During a Zoom briefing on Wednesday, a reporter tried to get National Security spokesman John Kirby to agree that former Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson spread pro-Russian propaganda.
Mediaite reporter Tommy Christopher asked Kirby for his reaction to reports that both Russian state media and Kremlin officials have expressed disappointment over Fox News terminating the top-rated Carlson. He followed up by suggesting that Russia reacted that way because Carlson’s firing would negatively impact the “spread of Russian propaganda here.”
Kirby called Christopher’s queries “two very different questions,” saying he hadn’t heard about the reactions from Russia, and even if he had, he doesn’t have a response to their reaction to Carlson’s firing.
Kirby added that the Biden administration had nothing to do with Fox’s decision to oust Carlson, and the White House would not “weigh in one way or the other.”
A stunned Christopher expressed surprise that Kirby would say “nothing about it.” He argued that Tucker Carlson “was spreading Russian propaganda” when he worked at Fox and expressed disappointment that Kirby wouldn’t offer an “opinion” on Carlson’s inability to “do that now.”
Kirby reiterated that it would be better to let the Fox News “speak to their decision-making.”
Carlson made his first public statement since losing his job, releasing a video on Wednesday blasting the “one-party state” and its donors, accusing them of silencing opposing voices and shutting down debate to hide the truth.
While not directly addressing the circumstances around his termination, Carlson said “undeniably big topics” don’t get discussed on television at all, including the ones that “define our future,” because politicians and their donors “have reached a consensus on what benefits them” and have colluded to “shut down any conversation about it,” Carlson added.
But Carlson added that there remain places where Americans can still speak the truth, closing his video by saying, “See you soon.”
