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An ex-employee of Turning Point USA has criticized the leadership of the conservative youth group under Erika Kirk following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Aubrey Laitsch, who served on TPUSA’s public relations team for over four years, shared a 12-minute video on Thursday. In it, she accuses the organization of straying from Charlie’s original vision since Erika assumed the roles of CEO and chairperson after his death on September 10.
Laitsch recounts being called into a meeting with senior TPUSA officials, including spokesperson Andrew Kolvet and another unnamed executive.
During this meeting, she was allegedly informed that an Uber driver had relayed to a board member that his daughter was acquainted with an employee who disliked Erika. Laitsch claims that she was wrongfully identified as this unhappy employee and subsequently dismissed.
Shocked by these accusations, Laitsch expressed surprise, noting her longstanding acquaintance with Erika since 2013, and stating that she held no grievances against the widowed mother of two at the time of the alleged incident.
‘We were doing pageants around the same time as one another. She was in the Miss USA organization, and I was in the Miss United States organization, and we happened to cross paths at an event,’ Laitsch notes in her video.
‘I’ve known Erika for quite some time, and my thoughts about her and the idea that nobody likes her do not align whatsoever with the timeline of October or November,’ when the alleged Uber incident took place.
At the end of the video, she also notes: ‘It literally breaks my heart to make this video, but I know that I owe it to Charlie and that this would be the expectation for me.’
Aubrey Laitsch, a former member of TPUSA staffer, released a 12-minute video on Thursday detailing what she views as the drastic turn the organization has undergone since Charlie Kirk’s assassination last September
Aubrey Laitsch, Erika Kirk, and podcast host Sage Steele at TPUSA’s AmericaFest in 2024. Laitsch called both women ‘ not just incredible role models but true inspirations in the conservative movement’
Laitsch worked for TPUSA directly and through Kolvet’s communications company as a contractor.
In her video, she notes that she has ‘a gut feeling that [she] was terminated from Turning Point because [she is] questioning the narrative of what happened to [her] role model and CEO, Charlie Kirk, on the day of his assassination.’
‘What is being told to us in the mainstream media just really doesn’t add up to me,’ Laitsch also notes. Â
The former staffer’s account aligns with an accusation hurled at TPUSA by conservative podcaster Candace Owens late last month.
In a January 22 post on X, Owens classified a series of tales she had been told as the ‘Scottsdale Witch Trials,’ including an incident of ‘executives … dragging people into offices asking about their allegiance to Erika.’
‘Specifically, one person was told that an Uber driver told their CMO that his daughter was friends with an employee who didn’t like Erika,’ Owens noted.
‘Andrew Kolvet then hauled the Uber-mentioned employee into an office and questioned her about the driver’s account, regarding which, she was totally mystified,’ Owens also alleged.
Laitsch’s Thursday comments align with remarks by Owens last month, when she claimed to have spoken to disgruntled employees at TPUSA and alleged that the organization laid off staff who worked 20-hour days, despite raising a quarter of a billion dollars after Kirk’s assassination.
Aubrey Laitsch inspects Donald Trump’s southern border wall
Laitsch detailed the time following Kirk’s murder in her video, recalling how she was ‘reprimanded for not being supportive enough to people,’ while living through ‘an extremely traumatizing day’ and ‘working nonstop.’
While some of the viewers of Laitsch’s video were sympathetic to her words, others said she got what she deserved for allegedly leaking insider information to Owens.
Conservative comedian and commentator Bobby Sauce wrote on Laitsch’s video posted to Instagram: ‘Well done, Aubrey! People like you is what made my experience with TPUSA so enjoyable. Courage is contagious!!!’
Commenting on Laitsch’s video on X, Chris Loesch had harsher words: ‘You are owed no sympathy.’
‘You believed and spread falsehoods about your employer. Not only is that a fire-able offense – nothing to do with your free speech rights – it’s disgusting and contemptible. Shame on you,’ Loesch added.
The Daily Mail has contacted TPUSA for comment.