Media

‘Tucker Carlson!’: Seems Like CNN Anchors Are Not Familiar With The Reporting On Their Website

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Nicole Silverio Media Reporter
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A CNN panel appeared to ignore their own website’s reports that Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson had cast doubt on former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell’s election fraud claims.

The panel claimed on Wednesday that Carlson publicly refused to denounce Powell’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump and posted a chyron reading, “Carlson Refused To Directly Refute Powell Conspiracy On Air.” The panel did not mention any of Carlson’s demands for evidence proving Powell’s claims during 2020 segments of his show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

“It was, remember, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Lindell — your pillow guy — who were on Fox [News] repeatedly talking about this conspiracy theory that, somehow, the Dominion Voting Machines, were part of a conspiracy … but Tucker Carlson gave it a lot of credence on television and would not shoot it down,” anchor John King asserted during Wednesday’s segment. King then showed a segment from “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” in which he said Carlson was “trying there to straddle a bit, and yet he still says that the election was not fair … and [that] we haven’t seen the evidence but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

The co-hosts accused Carlson of “lying” to his viewers after text messages that came to light in early March 2023 showed him reportedly calling Powell a liar and a “fucking bitch.” Washington Post White House reporter Cleve Wootson echoed King’s claim, arguing that Fox News amplified election fraud claims they knew to be false in order to avoid alienating Trump supporters.

Far from supporting Powell’s theory about Dominion voting machines, Carlson cast doubt on her claims and revealed during a Nov. 19, 2020, segment of his show that the attorney became angry with his show’s team when they asked her to provide evidence.

“We simply wanted to see the details,” Carlson said during the segment. “How could you not want to see them? So we invited Sidney Powell on this show … But she never sent us any evidence, despite a lot of requests, polite requests. Not a page. When we kept pressing, she got angry and told us to stop contacting her. When we checked with others around the Trump campaign, people in positions of authority, they told us Powell has never given them any evidence either.”

“So why are we telling you this? We’re telling you this because it’s true, and in the end that’s all that matters: the truth. It’s our only hope, it’s our best defense and it’s how we’re different from them. We care what’s true, and we know you care too,” Carlson continued.

CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy reported in a Nov. 21, 2020, article that Carlson refuted Powell and demanded that she send over evidence of election fraud. The panel never mentioned Darcy’s reporting, despite it being on CNN’s own website. (RELATED: Kevin McCarthy Says He Doesn’t ‘Regret’ Handing Over J6 Footage To Tucker Carlson) 

“Carlson angered some of his audience Thursday when he called out Sidney Powell, President Trump’s attorney who has peddled wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election,” Darcy wrote. “Carlson was careful not to deviate too far from the party line, opening his show with deference to the fraud claims presented by Rudy Giuliani. He also offered up reasons his audience should trust him. He explained to his viewers that he had reached out to Powell for supporting evidence with an open mind. And he pointed out his coverage of the Russia probe and how he never rules anything out — even UFOs.”

The article highlighted the anger Carlson’s remarks generated among some of Trump’s supporters, leading the Daily Caller co-founder to devote another segment to the issue in the following episode. In his follow-up segment, Carlson told his viewers that he believed the election was “not fair” but reiterated that he had “not seen a single piece of evidence showing that software changed votes.”

“On one hand, Carlson was appeasing his audience by fanning the voter fraud flame,” Darcy’s piece continued. “On the other, he seemed to be trying to pour cold water on Powell’s even more absurd conspiracy theory that millions of votes were changed by an elaborate international plot to undermine Trump.”

On Monday, Carlson began releasing portions of the more than 40,000 hours of footage from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that he obtained from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger criticized the release of the footage and Carlson’s framing of the riot.