Tucker Carlson confirms Fox News executives did not interfere with his Ray Epps conspiracy theories
Written by Alicia Sadowski
Published
On the July 14, 2022 edition of his then-primetime broadcast, Tucker Carlson launched a tirade against the New York Times for debunking his conspiracy about a man named Ray Epps. Carlson accused Epps, who attended the pro-Trump rallies in Washington on January 6 but was not found to have breached the Capitol, of being an undercover federal agent in an attempt to demonstrate the Capitol riot was an intentional setup to justify the persecution of conservatives as domestic terrorists.
Exactly a year later, Carlson – now having been shown the door at Fox News and facing a defamation lawsuit from Epps – doubled down on his conspiracy theory and praised Fox News executives for their unwavering support of his show despite both internal and external criticism of his conspiracy theories. (This is not the first time Carlson or his team bragged about the free reign they experienced at the network.)
Citation From the July 14, 2023, edition of BlazeTV's The Summit
GLENN BECK: So, the -- the thing now is that you are going to love and you probably already are -- is freedom. I feel like Braveheart. Freedom. You have no boss. You only answer yourself and to God and your audience and nobody -- people in New York and all the big media centers, they have no idea what freedom feels like.
TUCKER CARLSON: Yes.
BECK: It's fantastic.
CARLSON: Well, I got to be honest. I actually have felt that way for the 14 years I've been at Fox. No one ever bothered me and I was often like my own world doing and I got -- I would get like reports back that like everyone thinks you're crazy on January 6 that was a racist insurrection and I was like, “I don't think it was.” But no one ever said anything to me directly about it. No one ever said anything to me. Right. And so again, there was no kind of lead up to this. Like if you say one more thing about January 6 was like, “You're great. Next day, bye-bye.”
BECK: Did you say everything about January 6 that you wanted to say?
CARLSON: I said everything that I know. I have a lot of views on it. I mean, and I have some ideas that are speculation that I probably wouldn't articulate because I don't want to say what I don't know. I do know there were a lot of federal agents in the crowd. Maybe there was a good reason for that. What would it be? I don't understand how you could have that many federal agents in the crowd and then it gets completely out of control --
BECK: Correct.
CARLSON: At exactly the moment that the Capitol Police, which are in charge of security were prevented from knowing any of the intelligence. Like maybe this is a series of accidents but why don’t you just calmly explain to me how that happens. But no one will. Shut up! I’m not going to shut up.
After moderating a forum with Blaze TV hosting a number of Republican presidential candidates, Carlson talked to conservative radio personality Glenn Beck, another former Fox host. Beck alluded to the lawsuit and asked Carlson, “who is Ray Epps?” Carlson took the opportunity to reaffirm his commitment to his suspicions about Epps.
Citation From the July 14, 2023, edition of BlazeTV's The Summit
GLENN BECK: Feel free to skip this question. Who is Ray Epps?
TUCKER CARLSON: Ray Epps, by his own description, is one the people who orchestrated the assault on the Capitol on January 6 but who is now being defended by the entire left.
Not described as an insurrectionist, but as some sort of victim of -- of me. So, you know, I'll let you reach your own conclusions on that. But why would he be represented by a lawyer who worked for David Brock? That's a little weird. No? I mean I thought we were against insurrections.
The guy -- the one guy who is on video tape saying, “to the Capitol” is the one guy they're like, “No. We -- we need to pay for a lawyer for this guy.” Huh? When they're like diabetic grandmothers in DC jail two years later like, what? I mean, I you know, I -- I can only speculate which I will not do.
BECK: So, you have just everybody suing you. I think he's about to sue you. I might sue you after this just to be part of the crowd.
CARLSON: Of course. Make it a class action.
Just months after Fox News was ordered to pay a $787 million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems, Epps’ defamation suit brings into focus the repeated pattern of targeting individuals to suit the networks’ needs no matter who it harms.