Former Fox News anchor
Trump friend Tucker Carlson in Moscow – will he interview Vladimir Putin?
Sometimes tight-lipped: Tucker Carlson
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP
Tucker Carlson visits Moscow and praises the city. But the former Fox News man and confidant of Donald Trump is actually there to interview Vladimir Putin, it is said. As the first western journalist since the outbreak of war.
He was seen in the famous Bolshoi Theater, in a hotel restaurant and he obviously likes what he sees: Moscow is “beautiful,” the Russian daily newspaper “Izvestia” quotes him as saying. “I have long wanted to visit the city that I have heard so much about and have never been to,” continued Tucker Carlson. Innocuous sentences that you will probably hear from many tourists. But Carlson, 54 years old, American, well-known television personality and Donald Trump’s friend may not be just a normal guest in the Russian capital.
Vladimir Putin does not have to fear critical questions
There is a persistent rumor that Carlson, who was a presenter on the ultra-conservative US broadcaster Fox News for many years, will interview none other than Vladimir Putin. Or already has, like Alexei Venediktov, a former journalist from Echo Moscow believes to know. The Russian president is not available to many Western journalists. Especially not since his invasion of Ukraine. With Tucker Carlson, he could be sure that he doesn’t have too many critical questions in his luggage.
Like many right-wing and right-wing extremist voices in Europe and the USA, Trump confidant Carlson is a friend of Putin, or at least a sympathizer. When the Fox News moderator unabashedly spread fake news and conspiracy theories every evening, he was considered Putin’s propaganda machine in the USA. He once called the President of Russia-attacked Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenkyj, a “dictator” and a “sweaty rat.”
The Russian government therefore likes the American’s visit, as Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said: “Many foreign journalists come to Russia every day, many work here,” he said, when asked about Tucker Carlson. But he remained silent about a possible Putin interview: “We have no announcements to make regarding the president’s discussions with foreign media.”
Tucker Carlson knowingly lied
The 54-year-old Carlson left Fox News in the spring of 2023, but rather involuntarily. Although he was the right-wing poster boy, his name had appeared several times in connection with a lawsuit against the TV station. Carlson had claimed in his broadcasts, against his better judgment, that the US elections were fraudulent. A voting machine manufacturer sued, and Fox News had to pay a fine of almost $800 million.
Since his expulsion, the presenter has been running a channel on X, the former Twitter, on which he spreads essentially the same horror stories as on his former television channel. In the summer, Carlson was a guest of Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban. In the interview, he praised their mutual friend, saying: Donald Trump hasn’t started any new wars and has treated North Korea, Russia and even China “nicely.” So Trump is the only man who can save the Western world and perhaps all human beings in the world World.”
Sources: “The Hill“, DPA, AFP, Reuters, daily News, Newsweek