Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson called former President Donald Trump “moderate, sensible and wise” after speaking with the ex-president Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago — Trump’s first interview since he was indicted last week.
Carlson also said Trump’s description of a Mar-a-Lago meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was “remarkably nuanced and even affectionate,” despite Trump’s tough stance on China, telling Fox viewers that they had a “really interesting story.” ‘ were waiting.
Carlson’s comments come after his private messages were unsealed and made public in March as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox.
“We are very, very close to ignoring Trump most nights. I really can’t wait,” Carlson allegedly said of Trump, according to the lawsuit. “I hate him passionately,” the Fox host had texted his producer Alex Pfeiffer on Jan. 4, 2021, the suit said.
At the time, Trump was contesting the result of the 2020 presidential election.
Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson called former President Donald Trump “moderate, sensible and wise” after sitting with the ex-president at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday — Trump’s first interview since being indicted last week
Carlson (right) released posts as part of the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News. In it, he allegedly said, “I hate him passionately,” about Trump (left) and said he “really can’t wait” to cover him less. Carlson interviewed Trump Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago (pictured)
When Carlson’s messages were released, a Fox spokesperson said: “Thanks to today’s charges, Dominion has once again been caught in the act of using more distortions and misinformation in their public relations campaign to defame FOX News and trample on freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
“We already know they will say and do anything to try and win this case, but to twist quotes and even misattribute them to the highest levels of our company is truly unimaginable.”
Fox is being sued by Dominion, with the voting machine company claiming the conservative media company defamed them by questioning their technology and methods as Trump allies spread election fraud conspiracy theories over Fox’s airwaves.
Fox is fighting the charges and the case is going to trial in Wilmington, Delaware.
And while Trump has criticized Rupert Murdoch’s cable network, he didn’t express that position during the nearly hour-long interview with Carlson that aired Tuesday night.
Nor did he bring up Carlson’s lyrics.
Before each interview segment aired, Carlson addressed Fox viewers from an outdoor live shot location in Palm Beach, Florida, near the Mar-a-Lago grounds.
“For a man who was caricatured as an extremist, we think you’ll find what he has to say moderate, sensible and wise,” Carlson said for a portion of the interview that had a lot to do with foreign policy .
“For a man who was caricatured as an extremist, we think you’ll find what he has to say moderate, sensible and wise,” Carlson said for a portion of the interview that had a lot to do with foreign policy.
Trump spoke briefly about last week’s arraignment in Manhattan, but then moved on to foreign policy topics for the bulk of his nearly hour-long interview that aired Tuesday night on Carlson’s show on Fox News
Trump spoke briefly about last week’s arraignment in Manhattan, but quickly moved on to hitting President Joe Biden’s administration about the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The White House released a report last week as Biden left for Easter break, placing much of the blame on Trump for what happened.
“These fools, these stupid people — and think about the way they left Afghanistan and nobody got fired,” Trump mocked.
“They left in the middle of the night. They left the lights on. They left the dogs, by the way, you know, the people, they left the dogs outside. They left the dogs. Everyone you know, the dog lovers. And you have many. I love dogs. You like dogs, but they left their stuff,” Trump continued.
He also claimed that he told Russian President Vladimir Putin not to touch Ukraine.
“I could tell he loved it,” Trump told Carlson. “He considers it part of Russia.”
“I said, not if I’m president,” Trump continued. “I said I would do something really mean if he goes into Ukraine and he said, ‘No, no, you’re not going to do that.’ I said I will do it. And he didn’t believe me either, but he believed me 10 percent. And the 10% you’ve never heard talk about going to Ukraine.’
During the interview, Trump also shared concerns about “nuclear warming” and criticized Biden for not holding a press conference while the president is in Ireland.
Trump was stunned that French President Emmanuel Macron went to China to meet Xi and condemned Biden for punching Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last summer — not because it was too kind, but because it wasn’t kind enough used to be.
“You have a crazy world about to explode and the United States has absolutely nothing to say and Macron, who is a friend of mine, is done with China kissing his ass. In China. I said France is going to China now?’ said Trump.
“Look at Saudi Arabia. Look what happened. They are great people. They wanted to help us. He goes and punches. Do you know what a punch means? It means don’t shake my hand because your hand is dirty, that’s what a fist is. They were so offended. Do you understand that, yes?’ the former president continues.
Speaking to Carlson about how he received Xi at Mar-a-Lago in April 2017, he recalled how the Chinese president has a “beautiful female interpreter.”
“He had an incredible — I’m not allowed to say it because it’s very rude and very politically incorrect — a beautiful female interpreter,” Trump recalled. “When you say it, they say, ‘This is terrible, you can’t say that.’ But she was very professional. She spoke every word for him, very professionally.’
At the end of the interview, Trump hinted that he thought it was the US that blew up the Nord Stream pipeline connecting Russia to Germany.
“I don’t want to get our country into trouble, so I won’t answer. But I can tell you who it wasn’t, Russia. But when they blamed Russia, they said Russia blew up their own pipeline. You got a kick out of that too. It wasn’t Russia,” Trump said.