In recent news, a controversial article published by Newsweek claimed that Tucker Carlson, former Fox News host, was set to helm a new show on Russian television. The piece caused quite a stir, with some expressing shock, disgust, and others remaining stoic about the situation. In the article, Carlson was portrayed as promoting one of America’s greatest geopolitical foes, even going as far as to say that some aspects of Russian society are superior to those of America. However, the article has since been updated, and the claim has been debunked as fake news.
Newsweek’s original article had stated that Carlson had launched his show on Russian state TV, without any evidence to support this claim. However, the CEO of the Tucker Carlson Network has since rejected these allegations, stating that there is no evidence of Carlson’s involvement in any deals with Russian television stations.
It appears that the source of these claims may have originated from the program “Tucker,” which is broadcast on Russia 24. This program, however, only features old episodes of Carlson’s shows taken from X and YouTube, with a Russian voiceover added.
As per a report by Russian state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the first episode of “Tucker” and other clips from previous months are now available online. This has led to confusion and speculation about Carlson’s involvement with Russian television. However, Carlson himself has a different theory about why these stories are being published. He believes that it is a ploy by the US intelligence community to secure a FISA warrant against him.
In an interview with Real Clear Politics, Carlson stated that “Newsweek is very obviously trying to give the Biden administration a pretext to read my personal communications under FISA. It’s pretty dark.” This is not the first time there have been allegations of the intelligence community illegally spying on Americans. In the past, the FBI was found to have falsified documents and buried exculpatory evidence to obtain a FISA warrant against former Trump campaign advisor, Carter Page.
“Total bullshit in every way,” Tucker Carlson tells me of @Newsweek claims that he launched his show on Russian state TV.
“Newsweek is very obviously trying to give the Biden administration a pretext to read my personal communications under FISA. It’s pretty dark.” pic.twitter.com/eXm1l07qp0
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) May 21, 2024
Additionally, there have been instances where the government has weaponized leaked information to target individuals. One such example is the leak of a false lead on Paul Manafort to CNN, which led to the government using it to obtain search warrants and violating his attorney-client privilege. With these past incidents in mind, it is understandable that Carlson may be concerned about a potential FISA warrant being unfairly used against him.
In light of these allegations, Newsweek has not issued any editor’s note or apology regarding the article in question. This has raised questions about the publication’s journalistic standards and whether proper fact-checking procedures were followed before publishing the piece. As of now, it is unclear why Newsweek chose to run this article without solid evidence to support its claims.
Overall, it is evident that the news of Tucker Carlson hosting a show on Russian television was fake and has been debunked. As for the motive behind the publication of this article, only time will tell if there is any validity to Carlson’s theory about the intelligence community.
In the meantime, it serves as a reminder that media outlets should always strive to publish accurate and verified information, especially when it concerns controversial figures like Carlson.
