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Tucker Carlson Sought Putin Interview Right Before NSA ‘Spying’ Claim: Report

U.S. officials learned that Tucker Carlson was seeking the interview and, when he found out they knew, he made his “spying” claim on air.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson was trying to set up an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the days leading up to his claim he was being spied on, Axios reports. Carlson was reportedly speaking to unofficial intermediaries between the U.S. and the Kremlin to arrange the interview, word of which somehow made its way to the U.S. government. Once Carlson found out that the government knew of his pursuit, he told his audience of 3 million viewers that the National Security Agency was spying on him to try and cancel his show. The NSA denied it targeted Carlson, though it’s unclear if his communications were picked up by its routine surveillance of foreign officials in the U.S. Carlson has continued to push his unsubstantiated claim, including in a Wednesday interview with Maria Bartiromo.