Tucker Carlson pulled back the curtain to reveal that attorneys warned him that he could be arrested if he went ahead with his interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During a lengthy appearance on a podcast with Lex Fridman, the former Fox News host spoke about the eventual trip to meet with the Russian leader in an interview that was blasted by critics – and Putin himself – for being too soft. But Carlson noted that he was being told ahead of the trip to Moscow that he could face legal consequences and even land behind bars if, in fact, the meeting with Putin was too “softball.”
Tucker Carlson with Lex Fridman this morning, his attorney’s advice in regards to interviewing Putin:
“Their sincere conclusion was, do not do this…a lot will depend on the questions you ask of Putin. If you’re seen as too nice to him you could be arrested when you come back” pic.twitter.com/XkqbqhvaDk
— Clint Russell (@LibertyLockPod) February 27, 2024
“My lawyers before I left, and these are people who work for a big law firm, this is not Bob’s Law Firm, this is one of the biggest law firms in the world, said you’re going to get arrested if you do this, by the U.S. government on sanctions violations,” Carlson said on the Lex Fridman Podcast.
He noted, “I don’t recognize the legitimacy of that because I’m American, and I’ve lived here my whole life and that’s so outrageous that I’m happy to face that risk because I so reject the premise.”
He told Fridman that the attorneys cost “many thousands of dollars” to reach the conclusion that they shared with him in a 10-page memo.
“Their sincere conclusion was do not do this,” Carlson said.”And of course, it made me mad and I was lecturing them on the phone.”
In another call with a “head lawyer,” Carlson said he was told, “Look, a lot will depend on the questions that you ask Putin. If you’re seen as too nice to him, you could get arrested when you get back.”
“I was like, you’re describing a fascist country, ok? You’re saying that the U.S. government will arrest me if I don’t ask the questions they want asked?” Carlson recounted.
Here’s my conversation with @TuckerCarlson about Putin, Navalny, Zelenskyy, CIA, NSA, Moscow trip, Jon Stewart, Trump, Israel-Palestine, China, nuclear war, and much more. This was a challenging and fascinating conversation.
It’s here on X in full, and is up on YouTube, Spotify,… pic.twitter.com/awri76kIpT
— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman) February 27, 2024
Carlson did receive criticism for the interview with comments even made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who called it “two hours of bullshit” when speaking with Fox News’s Bret Baier.
“I honestly thought he would be aggressive and ask so-called sharp questions,” Putin told Russian media.
“And I wasn’t just ready for that, I wanted it, because it would have given me the opportunity to respond sharply in kind,” he said. “But he chose a different tactic.”
I don’t see any of the so called “ journalists “ out there talking to putin, or that matter anyone of importance and asking pertinent questions! Tucker has done some good interviews since leaving Fox. All of the fake media interviews, or repeats, what the Democrats want. They talk of fascism, but they are the fascists! They don’t like people like Tucker because he doesn’t tow the Democratic line. He doesn’t repeat the propaganda of the left.