During his visit to Russia earlier this month, Tucker Carlson claimed on Tuesday that he was being watched by US agents, who then disclosed to a "friendly" media source that he had met Edward Snowden. Despite his assertion that he had attempted to conceal his encounter with the NSA whistleblower, the American journalist had this to say.
To speak with President Vladimir Putin, Carlson traveled to Russia. He spoke with podcaser Lex Fridman for three hours about meeting with Snowden during his eight days in Moscow, and he revealed that US intelligence learned about it.
"I was being heavily surveilled by the US government," Carlson said to Fridman, adding that he had gotten evidence that he was being closely watched before his trip to Moscow and that US agents had blocked his intentions to speak with Putin in 2021. Upon arriving, I naturally want to visit Snowden, since I really respect him.
In addition to turning down requests for an interview and a picture, Snowden is said to have accepted Carlson's offer to supper at the Four Seasons Hotel, reasoning that it would be best to keep the information to himself.
“I didn’t tell anybody, Semafor runs this piece – reporting information they got from the US intel agencies, leaking against me, using my money, in my name, in a supposedly free country – they run this piece saying I met with Snowden, like it was a crime or something,” Carlson told Fridman, however the meeting was leaked.
You do not have a free country if your media establishment supports the national security state by acting as its agents. We are there now, Carlson continued.
Carlson said he had no fear of being jailed in Russia, but his attorneys had cautioned him that if the US found out what was in the Putin interview, they may take him into custody.
About his stay in Moscow, he said to Fridman, "I had not one pang of fear during the 8 days that I was there."
Before he left for Russia, his team of attorneys counseled him to “not do this… A lot will depend on the questions you ask of Putin. If you’re seen as too nice to him you could be arrested when you come back, You’re describing a fascist country, OK?,” Carlson quoted the lead lawyer as saying.
Snowden exposed the NSA's widespread, unlawful, and illegal eavesdropping on US individuals in 2013. His passport was invalidated in Washington, so he escaped to Hong Kong fearing for his life, intending to reach Ecuador—which did not have a treaty of extradition with the US—but was halted during a stopover in Moscow. In the end, Russia granted him sanctuary and, it is said, citizenship.
Ben Smith was the editor-in-chief of the now-defunct BuzzFeed newsroom and one of the creators of Semafor, the publication to which Carlson believes US agents leaked his meal with Snowden. The 'Steele Dossier,' a fake dossier supplied by US intelligence to attack newly elected President Donald Trump, was released by Smith in 2017, which became well-known.
To speak with President Vladimir Putin, Carlson traveled to Russia. He spoke with podcaser Lex Fridman for three hours about meeting with Snowden during his eight days in Moscow, and he revealed that US intelligence learned about it.
"I was being heavily surveilled by the US government," Carlson said to Fridman, adding that he had gotten evidence that he was being closely watched before his trip to Moscow and that US agents had blocked his intentions to speak with Putin in 2021. Upon arriving, I naturally want to visit Snowden, since I really respect him.
In addition to turning down requests for an interview and a picture, Snowden is said to have accepted Carlson's offer to supper at the Four Seasons Hotel, reasoning that it would be best to keep the information to himself.
“I didn’t tell anybody, Semafor runs this piece – reporting information they got from the US intel agencies, leaking against me, using my money, in my name, in a supposedly free country – they run this piece saying I met with Snowden, like it was a crime or something,” Carlson told Fridman, however the meeting was leaked.
You do not have a free country if your media establishment supports the national security state by acting as its agents. We are there now, Carlson continued.
Carlson said he had no fear of being jailed in Russia, but his attorneys had cautioned him that if the US found out what was in the Putin interview, they may take him into custody.
About his stay in Moscow, he said to Fridman, "I had not one pang of fear during the 8 days that I was there."
Before he left for Russia, his team of attorneys counseled him to “not do this… A lot will depend on the questions you ask of Putin. If you’re seen as too nice to him you could be arrested when you come back, You’re describing a fascist country, OK?,” Carlson quoted the lead lawyer as saying.
Snowden exposed the NSA's widespread, unlawful, and illegal eavesdropping on US individuals in 2013. His passport was invalidated in Washington, so he escaped to Hong Kong fearing for his life, intending to reach Ecuador—which did not have a treaty of extradition with the US—but was halted during a stopover in Moscow. In the end, Russia granted him sanctuary and, it is said, citizenship.
Ben Smith was the editor-in-chief of the now-defunct BuzzFeed newsroom and one of the creators of Semafor, the publication to which Carlson believes US agents leaked his meal with Snowden. The 'Steele Dossier,' a fake dossier supplied by US intelligence to attack newly elected President Donald Trump, was released by Smith in 2017, which became well-known.
