Former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson accused Newsweek of attempting to give the federal government reason to spy on him with a fabricated report of his show airing in Russia. On Tuesday, Newsweek reported Carlson launched a show on Russian state television before walking the claims back hours later.
“Tucker Carlson launches show on Russian state TV,” the original headline read. According to Newsweek, footage of Carlson’s X show aired on Russia 24 and was translated into Russian. The magazine changed the headline Tuesday night to “Tucker Carlson Show Aired By Russian State TV.”
“Newsweek is very obviously trying to give the Biden administration a pretext to read my personal communications under [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act],” Carlson told RealClearPolitics. “Total bullsh-t in every way.”
“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
In another statement to Mediaite, Carlson called the report of his launching a show in Russia “completely absurd.”
“Reporters are so dishonest and stupid,” Carlson said. “I’ve never even heard of this channel.”
Newsweek published a similar story last September reporting Russian media had begun broadcasting Carlson’s X program on the state-controlled airwaves.
“It has since emerged that the Russian state TV channel has begun airing clips from Carlson’s social media show,
