Why Tucker Carlson's Recent Spying Claims Are Raising Eyebrows
Tucker Carlson has been working as a news personality for Fox News since 2009, after previously working at CNN (2000 to 2005) and MSNBC (2005 to 2008). Carlson is known for his right-wing views, including a strong anti-immigration stance (via Business Insider).
Carlson is also known as a bit of a shouter; in an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review, Carlson was said to be shouting even while explaining he doesn't like to shout. "I actually don't think the audience likes that," he said. "I don't like it. But the idea that I win debates because I yell louder, it's, like, absurd."
Recently, Carlson jumped online to do a bit of virtual shouting. The talk show host took to the air to accuse President Biden's administration of spying on his emails, telling viewers that he believes the National Security Agency is in charge of the operation. "Yesterday, we heard from a whistleblower within the US government who reached out to warn us that the NSA — the National Security Agency — is monitoring our electronic communications, and is planning to leak them in an effort to take this show off the air," he said. (via The Independent).
Tucker Carlson has produced no evidence to back up his claims
Despite his insistence that someone at the National Security Agency is spying on him, Tucker Carlson has yet to produce any evidence. He did note that Fox News has "confirmed" the situation itself, adding that the information allegedly conveyed to himself and his team by a whistleblower could only have been ascertained one way. "The whistleblower, who is in a position to know, repeated information back to us about a story that we are working on, that could have only come directly from my texts and emails," he said. "There's no other possible source for that information." (via The Independent).
People have responded to the millionaire news personality's claims with a bit of skepticism. One Twitter user noted that if the story is true, the whistleblower themselves likely committed a crime. "Whistleblowers go through the proper channels to report suspected wrongdoing. That's not what's happening here. If someone at NSA contacted Carlson then they committed a very serious crime."
Another person pointed out on Twitter that the fact that Carlson is making these claims raises suspicions about what he's really up to. "He's claiming the NSA which is concerned with US defense has reason to monitor him and that internal communications is so damaging it would get him thrown off the air. Either BS or he's a foreign asset, fun."