Tucker Carlson is in no man’s land Friday.
To the left, he didn’t go far enough in his comments about a 90-minute press conference held Thursday afternoon by President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. To some on the right, he went too far, and now he’s paying for it.
In case you missed it, here’s what happened: on Thursday, Giuliani, joined by fellow Trump attorney Jenna Ellis and campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, shared details they believe point to voter fraud in states around the country.
Giuliani presented a host of sworn affidavits suggesting various instances of wrongdoing in several states. Carlson acknowledged there is likely some truth to those allegations. The Fox News host also pointed to legitimate concerns about electronic voting, noting Canada uses only paper ballots counted by hand due to real issues with voting machines and electronic tabulators.
For a while, Carlson and Team Trump seemed to be on the same page.
Then, however, Powell came in with the biggest allegation of the day, a claim she has made for several days during appearances on conservative media outlets. She argued, sans any substantial evidence, that a hoard of leftist bad actors manipulated a tabulation software from Dominion Voting Systems to flip millions of votes for Trump to former Vice President Joe Biden.
Powell said Tuesday during an appearance on Newsmax that, once the fraudulent activity has been uncovered, it will be revealed Trump garnered “at least 80 million votes” on Election Day.
What Powell is describing, Carlson said, “would amount to the single greatest crime in American history.” The Fox News anchor made clear he is more than willing to discuss the allegation as legitimate, so long as there is proper evidence to back up the accusation. So far, though, he said he’s been unable to receive any from Powell or anyone else.
“To be perfectly clear,” Carlson said Thursday night, “we did not dismiss any of it. We don’t dismiss anything anymore, particularly when it’s related to technology. We’ve talked to too many Silicon Valley whistleblowers and we’ve seen too much after four years on the air. We literally do UFO segments, not because we’re crazy or even been interested in the subject, but because there is evidence that UFOs are real and everyone lies about it.”
Carlson went on to say he has taken Powell “seriously with no intention of fighting with her,” adding he and his team have “always respected her work.”
“We simply wanted to see the details,” he explained. “How could you not want to see them? So we invited Sidney Powell on the show. We would have given her the whole hour. We would have given her the entire week, actually, and listened quietly the whole time at rapt attention.”
Alas, the conservative firebrand said Powell “never” sent his team “any evidence, despite a lot of polite requests.” Carlson and his staff, the host said, continued pressing Powell for details to back up the stunning allegation of a far-reaching conspiracy to tilt the election for Biden, but the attorney, he claimed, “got angry” and told him to “stop contacting her.”
“When we checked with others around the Trump campaign, people in positions of authority,” Carlson told viewers, “they also told us Powell had never given them any evidence to prove anything she claimed today at the press conference.”
Now, no one is happy with Carlson. The media, which is increasingly open about its progressive underpinnings, has blasted Carlson for acknowledging Giuliani has, in fact, pointed to some real concerns regarding voting irregularities and localized instances of fraudulent activity.
Those on the right who have stood by Trump are also angry at Carlson for pointing out that, so far, Powell has not presented any bonafide evidence to back up her claims of a massive voter fraud scheme designed to tilt the election toward Biden.
Powell has since responded to Carlson, arguing Thursday’s presser was not a court of law, claiming her intention was to preview coming allegations, proof for which must first work its way through the legal system.
“Apparently, Mr. Carlson missed the news conference today,” Powell told the Washington Examiner. “I would continue to encourage him and all journalists to review all the materials we have provided so far and conduct their own investigations.”
“Evidence continues to pour in, but a five-minute television hit is not my focus now,” she added. “Collecting evidence and preparing the case are my top priorities.”
And during a Friday morning appearance on Fox Business, Powell slammed Carlson as “insulting, demanding, and rude.” She told network host Maria Bartiromo she “didn’t get angry” over Carlson’s requests for evidence.
“In fact, I sent an affidavit to Tucker that I had not even attached to a pleading yet to help him understand the situation, and I offered him another witness who could explain the math and the statistical evidence far better than I can,” she said. “I’m not really a numbers person.”