Carlson Addresses His Hate Texts on Trump

Fox host says he 'wounded' former president, told him 'I love Trump' when Trump called him
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2023 9:55 AM CDT
Carlson: I 'Wounded' Trump With Hate Texts
Tucker Carlson, left, and former President Donald Trump, right, are seen at the Bedminster LIV Golf Invitational tournament in Bedminster, New Jersey, on July 31.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

An upset Donald Trump called Tucker Carlson after the public airing of private text messages in which the Fox News host claimed to passionately hate the former president. "I was absolutely infuriated," Carlson said Monday about the release of his texts and emails as part of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News for its alleged airing of false election fraud claims made by Trump and his aides, per the Hill. Dominion shared communications from Fox executives, on-air talent, and staffers that were meant to show the network knew there was no truth to the claims.

But "those were all grabbed completely illegitimately," Carlson told WABC Radio of his texts on Monday. The Fox host told conservative radio host Bo Snerdley that he was apparently "not allowed to talk about" the case, but he added, "I'm enraged that my private texts were pulled." He also disputed what the texts said. "I love Trump. Like, as a person, I think Trump is funny and insightful," Carlson said. "And I said this to Trump when he called me, you know, all wounded about those texts." So why did Carlson describe his passionate hate for the "demonic force" that is Trump?

Carlson said he was frustrated with the "incompetence" of Trump's campaign following the 2020 election—not Trump himself. "I was texting with one of my producers because some idiot on the Trump campaign had sent us the name of these dead voters who had voted ... and I repeated them on air, and it turns out some of them were alive," he said, per the Daily Beast. "I'm like the one guy who's open-minded about the election being unfair. And that's what they send me?" he continued. "I felt humiliated." Earlier this month, Trump shared that Carlson "doesn't hate me, or at least, not anymore!" On his show Tuesday, Carlson urged President Biden to stop the possible indictment of Trump "for the sake of the country." (More Tucker Carlson stories.)

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