Charlie Kirk’s former head of security has dragged a bitter online feud into federal court in Nashville, accusing conservative commentator Candace Owens of peddling a baseless murder conspiracy that he says turned him into the supposed mastermind behind Kirk’s assassination.
Brian Harpole filed a federal defamation lawsuit on April 30, 2026, alleging that Owens, her companies and Mitchell Snow falsely tied him to a plot to kill Kirk and then broadcast the claim across social media and her show. The complaint seeks more than $75,000 in damages.
The complaint's allegations
According to the filing, Owens boosted what Harpole calls a “completely and obviously fabricated” story that he secretly met with Army intelligence officers at Fort Huachuca the day before Kirk was killed, and then used that tale in multiple X posts and podcast segments. The details of those posts and episodes are laid out in the complaint, which is posted on CourtListener.
Where the Fort Huachuca story came from
Harpole’s attorneys say the Fort Huachuca narrative started with Mitchell Snow, whose account Owens allegedly leaned on even after, the complaint says, she saw travel records placing Harpole in Dallas on the day in question. Reason published excerpts from the lawsuit that list specific X posts and podcast segments Harpole claims are defamatory, along with the context around Snow’s role.
Owens pushes back
Owens has not exactly gone quiet. On her show and on X, she framed the lawsuit as handing her “the power of subpoena” and dismissed it as a publicity stunt. She also argued that Harpole made himself a public figure by going on national podcasts. Forbes reported that Owens disputed Harpole’s version of how events unfolded and said he had opportunities to respond before she aired Snow’s account.
Legal stakes
Harpole’s complaint treats Owens’s statements as flat-out factual claims, not speculation, including allegations that he had advance knowledge of the killing and joined a conspiracy to commit murder. The suit says Owens acted with “actual malice,” a defamation standard that requires showing she knew the claims were false or recklessly ignored whether they were true.
Whether a court sees Harpole as a private citizen or a public figure will dictate how steep that legal hill is. The complaint insists he is a private person and asks for discovery that could force Owens and Snow to turn over their sources and travel records, according to Reason.
Why it matters
The lawsuit escalates a months-long fight inside right-wing media and could turn a swirl of online accusations into sworn testimony and document production that show exactly how Snow’s story spread and what, if anything, Owens had to back it up. The complaint comes in the long shadow of the Sept. 10, 2025 assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University and the torrent of conspiracy theories that followed, as reported by the AP and local coverage in The Salt Lake Tribune.
