The Daily Caller logo
Media

Tucker Carlson Explains Why He Interviewed Vladimir Putin

Tucker Carlson in Moscow

[Screenshot/Twitter/Tucker Carlson]

Nicole Silverio Media Reporter
Font Size:

Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson confirmed Tuesday he traveled to Moscow, Russia, to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Carlson said he is interviewing Putin because it is a journalist’s job to inform people in the U.S. about the war in Ukraine.

“Two years into a world that’s reshaping the entire world, most Americans are not informed,” Carlson said. “They have no real idea what’s happening in this region, here in Russia or 600 miles away in Ukraine. But they should know, they’re paying for much of it in ways that they might not yet fully perceive.”

Carlson said he intends to show the American public how the war in Ukraine has “reshaped the global military and trade alliances” that have “upended the world economy.” He argued that citizens of English-speaking countries are not being informed of the truth, and thus are either mis- or uninformed about the historic changes currently developing. (RELATED: ‘It Is Shameful’: Attorney Tells Tucker He’s ‘Shocked’ US Leaders Are Silent On Treatment Of Christians In Ukraine) 

“Their media outlets are corrupt,” Carlson explained. “They lie to their readers and their viewers, and they do that mostly by omission.”

The Daily Caller co-founder added how American media outlets have spent a substantial amount of time speaking to Ukrainian people and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and how it is wrong that most Americans do not know why Putin invaded Ukraine or even what his voice sounds like.

“But the interviews he’s already done in the United States are not traditional interviews. They are fawning pep sessions, specifically designed to amplify Zelensky’s demand that the U.S. enter more deeply into a war in Eastern Europe and pay for it,” he said. “That is not journalism. It is government propaganda, propaganda of the ugliest kind, the kind that kills people.”

“Americans have a right to know all they can about a war they’re implicated in, and we have the right to tell them about it because we are Americans, too,” he continued. “Freedom of speech is our birthright. We were born with the right to say what we believe. That right cannot be taken away no matter who is in the White House. But they’re trying anyway.”

Carlson said President Joe Biden’s administration “illegally spied” on his team’s text messages to prevent an interview with Putin they were in the process of planning. The Daily Caller co-founder said he is “pretty certain” the administration repeated this action last month.

Carlson said during a June 2021 segment of his previous show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” that he confirmed the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on him by reading confidential text messages and emails in an attempt to take his show off the air. A whistleblower allegedly told him about the alleged spying.

He further said the NSA leaked his emails to journalists, with one journalist allegedly calling him and reading back to him the contents of his emails.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Carlson’s allegation is a “ridiculous statement” about the administration at Tuesday’s press conference.

The full interview will be available for viewing on TuckerCarlson.com, and “X” CEO Elon Musk reportedly promised not to “suppress” the interview once it is posted on his platform. However, Carlson claimed the U.S. government will attempt to suppress the interview.

“We are not here because we love Vladimir Putin. We are here because we love the United States,” he said. “And we want it to remain prosperous and free.”

Several liberal commentators lashed out over speculation of the upcoming interview between Carlson and Putin. Bill Kristol, the director of Defending Democracy Together, called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Carlson reentering the U.S., and Bill Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital, said Carlson is “either remarkably stupid or consciously evil,” according to The Spectator.

CNN anchor Erin Burnett raged about Carlson’s planned interview with Putin during a Monday segment, accusing Carlson of being a “Putin supporting celebrity.”

George Monastiriakos wrote in his op-ed for The Kyiv Independent that traveling to Moscow is like traveling to Nazi Germany to speak with Adolf Hiter.

“Tucker Carlson came out of the cold & admitted that he is in Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin – a wanted war criminal – and to give Putin’s “side of the story” about the invasion & genocide of Ukraine,” The Kyiv Independent correspondent-at-large Jason Jay Smart said.

Many others came to Carlson’s defense, saying he has every right to interview Putin and to debunk the narrative that Putin wants to invade Poland and other parts of Europe.

Carlson has traveled across the world to interview world leaders since his departure from Fox News in April. He interviewed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in August, visited Argentina to point out the “hyperinflation” and “reckless monetary policy,” and sat down with the now-President of Argentina Javier Milei in September.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

 You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters ✔ ✔ ✔
Daily Caller Shows ✔ ✔ ✔
Ad Free Experience ✔ ✔ ✔
Exclusive Articles ✔ ✔ ✔
Custom Newsletters ✔ ✔ ✔
Editor Daily Rundown ✔ ✔ ✔
Behind The Scenes Coverage ✔ ✔
Award Winning Documentaries ✔ ✔
Patriot War Room ✔ ✔
Patriot Live Chat ✔ ✔
Exclusive Events ✔
Gold Membership Card ✔
Tucker Mug ✔

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel