Tucker Carlson criticized his former colleague Jennifer Griffin, labeling her as ‘the deepest of the deep state.’ He has been vocal in his criticism of Fox News regarding their reporting on the Israel-Iran conflict.
Previously, the ex-Fox News host had disagreements with the president and had a heated discussion with Senator Ted Cruz about America’s stance on Israel’s actions against Iran’s nuclear program.
Following Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire – which Carlson expressed relief for on Twitter saying ‘Thank God’ – he aired an episode on his show where he continued to question Fox News’s coverage, with particular focus on Jennifer Griffin, the network’s Chief National Security Correspondent.
‘Jennifer Griffin is, even by the standards of Pentagon employees, she’s not technically an employee of the Pentagon. She’s a shill, obviously, for the deepest of the deep states. But she’s like a parody. She’s like parody. It’s like the whole thing,’ Carlson said.
Carlson and fellow former Fox host Clayton Morris joked about Griffin’s water-carrying for the ‘deep state.’
‘The crazy thing is Jen Griffin is a liar, but also very liberal, true Trump hater, to the point where I complained about her and I really tried not to complain about other people at Fox when I worked there,’ he said.
‘She was discrediting the channel, she was such a Trump hatter, and it was emotional.’
He even went to one of his superiors at the network and suggested Griffin wasn’t helping.
Tucker Carlson (pictured) slammed his former Fox News colleague Jennifer Griffin as ‘the deepest of the deep state’ as he continued to hammer at his former employers over their coverage of the Israel-Iran war
As Trump announced a ceasefire – one Carlson reacted to by tweeting: ‘Thank God’ – he released an episode of his show where he continued to question his ex-employers coverage, zeroing in on Griffin (pictured), the network’s Chief National Security Correspondent
Carlson said he asked: ‘She’s an idiot. She doesn’t tell the truth. She misleads our viewers. And she’s like a screaming liberal who hates Trump, who our viewers love. So what are we getting out of this?’
The response he got from the network was that ‘you could not touch Jennifer Griffin.’
Morris noted that Griffin has an office at the Pentagon, suggesting she may be presenting bias in her coverage based on how close to her sources she is.
Fox News did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment.
Carlson posted to X after the ceasefire was revealed by Trump, stating simply: ‘Thank God.’
He then posted a new episode of his talk show with an additional note slamming his former Fox News colleague Mark Levin.
‘Thank God Trump brokered a ceasefire. That’s the last thing Mark Levin wanted.’
Levin had also been clapping back at Carlson all week and suggested he was acting on behalf of the Qatari government.
Carlson and fellow former Fox host Clayton Morris joked about Griffin’s water-carrying for the ‘deep state’
‘She was discrediting the channel, she was such a Trump hatter, and it was emotional,’ Carlson said of Griffin’s (pictured) coverage
It caps an interesting week for the conservative host where he criticized Trump’s support for were initially just Israeli strikes in Iran, noting in a newsletter that ‘many in Trump’s MAGA movement are not happy.’
‘US says it was “not involved,”‘ Carlson wrote. ‘That’s not true. Trump is complicit in an act of war.’
Both Carlson and former political strategist Steve Bannon appeared on each other’s podcasts sharing their growing alarm that the president was launching another ‘forever war’ in the Middle East.
The president bristled at Carlson’s criticism, dismissing his comments at the G7 Summit in Canada.
‘I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying, let him go get a television network and say it so the people listen,’ Trump said.
Shortly afterward, the president fired back at Carlson on social media.
‘Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,’ Trump wrote.
The former host was spectacularly fired from the news network in April 2023 and started his own independent network.
Carlson (pictured right) specifically gave Trump (pictured left) credit for brokering the ceasefire after the president had called him ‘kooky’ last week
Trump revealed that Carlson had called him after the president called him out as ‘kooky’ on Monday and taunted him for not being on cable television anymore .
‘Tucker’s a nice guy. He called and apologized the other day because he thought he said things that were a little bit too strong and I appreciated that,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
However, it was Carlson’s battle royale with Ted Cruz that set the internet afire last week.
Carlson pressed Cruz on his knowledge of the Middle Eastern region with a series of ‘gotcha’ questions which culminated in a jaw dropping revelation that America was directly involved in ‘carrying out military strikes’ on Iran.
Cruz’s statement is a major departure from everything the Trump administration has said about US involvement up until this stage – a point that was not lost on Carlson.
‘You said Israel was [carrying out strikes],’ Carlson said, to which Cruz responded: ‘I’ve said we. Israel is leading them, but we’re supporting them.’
‘You’re breaking news here,’ Carlson said. ‘The US government last night denied… on behalf of Trump, that we’re acting on Israel’s behalf in any offensive capacity.’
Cruz appeared to backpedal on his statement, then telling Carlson: ‘No, we’re not bombing them. Israel is bombing them.’
Carlson (pictured right) humiliated Republican senator Ted Cruz (pictured left) during an intense grilling over Iran as MAGA tears itself apart over the crisis in the Middle East
Carlson said: ‘You just said we were. This is high stakes. You’re a senator. If you’re saying the United States is at war with Iran right now, people are listening.’
The conservative commentator’s earlier line of questioning had put Cruz under pressure and highlighted just how little he knows about the region.
‘How many people live in Iran, by the way?’ Carlson had asked.
‘I don’t know the population,’ Cruz accepted, much to Carlson’s horror as he quipped: ‘At all?’
‘You don’t know the population of the people you’re trying to topple?’ Carlson added.
Cruz tried to turn the tables back on Carlson, asking him for the number, to which the podcast host immediately responded: ’92 million.’
‘How could you not know that?’ Carlson said. ‘It’s kind of relevant because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government.’
By this stage, the men were shouting over the top of one another as Cruz frantically tried to defend himself, first arguing ‘I don’t sit around memorizing population tables’, before adding: ‘Why is it relevant whether it’s 90 million or 80 million.’
Carlson, who appeared incredulous at the question, began to explain why he found it important ‘if you don’t know anything about the country’, but was cut off by Cruz who said: ‘I didn’t say I don’t know anything about Iran.’
‘Okay,’ Carlson countered, ‘what is the ethnic mix of Iran?’
Cruz stumbled over his answer, naming Persians and ‘predominately Shia’ before he was cut off by Carlson, who said again: ‘What percent? You don’t know anything on Iran.’
Finally Cruz cracked, shouting: ‘Okay, I’m not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran.’
Carlson said: ‘You’re the Senator who is calling for the overthrow of the government and you don’t know anything about the country.’
The argument went from bad to worse when Cruz began leveling insults at Carlson.
He said: ‘No, you don’t know anything about the country. You’re the one who claims they’re not trying to murder Donald Trump. You’re the one who can’t figure out if it was a good idea to kill General Solimani.’
