Tucker Carlson facing media ‘profiles and investigations’ amid NSA ‘spying’ accusations: Report
Tucker #Tucker
A trio of news outlets are reportedly working on projects related to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has made headlines in recent weeks accusing the Biden administration of “spying” on his communications and orchestrating a plot to leak them to take his show off the air.
Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media correspondent, surmised in his newsletter on Wednesday that Carlson may be trying to “get ahead” of a damaging story.
“In recent weeks I have heard about three different outlets working on Carlson profiles and investigations. With Carlson claiming that a journalist was tipped off to his emails ‘in an effort to discredit’ him, I keep wondering if Carlson’s bombastic spy story is an attempt to get ahead of whatever’s about to be reported…,” he wrote.
Stelter, who hosts Reliable Sources weekends on CNN, recently told the New York Times that Carlson’s “fingertips” were all over his book, Hoax, which was critical of Fox News and former President Donald Trump. This was part of a report asserting that Carlson was a source for journalists even as he criticized the media as “cringing animals who are not worthy of respect.”
REVEALED: TUCKER CARLSON’S FOIA REQUEST TO NSA
Stelter’s publisher, One Signal, also tweeted that Stelter interviewed Carlson for the hardcover of his book, but then deleted it, according to the Washington Post.
Carlson confirmed elements of an Axios report on Wednesday that said he was communicating with U.S.-based Kremlin intermediaries about setting up an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the time he claims the National Security Agency intercepted his communications.
The host told his audience of millions that the day before he learned that “sources in the so-called intelligence community” told at least one reporter in Washington about the contents of his emails. He also said the NSA sought to paint him as a “disloyal American.”
After Carlson first levied the spying accusation on June 28, which came roughly a week after the New York Times report, the NSA released a rare public statement saying the host was “never” a target of the agency and denied a plot to get Carlson’s show taken off the air. However, the statement did not preclude the possibility any communications were incidentally collected.
In explaining why he sought an interview with Putin, Carlson said on Wednesday that Putin is “newsworthy.” Carlson said he decided to keep his overtures “quiet” over concerns that publicity would “rattle the Russians” and hurt his chances for an interview. He also insisted there was “nothing scandalous” in the emails, although their contents have not yet been disclosed to the public.
“If I had specific info on Tucker’s communication I would publish it. If I had info on an intel report/unmasking I would publish it. I don’t. I published everything I could confirm so far. The piece lays out different scenarios & raises questions we are still chasing,” tweeted Jonathan Swan, the author of the Axios report.
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Fox News issued a brief statement that generally backed its hosts.
“We support any of our hosts pursuing interviews and stories free of government interference,” a representative said.author of the report.
Tags: News, Media, Fox News, Tucker Carlson, NSA, CNN
Original Author: Daniel Chaitin
Original Location: Tucker Carlson facing media ‘profiles and investigations’ amid NSA ‘spying’ accusations: Report