Screenshot/Fox News
Fox News host Tucker Carlson
- Fox News host Tucker Carlson acknowledged Tuesday night that "there is no evidence" CNN gave a Parkland shooting survivor a scripted question to ask lawmakers at its town hall on school shootings.
- President Donald Trump tweeted about Carlson's interview with Colton Haab, a Parkland high school student who said CNN attempted to dictate what he would say at the event.
- Business Insider reported the next day that the Haab family had provided a doctored email to media outlets in an attempt to support Colton's claims.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson acknowledged Tuesday night that "there is no evidence" CNN gave a Parkland shooting survivor a scripted question to ask lawmakers at its town hall on school shootings last week.
Carlson interviewed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student, Colton Haab, on his show last Thursday after Haab told a Miami television news station that he decided not to participate in the CNN event after the network attempted to dictate what he would say.
On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump tweeted about Carlson's interview with Haab and called CNN "fake news."
On Friday, Carlson said he would reveal "shocking new evidence" that evening to prove the veracity of Colton's claims, which CNN denied. But shortly before Carlson's Friday show, Business Insider reported that the Haab family had provided a doctored email to Fox News and HuffPost in an attempt to support Colton's claims.
A CNN source provided Business Insider with the Haabs' version of the emails, as well as the network's versions of all of the communications between Colton and his father, Glenn Haab, and CNN.
In CNN's version of one email, a CNN producer told Glenn that Colton needed to stick to a question that he and the producer had "discussed on the phone that he submitted." But in the version of the email provided by Colton to Fox and HuffPost, the words, "that he submitted" were deleted.
On Friday evening, Carlson saved the story until the very end of his program, when he briefly addressed the issue of the doctored email and accused CNN of unfairly attacking Colton.
"It was just a few days ago that CNN was declaring that anyone who questioned the integrity of Parkland survivors … is a monster," Carlson said. "And yet CNN is doing the very same thing right now: questioning the integrity of a survivor because it suits them."
Carlson concluded by saying that he did not know whether or not the email was doctored and would attempt to find out.
On Monday, Glenn Haab acknowledged omitting some words from his email with the CNN producer, but said he didn't do it on purpose, The Associated Press reported.
On Tuesday, Carlson said the facts did not support Colton's interpretation of the story, but said "we can't prove or disprove" that Glenn altered the content of the email.
"For the sake of honesty and full disclosure to which we are committed, we have to tell you there is no evidence as of right now that CNN tried to give Colton Haab a scripted question, and we wanted you to know that," Carlson said.