Tucker Carlson alleged Wednesday that the National Security Agency (NSA) leaked the contents of his private emails to members of the press “in an effort to discredit” him.
In a Fox Business interview with host Maria Bartiromo, Carlson attempted to substantiate the claim by saying that a journalist called him and repeated back the details of his email, suggesting that he had obtained the email from the agency either directly or indirectly.
“This is not in any way a figment of my imagination. It’s confirmed. It’s true. They’re not allowed to spy on American citizens. They are,” he asserted.
Carlson said he believes the NSA is conducting surveillance on conservative alternative media actors that challenge the sitting Democrats in power, possibly to use as a weapon to de-platform them.
“I think more ominously they’re using the information they gather to put leverage and to threaten opposition journalists, people who criticize the Biden administration,” he stated.
Last week, Carlson announced on live television that an unnamed government whistleblower revealed to him that the NSA had been secretly and unlawfully monitoring his electronic communications, captured his emails, and planned to use the contents to “take his show off the air.”
Today’s update adds more context to the bombshell development, though Carlson has not yet released additional supporting evidence. The host said his team filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding disclosure of all the information the NSA and other government agencies have collected about his show.
The NSA released a response statement Tuesday denying Carlson’s accusations, saying that he “has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air.”
The government body acknowledged that using espionage on Americans is illegal, confirming that “with limited exceptions (e.g. an emergency), NSA may not target a US citizen without a court order that explicitly authorizes the targeting.”
“I knew they were spying on me. As a defensive move, I thought I better say this out loud because I have no other way to defend myself. I’m just an American citizen, I don’t have any position of official authority,” Tucker added Wednesday.