Tucker Carlson speaks during 2022 FOX Nation Patriot Awards at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on November 17, 2022 in Hollywood, Florida.
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Tucker Carlson called Trump the “undisputed world champion” of destroying things, per a new court filing.
Carlson texted his producer after the 2020 election that Trump could “easily destroy” Fox News if “we play it wrong.”
Carlson’s text came after Fox News ignited Trump’s fury by being the first to call Arizona for Biden.
Two days after Election Day 2020, Fox News host Tucker Carlson texted his producer warning that Fox New’s decision to call the state of Arizona for Joe Biden on election night could spell doom for the network.
That’s according to a newly released court filing Thursday. The document, a 200-page motion for summary judgment in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News, featured multiple deposition excerpts and texts from top Fox News figures including Carlson, Sean Hannity, Rupert Murdoch, and others.
Fox was the first cable news network to project Biden’s victory in Arizona, prompting a slew of angry phone calls and texts from people in Trump’s camp.
“We worked really hard to build what we have,” Carlson texted his producer, Alex Pfeiffer, on November 5, 2020, according to the filing. “Those fuckers are destroying our credibility. It enrages me.”
Carlson added that he had spoken with fellow primetime commentators Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity minutes earlier and that they were “highly upset.”
“At this point we’re getting hurt no matter what,” he wrote, according to the filing.
Pfeiffer replied that “many on ‘our side’ are being reckless demagogues right now.”
“Of course they are,” Carlson wrote. “We’re not going to follow them.” He went on to say that Trump was good at “destroying things. He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.”
In response to the filing, a Fox News spokesperson said: “There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan.”
This story is developing. Check back for updates.