"I feel incredibly privileged to have spent a day and shared a meal with @charliekirk11 this summer. He was a giant of a man."

The Grayzone has spoken to five people with intimate knowledge of Kirk's meeting with Ackman, which was held in early August. According to one source, Kirk was left upset after the gathering turned into an "intervention" where he was "hammered" for his increasingly skeptical views on the US special relationship with Israel, and for platforming prominent conservative critics of Israel at his TPUSA events. 

Since publishing this report, The Grayzone has learned from one attendee of the Hamptons event that Ackman convened the influencers under the auspices of a discussion about Zohran Mamdani and the supposed threat he posed to the West if elected mayor of New York. But the meeting went off the rails when Ackman personally confronted Kirk about his views on Israel. An unknown British woman joined in the argument, and began "screaming" at Kirk, according to the attendee.

When his hosts presented him with a detailed list of every offense he supposedly committed against Israel, Kirk was "horrified," said one person. Ackman also allegedly demanded Kirk rescind his invitation for Tucker Carlson to speak at his upcoming America Fest 2025 in December. 

"The whole thing was a disaster," said an attendee.

The Grayzone reported on September 12, citing a longtime associate of Kirk, that Netanyahu had offered to organize a massive infusion of pro-Israel money into TPUSA, and that Kirk refused. Another longtime friend of Kirk has told The Grayzone that the conservative activist also rejected an offer Netanyahu delivered two weeks before his death to meet with him in Jerusalem.

Kirk, according to one person with inside knowledge of the meeting with Ackman, said he left feeling as though he'd been subjected to "blackmail."

In a series of text messages with The Grayzone, Ackman described these account of his meeting with Kirk as "totally false." He pledged to release a public statement providing his own account of the event, but refused The Grayzone's request for clarification or further details. He would not accept phone calls from this reporter.