What screenshots, timestamps, or saved posts were collected by researchers or journalists that document Erika Kirk's interactions with Cabot Phillips in 2017?
Executive summary
A cluster of online researchers and social-media users surfaced a set of 2017-era posts, archived tweets and images that they say show interactions between Erika Kirk and Cabot Phillips from mid-2017 through November 2017; reporting summarizes those artifacts as screenshots, X/Twitter interactions captured in a video compilation, archived Tweets (via the Wayback Machine) and photographs from social accounts that portray the two together [1] [2] [3]. The public record assembled by TikTok creators and outlet aggregators centers on dated social posts, a Wayback Machine capture of a September 2017 tweet, and photos captioned or commented on in ways that contemporaries read as romantic [4] [2] [3].
1. What researchers and journalists say they collected
Multiple pieces of reporting trace the same set of materials: a short video posted to X/Twitter that compiles Erika and Cabot’s interactions on X (formerly Twitter) between June and October 2017, which reportedly includes screenshots of exchanges and comments that labeled them as a couple or “love birds” [1]. Journalists and online sleuths also point to photos of the two at a painting class and drinking together, which circulated as images of them socializing in 2017 [5] [4]. Separate accounts reference a birthday message from Erika to Cabot in November 2017 as another dated social-media artifact being cited [3].
2. The Wayback Machine archive cited as a timestamped anchor
At least one writeup explicitly points to a Wayback Machine capture of a Cabot Phillips tweet from September 19, 2017 as preserved evidence — reporting reproduces the archived URL and uses the Wayback timestamp to anchor a late‑September 2017 interaction in time [2] [6]. Coverage uses that archived tweet date to juxtapose other posts from the same period, including a Charlie Kirk photo dated September 24, 2017, to show overlapping social circles and contemporaneous timing [2].
3. The form of the “receipts” circulating online
The materials being described in the coverage are a mix of direct screenshots of posts and comments, short compiled videos (shared on X/Twitter and TikTok) that show the timeline of interactions, and archived web captures; outlets describe these as “social posts,” images from Instagram and Twitter, and video compilations that stitch together dated exchanges from 2017 [1] [4] [5]. Reporting highlights captions and comment threads — for example a painting-class photo captioned, “Yes, that couple who gets painting lessons together” — as part of what online investigators saved and shared [3] [4].
4. Contradictions, context and limits of the available artifacts
Some coverage cautions that the materials have been circulated primarily by TikTok creators and partisan sites and that interpretations vary: one writeup notes that Cabot’s own Instagram later presented him as married and that other outlets described him as a friend of Charlie Kirk, suggesting alternative explanations for social proximity [1]. Importantly, the reporting collected here documents that screenshots, a Wayback‑archived tweet and photo posts exist in the public discourse, but none of the cited articles reproduce a complete authenticated chain-of-custody for every image or message — they report what social users found and archived rather than publishing every original screenshot in full [2] [1].
5. Bottom line: what can be stated with confidence
Based on the cited reporting, researchers and social-media investigators assembled and circulated: (a) a video compilation of X/Twitter interactions between Erika Kirk and Cabot Phillips from June–October 2017, described as containing dated screenshots and comments [1]; (b) photographic posts showing the two together (painting class, bar photos) that were presented as 2017-era evidence [5] [4]; and (c) at least one Wayback Machine archived tweet from Cabot Phillips dated September 19, 2017, which has been used as a timestamped reference point by those reposting the material [2] [6]. Reporting also cites an alleged November 2017 birthday message from Erika to Cabot as part of the packet of posts being circulated [3]. Beyond those described items, the sources do not provide full, independently verified archives in these articles, and interpretations about relationship status or intent vary among observers [1] [4].