CNN: Tucker Carlson ‘furious’ at Fox News execs for not defending his NSA spying claims
Fox News host Tucker Carlson is reportedly “furious” with Fox News executives for not “backing him up” over his allegations that the National Security Agency (NSA) was spying on him.
“Tensions are sky high,” a source familiar with the matter told CNN, according to a report published Monday.
According to another source, Carlson has “always had tension with” the higher-ups at Fox, but in light of his recent claims, he is “extra pissed.”
However, the popular prime-time host denied the claims that he is upset with Fox management in texts to CNN.
“I’m not mad at anyone at Fox,” Carlson wrote. “If I was, I’d say so. I’m mad at you for lying relentlessly. What a loathsome person you are. Please print that.”
In a statement to Axios last week, a Fox representative told the news outlet: “We support any of our hosts pursuing interviews and stories free of government interference.”
Citing someone he referred to as a “whistleblower from within the U.S. government,” Carlson claimed in June that he and his show’s producers had been informed that the NSA was “monitoring our electronic communications and is planning to leak them in an attempt to take this show off the air.”
For the past few weeks, Carlson has doubled down on the claims, and the agency itself has denied the accusations.
“Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air,” the NSA wrote in a rare statement.
A statement from NSA regarding recent allegations: pic.twitter.com/vduE6l6YWg
— NSA/CSS (@NSAGov) June 30, 2021
Though no evidence has come out to corroborate Carlson’s claims, GOP lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), have called for investigations into the matter.
“There is a public report that NSA read the emails of Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Although NSA publicly denied targeting Carlson, I have serious questions regarding this matter that must be answered,” McCarthy said in a statement shortly after Carlson made his claims.
Updated 10:42 p.m.
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