Tucker Sounds Pretty Mad At The Fact-Checking Fox Reporter Who’s Been Debunking Russian Disinfo

ESZTERGOM, HUNGARY - AUGUST 07: Tucker Carlson speaks during the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) Feszt on August 7, 2021 in Esztergom, Hungary. The multiday political event was organized by the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), a privately managed foundation that recently received more than $1.7 billion in government money and assets. The leader of its main board, Balazs Orban, who is also a state secretary in the prime minister's office, said MCC's priority is promoting "patriotism" among the next generation of Hungary's leaders. (Photo by Janos Kummer/Getty Images)
Fox News host Tucker Carlson speaks during the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) Feszt on August 7, 2021 in Esztergom, Hungary. (Janos Kummer/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s just asking questions about Russia’s latest conspiracy theory — bioweapon labs in Ukraine — that’s found a home in U.S. right-wing circles. But he doesn’t seem to like the answers he’s getting from people who actually know things.

After Fox News defense reporter Jennifer Griffin debunked the Kremlin’s lab claims on air Wednesday night and Thursday, Carlson popped off during his show later on Thursday, slamming the “Pentagon talking points you saw reported as fact on television today and last night” and journalists who “didn’t bother to do any reporting whatsoever.”

“They got a text from some Biden administration flack and they just read it on the air like it was true,” the Fox News host fumed. “You shouldn’t be surprised, because that’s what they do.”

“And it’s possible they’re afraid not to do that,” he added. “They know if they stray from the script the White House has written for them, they’ll be denounced from the briefing room as tools of Putin.”

A few minutes later, Carlson ranted again about reporters who “scold anyone for asking legitimate questions” and “attack” them as tools of Russia.

Though Carlson never identified these allegedly crooked reporters by name, his tirade came the day after Griffin appeared on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show and debunked with a Pentagon fact sheet the biolabs conspiracy theory that Carlson had been “just asking questions”-ing before her appearance that night.

Thursday night wasn’t the first time Carlson seemingly lashed out at Griffin.

On Tuesday last week, the Fox News host had Ret. Col. Douglas MacGregor on his show, which was several days after Griffin slammed MacGregor’s Putin-friendly “distortions” of Russia’s war on Ukraine during his appearance on Fox. MacGregor sounded like an “apologist” for Putin, Griffin said.

An indignant Carlson defended MacGregor several days later with an apparent swipe at Griffin.

“Unlike so many of the TV generals you see all day long, MacGregor is not angling for a board seat at Raytheon,” Carlson snarked as he introduced his guest. “Unlike many of the so-called reporters you see on television, he is not acting secretly as a flack for Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon.”

Griffin has emerged as Fox’s top fact-checker on the Ukraine crisis who’s been bluntly refuting her colleagues’ incorrect claims about Russia, notably pushing back against hosts like Steve Doocy and Harris Faulkner on air.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Are those the ones manufacturing the Bill Gates digitile robots?

    Patterned on Tucker, but with actual intelligence?

  2. Tucker Carlson, aka Chicken Pol Pot Pie

  3. Hey Fucker, people are asking if you got into Trinity by blowing the university president. Show us your SAT scores to prove you got in legitimately.

  4. “And it’s possible they’re afraid not to do that,” he added. “They know if they stray from the script the White House has written for them, they’ll be denounced from the briefing room as tools of Putin.”

    1. Sounds like Jen Psaki has FOX running scared.
    2. Tucker Carlson would need a serious upgrade just to qualify as “odious”.
    3. I’m old enough to remember when FOX News would have been more likely to parrot Pentagon talking points than Kremlin ones.

    That is all.

  5. Wednesday night and Thursday, Carlson popped off during his show later on Thursday, slamming the “Pentagon talking points you saw reported as fact on television today and last night” and journalists who “didn’t bother to do any reporting whatsoever.”

    Um, this sounds like “reporting” to me:

    “They got a text from some Biden administration flack and they just read it on the air like it was true,” the Fox News host fumed.

    Perhaps the dimwitted Carlson meant “investigating.”

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

438 more replies

Participants

Avatar for playitagainrowlf Avatar for mondfledermaus Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for teenlaqueefa Avatar for thebigragu Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for darrtown Avatar for pshah Avatar for tena Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for tsp Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for news247 Avatar for cub_calloway Avatar for justruss Avatar for jwbuho Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for garrybee Avatar for trustywoods Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for kovie Avatar for geographyjones

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: