Tucker Carlson claimed the CIA read his text messages leading up to the war with Iran in an effort to frame him as a foreign agent.
Carlson, 56, said the Department of Justice was preparing to charge him with being an unregistered foreign agent for the Iranian regime on the CIA’s recommendation, during a video posted on X Saturday night.
“The CIA is preparing some kind of criminal referral against me, a crime report to the Department of Justice, on the basis of a supposed crime I committed,” the former Fox News host said in the video released Saturday, New York Post reported.
“What’s that crime? Well, talking to people in Iran before the war,” Carlson added. “They [the CIA] read my texts.”
Carlson claimed he was set to be charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (1938), which requires anyone being paid by foreign govts for lobbying or political advocacy to register with the DoJ.
The conservative firebrand, who has been an outspoken critic of President Trump’s Operation Epic Fury, denied that he was an Iranian asset.
“I’m not an agent of a foreign power. Unlike a lot of people commenting on US politics and global affairs, I have only one loyalty and that’s the United States and have never acted against it,” he said, adding that he has “never taken money” from another country.
“Don’t need it, don’t want it,” Carlson said, insisting that communicating with foreign sources was part of his job as a journalist and commentator.
“It’s my job to talk to everybody all the time and try to figure out what’s happening around the world,” he said. “I’m an American. I can talk to anybody.”
The controversial pundit suggested that the investigation into him was politically motivated.
“There are some people who are mad at me for my views about Israel,” Carlson said in the video, claiming that intelligence agencies tend to monitor American citizens more during times of conflict.
“Countries tend to become more authoritarian in wartime,” he said. “There’s much less tolerance for dissent.”
Carlson was previously a strong supporter of President Trump, who described him as “a very conservative guy, a very good guy,” during a Jan. 9 White House lunch with oil executives Carlson attended, reported POLITICO.
Carlson met with President Trump at the White House multiple times in the weeks leading up to the start of joint US-Israeli action on Iran on Feb. 28.
The last time is believed to have been on Feb. 23, shortly after his controversial interview with the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.
The timing of the meeting led to speculation that Carlson was given a dressing-down by President Trump at the White House.
In July 2025, Carlson was condemned for interviewing Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, providing the representative of the Islamic Republic with a global platform and no pushback.
“This was a major victory for Iranian information warfare operations. Whether intentionally or not, Carlson is acting as a significant conduit and amplifier for Iranian government information operations,” Marcus Kolga, an expert on foreign disinformation, told Iran International, a UK-based anti-government outlet, at the time.
Carlson, who has been accused of peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories, called the strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “absolutely disgusting and evil,” and said that the war was being waged on behalf of Israel.
His outburst led to public condemnation from the White House.
“Tucker has lost his way. I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA,” President Trump said in a March 5 interview with ABC News.
“MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that,” he said.
Fox News host Mark Levin accused Carlson of amplifying narratives favourable to America’s foes in the Middle East, while some critics have even alleged that Carlson receives financial backing from Qatar, a claim Carlson has strongly denied.
