A legal filing submitted revealed Candace Owens has added Daniel A. Horwitz to the team of attorneys representing her in the defamation lawsuit filed in April by Brian Harpole, the former head of security for Charlie Kirk, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The court received a notice of appearance for Horwitz last Thursday, revealing he will represent Owens personally as well as her businesses, Candace Owens LLC and GeorgeTom, Inc.
A graduate of Cornell University and Vanderbilt Law and a former clerk for the Tennessee Supreme Court, Horwitz is a nationally recognized constitutional attorney. His website highlights victories won in litigation against the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), Metro Nashville, and the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners.
Last year, a federal court also sided with Horwitz after he was gagged by a federal district court from speaking publicly about allegations made by one of his clients in a lawsuit against CoreCivic, which operates a series of privately owned prisons in Tennessee.
In 2024, Horwitz also successfully represented Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, when Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles ordered him to appear for a contempt hearing after The Star legally obtained and reported details from the final journal written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
While Horwitz represents Owens on the separate defamation case filed against her by Brigitte Macron, the First Lady of France, she previously retained Robert A. Peal of the Nashville firm Sims Funk for the lawsuit brought against her by Harpole.
Peal is also a nationally recognized attorney and is ranked as a “Super Lawyer” for his high-profile litigation.
According to the Sims Funk website, Peal “represents businesses, executives, and high-profile individuals in complex commercial disputes and high-stakes litigation,” and focuses “on matters that threaten core business operations, leadership, or reputation — including bet-the-company disputes, crisis-driven litigation, internal investigations, and parallel civil, criminal, and regulatory proceedings.”
Harpole alleges that Owens and her co-defendant, Mitch Snow, defamed him in a conspiracy to spread false information claiming he attended a meeting at a military installation one day before Kirk was assassinated, allegedly by Tyler Robinson.
The security professional has retained Matthew Sarelson of the Dhillon Law Group, which was founded by Harmeet Dhillon, who now serves as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. His legal team also includes Tara Swafford and Elizabeth Hart of Tennessee’s Swafford Law Firm, as well as Florida-based attorney Jacob William Roth.
Snow has yet to receive the lawsuit, even after a federal magistrate judge authorized the U.S. Marshals Service to serve him with the paperwork.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Daniel Horwitz” by Daniel Horwitz.
