Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson responded to the indictment of former President Donald Trump on the latest episode of his new Twitter show, “Tucker on Twitter.”
Carlson posted a monologue Tuesday evening about Trump’s indictment on 37 counts by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors.
Ep. 3 America’s principles are at stake pic.twitter.com/eJNSUVvvqY
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 13, 2023
“The Biden administration arrested Donald Trump this afternoon,” Carlson began. “They had him arraigned and fingerprinted him in a Miami courthouse, like the accused felon he now is. These were the first steps in a process that is designed to put Donald Trump behind bars for the rest of his life. Cable news carried every moment of it live. ‘It’s unprecedented!’ they told us, with what looked like shock. But they weren’t shocked. They knew this was coming. Everyone who has paid attention knew it was. What just happened was always going to happen. It’s been inevitable since February 13, 2016.” (RELATED: ‘Curiosity Is The Gravest Crime’: Tucker Carlson Returns And Tears Media To Shreds For Ukraine Coverage)
Carlson connected the Justice Department’s prosecution of Trump with the former president’s opposition to wars in the Middle East, beginning with his 2016 presidential campaign.
“What matters, then and now, is foreign policy: the invasions and occupations and proxy wars — the decisions that determine which global populations will thrive and which will die. The policies that come with trillion-dollar price tags — the ones that, over time, have made the counties around D.C. the richest suburbs in the world,” Carlson said.
“In Washington, that’s what actually matters, and it’s obvious when you look carefully. When there’s a debate about anything else — for example, the debt ceiling — both sides take their assigned positions and they start yelling. But when Congress decides to start a war, no matter how foolish or counterproductive or obviously disconnected from America’s core interests that war may be — when that happens, the leaders of both parties automatically jump behind it like circus clowns,” he added.
Carlson played a clip from the 2016 Republican primary debate in South Carolina, when Trump said “[w]e should have never been in Iraq” during a back-and-forth exchange with Jeb Bush. Trump told Bush his brother, former President George W. Bush, made a mistake by invading Iraq and accused him of lying to the American people about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction.
“After that, it was pretty clear that even if he did get elected President, Trump was going to have a very hard time controlling the federal government he was supposed to be in charge of. Most of permanent Washington decided that thwarting Trump was the single-most important mission in their lives. Everything depended on it,” Carlson said.
He called out Trump’s appointees for subverting his administration, with a particular focus on Trump’s former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (RELATED: ‘You Gotta Turn Them In’: Mike Pompeo Suggests Trump Was Wrong In Documents Case)
Carlson then accused the Biden administration of going after Trump for political reasons and criticized Republican politicians for not standing with Trump.
“The prosecution of Donald Trump is transparently political. He’s literally Joe Biden’s main political opponent — he’s polling at over 60% among Republican voters right now. So, Joe Biden is doing what no president has ever dared to do: He’s using law enforcement power to lock up his chief rival. That’s happening right now. Anyone who denies it’s happening is lying to you. But actually, it’s worse than that. Trump’s prosecution isn’t just political. It’s ideological. Nobody with Trump’s views is allowed to have power in this country,” Carlson said.
“So many Republicans — for example, the supposedly conservative governor of Texas, Greg Abbot — spent yesterday ignoring the total destruction of the American justice system. Instead, he signed a highly important bill called the CROWN Act which, according to the celebratory Tweet Abbot sent commemorating it, will quote, ‘Prohibit discrimination based on textures and hairstyles historically associated with race.’ In other words, in Texas, cornrows are now protected by law. Having unapproved views about Ukraine is not. That’s fine with most elected Republicans. They find Trump tiresome and embarrassing. Their donors hate him. They will not be sad if he dies in jail.”
He concluded his monologue by saying Trump’s mistakes pale in comparison to the wars orchestrated by the Washington, D.C., political establishment.
“Whatever else you say about him, Trump is the one guy with an actual shot of being president who dissents from Washington’s longstanding pointless war agenda. And for that, that one fact, they are trying to take Trump out before you can vote for him. And that should upset you more than anything that’s happened in American politics in your lifetime,” Carlson said.
“Yes, Donald Trump is a flawed man. But his sins are minor compared those of his persecutors. In this life, we don’t get to choose our martyrs. We can only choose our principles, and America’s are at stake,” he concluded.
Fox News reportedly sent Carlson a “cease and desist” letter Monday to prevent him from posting episodes of his Twitter show ahead of his episode about Trump’s indictment. His lead producer, Justin Wells, teased the episode on Twitter the day before Fox allegedly sent its letter to Carlson’s legal team. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Lawyer’s Phone Call Is At The Center Of Tucker’s Breach Of Contract Case)
Next Episode of Tucker on Twitter coming Tuesday: Tucker’s response to the indictment of President Donald Trump
— Justin Wells (@justinbwells) June 11, 2023
Carlson’s legal team has defended his First Amendment right to share his opinions on social media and accused Fox of breaching its contract with their former host.
Smith investigated Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents and obstructing the government’s effort to retrieve them after he left the White House in January 2021. The FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound in August 2022 to collect classified documents held by Trump in a bathroom, ballroom and other rooms in the Florida estate.
The former president was arrested Tuesday afternoon and pleaded not guilty in a Miami federal courthouse. He called the indictment a “WITCH HUNT” Tuesday on Truth Social. “ONE OF THE SADDEST DAYS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE!!!” Trump posted the same day.