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Top-rated Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday accused a House Democrat of seeking information about any ties his network program may have to Russia from a U.S. intelligence briefer.
Carlson said Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee during a Wednesday closed-door briefing on the Russia-Ukraine situation “asked an intelligence briefer to find out if this show is tied to Russia.”
The host said that Cooper’s suspicions were extremely ill-founded.
“We’re not tied to Russia, of course. This is a cable television program. We’re not a diplomatic mission. Jim Cooper, needless to say, knows that,” Carlson said, adding that he’s been criticizing President Joe Biden’s policies toward Ukraine, which is virtually surrounded by 100,000 Russian troops and is under threat of invasion.
Cooper, the host added, was simply in “retaliation” mode.
Carlson went on to say that Cooper “admitted it” when his program reached out to the Tennessee Democrat, but added he was “too cowardly” to come on the show to explain himself.
“Congressman Cooper is observing the first anniversary of his wife’s death from Alzheimer’s tonight, but he has every right to ask whatever questions he thinks are important for strengthening American security during confidential House Intelligence Committee hearings,” Cooper’s office told “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in a statement that was obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Carlson said using U.S. government agencies to exact retribution on political opponents and media outlets is illegal.
“This is scary behavior. It is also revealing,” he said, noting that last year, his program’s electronic communications were intercepted and monitored by the National Security Agency.
Carlson revealed in June that his program was tipped off that the NSA intercepted his electronic communications, later noting that he was attempting to set up an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The war on terror now ongoing for 20 years has pivoted, it is now being waged against American citizens, opponents of the regime. We saw this on display at January 6 and told you a couple of weeks ago based on the language of public at available indictments at the FBI has poor knowledge of the riots of the capital that day and the agents we spoke to confirm that is true,” he said.
“The FBI had sources in that crowd, confidential sources, that’s 100% certain. But is not just political protest the government is spying on coming yesterday we heard from a whistle-blower within the U.S. Government who reached out to warn us that the NSA, The National Security Agency is monitoring our electronic communication and is planning to leak them in an attempt to take this show off the air,” he continued.
“That’s a shocking claim and ordinarily we would be skeptical of it, it’s a crime. Not a third-world country, things like that should not happen in America but unfortunately, they do and in this case, they did,” the host added.
“The whistle-blower who is in a position to know repeated back to us information about a story that we are working on that could have only come directly from my texts and emails. There’s no other possible source of that information,” Carlson said.
“They did it for political reasons. The Biden administration is spying on us. We have confirmed that. This morning, we filed an employer request asking for all information that the NSA and other agencies have gathered about the show,” he told viewers.
“We did it mostly as a formality and contact of the press office of both NSA and the FBI you don’t expect to hear much back, that’s the way that usually goes. Only Congress can force transparency on the intelligence agencies and they should do that immediately. Spying on opposition journalists is incompatible with democracy,” he said.
When initially asked about Carlson’s allegations, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki did not confirm or deny the allegation, responding to a reporter’s question instead with a description of how the NSA operates.
“Tucker Carlson said that NSA is spying on him, is the administration aware of any espionage or listening efforts on US citizens by the NSA, and is Tucker Carlson one of them?” a reporter asked aboard Air Force One.
“Uh, well, the NSA, as I think you’re well aware, I’m sure everyone’s aware, uh, everyone on this plane is aware, I should say, is uh, an entity that focuses on foreign threats and individuals uh, who are tr-attempting to do us harm on foreign soil. So, uh, that is the, their, uh, purview, um, but, uh, beyond that I would point you to the intelligence community,” she said.
