Leaked Memo From Conservative Group Cautions Students to Stay Away From Turning Point USA

In its six years of existence, Turning Point USA has repeatedly been accused of engaging in half-truths and unethical behavior — whether secretly funneling money to student-government candidates or placing college faculty members on a poorly researched (and arguably McCarthyesque) Professor Watchlist.

None of that has slowed the meteoric rise of the conservative group and its charismatic leader, Charlie Kirk. Kirk continues to be a regular guest on Fox News. He rubs elbows with the Trump family and Republican members of Congress. Donors gave his organization nearly $10 million last year.

But the latest critic to blast Kirk’s group is a fellow conservative organization. Young America’s Foundation, founded more than 50 years ago at the home of William F. Buckley Jr., has written a blistering 12-page memorandum (reprinted below) “outlining the lack of integrity, honesty, experience, and judgment of this growing organization.”

“The long-term damage TPUSA could inflict on conservative students and the Conservative Movement can no longer be ignored,” states the May 25 memo, written by Kimberly Begg, vice president and general counsel of Young America’s.

A Young America’s representative familiar with the memo said it was meant to be an “internal” document for students who were asking if they should cooperate with Turning Point.

“Students needed to be aware of what they were getting themselves into if they were going to cooperate with this other group,” the representative said.

After the memo leaked out this week, a former Turning Point employee, Caleb Hull, weighed in on Twitter:

“Sad to say I can confirm everything in this memo is true,” wrote Hull, who is now a social-media manager and editor at the right-leaning Independent Journal Review, a news website.

“TPUSA activists do some incredible work,” Hull wrote. “It’s a shame the face for their work has become constant, EXTREME inflation of numbers to mislead donors. They have an opportunity to turn this around, and they should.”

The memo accuses the organization of inflating the number of student chapters on high-school and college campuses, exaggerating its role in getting conservatives elected to student-government positions, and falsely boasting that it holds more activities than all other conservative youth groups combined.

Regarding that last allegation, the memo states: “We called this falsehood to Kirk’s personal attention, but he has never corrected it.”

The memo also alleges that one of Turning Point USA’s methods for inflating attendance at its events is “boosting numbers with racists & Nazi sympathizers.”

A Turning Point representative released a statement to The Chronicle that accused Young America’s Foundation of abandoning “the Reagan Rule” — “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”

“Turning Point USA has always supported YAFers and looks forward to finding additional ways to collaborate in the future, as we know that YAF has much more pressing concerns in California than other conservative organizations like TPUSA, like the rising tide of Marxism,” the statement says. “Turning Point USA is committed to being supportive to other conservatives, ensuring college campuses become places welcoming to diverse ideological perspectives.”

Earlier this week, as the leaked memo became public, Kirk sent out this tweet:

While Kirk’s tweet didn’t explicitly mention the memo, a tweet by Candace Owens, TPUSA’s communications director, did. Owens took issue with the memo’s statement that Kirk founded TPUSA, a campus-focused organization, when he had “no college experience” himself. Kirk has since taken some college courses.

Read the full memo:

Michael Vasquez is a senior investigative reporter. Follow him on Twitter @MrMikeVasquez, or email him at michael.vasquez@chronicle.com.