Erika Kirk in the Epstein Files? Nope.
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Conspiracy Theorists Falsely Tie Erika Kirk to Epstein, Drawing Millions of Views on Social Media
What’s happening: Conspiracy-oriented social media users are falsely claiming that the Justice Department released an audio recording on which Erika Kirk, the widow of assassinated conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, admits that she recruited young girls for convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Context: On Jan. 30, 2026, the Justice Department released nearly 3 million files — including documents, recordings, and photos — related to the federal investigation into Epstein, a financier who was convicted of solicitation of a minor in 2008 and died in 2019 in a New York City jail while facing federal charges of sex trafficking minors.
The release of the Epstein files has sparked false claims linking Epstein to multiple high-profile figures including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and former President Barack Obama.
A closer look: Among the files released by the Justice Department was an audio recording of a phone call between a young girl and an older woman, in which the woman makes repeated references to “Jeffrey” and says, “I just bring girls to [Jeffrey] and they work for him.” At another point in the call, the woman says to the purported girl, “The more you do, the more you get paid.”
Social media accounts claimed the woman in the recording was Erika Kirk, who now runs Turning Point USA, the organization that her late husband founded. Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10, 2025, while hosting an outdoor event at Utah Valley University.
The claim about Erika Kirk appears to have emerged in a March 13 X post by far-right, anti-Israel user @ProjectConstitu, who shared the audio clip and said, “Leaked DOJ Wiretap Audio Captures Erika Kirk Scheduling Underage Girls for Epstein.” The post received 11 million views and 38,000 likes in three days.
Anti-Israel X user @iamufohunter posted the audio clip and said: “Epstien [sic] BOMBSHELL: leaked phone call on the DOJ website that allegedly shows Erika Kirk managing girls for Jeffrey Epstein.” The post received 119,00 views and 3,000 likes in two days.
Charlie Kirk was a supporter of Israel and sometimes clashed with far-right figures who did not share those views.
Actually: The woman in the recording is not Erika Kirk. A May 2006 affidavit, released by the Justice Department in January 2026, indicates that the woman in the recording is Haley Robson, an alleged recruiter for Epstein who said she was assaulted by Epstein when she was a minor. Robson was not charged in connection with the Epstein investigation.
The affidavit states that during a 2005-2006 investigation into Epstein, the Palm Beach Police Department set up a series of secretly recorded calls between Robson and a 14-year-old girl who had come forward with accusations that Epstein sexually assaulted her after Robson brought her to his Palm Beach residence. According to the affidavit, during one of these taped calls Robson said, “The more you do, the more you get paid.”
This matches the transcript of the audio file shared by social media users in March 2026, indicating that the audio file is one of the taped calls with Robson, not a recording of Erika Kirk.
Indeed, in a March 14 X post, the user (@ProjectConstitut) who seemingly originated the false claim stated, “Upon further verification, the individual in the recording is actually Haley Robson.” The correction garnered 383,400 views, a small fraction of the 11 million views on the original post advancing the false claim.
Moreover, there are no credible reports that Erika Kirk had any relationship with Epstein. Her name does not appear in any of the Epstein-related files released by the DOJ, a NewsGuard review found.
Erika Kirk and Turning Point USA did not respond to NewsGuard’s requests for comment sent via contact forms on the organization’s and Kirk’s personal websites.
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In Case You Missed It … Iran Overstates Its Global Oil Disruption
There is no shortage of evidence that the war in Iran and the virtual closure of the pivotal Strait of Hormuz has led to oil and gas shocks around the globe. Nevertheless, Iran is overstating the impact of the war on energy flows, in an apparent effort to sow additional discord among U.S. allies over the U.S.-Israel attack on the Islamic Republic.
Iranian state-aligned media outlets now falsely claim that Australia has fewer than 18 days of fuel reserves remaining, which is roughly half the size of the reserves actually reported by the Australian government and other sources. The claim is being advanced with the help of a Google AI editing tool.
Read the full story here.
This newsletter was edited by Sofia Rubinson and Eric Effron.
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