussion Points

1. The Josh Hammer Controversy

The Retweet and Timing

• Candace highlights that 16 hours before Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Josh Hammer retweeted a 2013 Donald Trump tweet advocating public executions, replying “based” to it.
  • “I have tried and I don’t feel that there is any way that I can confidently explain to you guys why he tweeted that.” (00:37)
• Multiple explanations have been floated, including attempts by PR agents to link it to frustrations over crime or a recent murder (Irina Zarutska), but Candace debunks them with a detailed timeline.
  • “All of this is factually untrue. Irina was murdered on August 22... the footage was released and trended on X on September 5th.” (08:43)

Hammer’s Pattern of Behavior

• Candace lays out Hammer’s pattern of obsession, particularly in policing the narrative about Kirk and Israel:
  • “For weeks after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Josh Hammer obsessively and shamelessly accused people of lying, people of grifting, people of attempting to destroy Charlie Kirk’s legacy…” (01:37)
• She details Hammer’s tendency to promote his own book even in eulogies:
  • “He never once forgot to plug his book. … Josh manages to bring up his book. I’m not kidding.” (20:43)

Examining the Timeline and Motives

• Candace reconstructs Hammer’s social media activity and calls out the lack of context for the retweet:
  • “Anybody telling you he for sure meant this or he for sure didn’t mean this is a liar. We cannot know that.” (12:51)
• Critique of the infrequency and specificity of Hammer’s history discussing public executions, noting it’s not a common theme for him.

Notable Quote:

• “It is absolutely not a typical or a regular political talking point or debate regarding public executions. … It’s an exceedingly specific ask.” (13:47)

2. Broader Reaction & Legacy Manipulation

Resistance to New Narrative

• There’s a concerted effort by Hammer and allies to paint Kirk as unwaveringly pro-Israel, suppressing contrary facts.
• Candace, Tucker Carlson, and others argue Kirk’s position had shifted and that he was under considerable pressure.

Candace’s Critique of the Establishment Response

• “He was being bullied. They knew that he was being bullied. And yet they want us to believe that less than 48 hours before he died, Charlie announces that … he has no choice but to abandon the pro-Israel cause because of Jewish donors and their behavior.” (32:20)
• The establishment’s overzealous and defensive reaction draws suspicion:
  • “That has been almost the only compelling argument that that Israel had anything to do with it is the way they're acting right now, like Bibi Netanyahu. The propaganda, the lies, the coming after Candace, none of this was necessary.” (33:11)

3. Addressing Specific Individuals & Attacks

Dinesh D’Souza’s Public Attack

• D’Souza’s tweet attacking Candace as a “freak show,” using an explicit and bizarre simile.
• Candace and Yashar Ali mock the tone-deafness and irrelevance of such attacks:
  • Candace: “If I ever was in this awful scenario where I saw a farmer trying to have sex with a sheep, I feel very much that I can not only look away, but I could call the police.” (43:27)

The Role of Other Commentators

• Hammer, when interviewed, pivots repeatedly to promoting his book, even when criticizing others for supposed grifting.
  • “He doesn’t even blink as he goes from promoting his book again to then accusing people of wanting money.” (24:58)
• Accusations that commentators like Michael Knowles, Megyn Kelly, and Matt Gaetz are opportunistically “playing for clicks” or money.

Notable Quote:

• “If the truth is capable of destroying your company, the truth, then does your company deserve to exist?” (38:37)

4. Timeline and Evidence – The Hours Before

Phone Calls, Meetings, and Pressure

• Hammer and Rabbi Wolicki both admit to a Zoom call with Charlie Kirk the night before his death, ostensibly to discuss Israel talking points.
• Rabbi Wolicki offers a more measured assessment of pressure on Kirk, admitting, “He certainly had some disagreements with Israeli policy,” and was pulled between activist supporters. (29:25)
• Candace underscores the inconsistency in claiming Kirk was both overwhelmed by and dependent on such advisors, while also expressing fear for his life in private texts the same day.

Notable Quotes:

• Rabbi Wolicki: “But the real answer to your question... is the meeting that I had with him. And the entire purpose of the meeting... was that he was going out on a campus tour... to make sure that he had the truth and that he could formulate answers that he was comfortable with.” (29:50)
• Candace: “He was particularly worried that Israel was infringing upon speech in America. I have text messages to that effect.” (32:35)

5. The “Kill Switch” & Candace’s Security Measures

Rationale for the Kill Switch

• After feeling threatened post-Charlie’s assassination, Candace sets up a “dead man’s switch”—distribution of explosive evidence to multiple trusted allies if she’s harmed or silenced.
  • “What I wanted to do … was to create a kill switch … to free myself … to send a package and say, if anything happens to me and it looks suspicious, release it all.” (48:56)
• Alex Jones discusses the effectiveness and risks of such a move and praises Candace for her “dead man’s switch.”
  • “So what she's saying is, you kill me, it doesn't matter. It's coming out. And the word is he [Charlie] specifically thought Israel was going to kill him.” (56:22)

6. On Trust, Turning Point USA, and Conservative Movement

Internal Division and Calls for Transparency

• Candace identifies a rift: the bottom-level employees and true-believers at Turning Point USA want answers, while the organization’s leadership and some media figures are evasive.
• “Do not concern yourselves with people that feel threatened by truth. … If you are not a good person or you’re not a good company, if the truth is a threat to you.” (39:05)
• Candace calls for honesty, warning Turning Point USA that obfuscation will break faith with their base.

Audience Q&A and Community Reactions (1:12:00+)

• The audience overwhelmingly supports Candace’s call for openness and truth, with many expressing frustration at the “cover-up vibes” and praising her courage.

7. On Broader Political and Religious Context

Danger of Division, Hope for Unification

• Candace laments the left-right paradigm and calls for alliances based on truth rather than party loyalty.
• Parallels drawn between her and others’ former blindness to factional warfare, now replaced by a focus on opposing institutional evil.

Notable Closing Quote:

• “We are all actually fighting real evil and we're going to disagree along the way... but I'm more interested in the war against family, waking everybody up... more charitable in our interpretations of one another and what motivates us, and less charitable to the government.” (1:18:57)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Candace Owens (01:37): “Josh Hammer obsessively and shamelessly accused people of lying, people of grifting, people of attempting to destroy Charlie Kirk’s legacy.”
• Candace Owens (10:22): “Debating the death penalty is a very common political debate. ... Not public executions.”
• Rabbi Wolicki (29:25): “He certainly had some disagreements with Israeli policy ... But if Charlie had turned on Israel, why would he even bother with a meeting like that?”
• Alex Jones via clip (56:22): “…this is a real dead man switch. She has sent out it to the Tate brothers, Dave Smith, Max Blumenthal, Turk Carlson and others.”
• Candace Owens (39:20): “If the truth is capable of destroying your company, the truth, then does your company deserve to exist?”
• Dinesh D'Souza tweet, cited (43:27): "…it's like driving on the highway and seeing a farmer having sex with a sheep. You don't want to look, but you can't look away either."

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–06:00: Introduction, overview of the episode’s focus, and the Josh Hammer retweet controversy.
• 06:00–14:30: Detailed dissection and timeline of Hammer’s tweets, examination of the public execution tweet.
• 20:40–26:59: Candace analyzes Hammer’s book promotion and his interview rationales.
• 29:25–31:37: Rabbi Wolicki on pressure facing Charlie Kirk and Kirk’s genuine struggle with pro-Israel identity.
• 32:00–33:30: Candace reflects on pressure, bullying, and last communications from Charlie Kirk.
• 43:27–44:35: Dinesh D’Souza’s “freak show” attack; Candace’s sarcastic response.
• 48:56–56:00: Announcement and philosophy of the dead man’s switch (kill switch); Alex Jones’ commentary.
• 60:28–61:45: Comic break—Jewish comedian Gianmarco Soresi’s joke about Jewish stereotypes.
• 1:12:00–1:18:50: Audience Q&A—reactions to Josh Hammer, Turning Point USA’s direction, and Candace’s call for unity.
• 1:18:50–end: Reflections on divisions, closing thoughts, announcement of brief hiatus.

Tone & Style Observations

• Candace is consistent—combative, analytical, deeply personal, and sometimes sarcastic.
• She names names and uses biting humor even in serious discussion.
• The episode oscillates between granular fact-based analysis, emotional reflections, and pointed satire.

Closing

The episode serves as both a forensic breakdown of suspicious behavior in Charlie Kirk’s final hours and a call to arms for truth-telling within the conservative movement. Candace Owens rebuffs character attacks, defends her methodology, and seeks to model transparency while fostering unity among listeners committed to truth over tribal loyalty.