Tucker Carlson said in private messages that he actually hates Trump 'passionately:' 'I can't handle much more of this'
- Fox News host Tucker Carlson bashed former President Donald Trump in private, per new court filings.
- Newly released texts show Carlson telling a confidant in 2021 that he hated Trump "passionately."
Fox News host Tucker Carlson privately fantasized about not having to cover President Donald Trump after the 2020 election, saying that he hated Trump "passionately," text messages from a court filing show.
The texts were released on Tuesday as part of Dominion Voting Systems' court evidence in its $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
These texts were sent on January 4, 2021, two days before the Capitol riot. They appear to show Carlson and an unnamed confidant excoriating Trump. This stands in stark contrast to how Carlson subsequently promoted Trump's baseless election-fraud claims on-air.
"We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights," Carlson wrote, per Dominion's filing. "I truly can't wait."
"I want nothing more," the unnamed person replied, per the court documents. "It does feel very close. I imagine things will get nice starting around mid-February."
"I hate him passionately," Carlson replied immediately after, per the filing. "I blew up at Peter Navarro today in frustration. I actually like Peter. But I can't handle much more of this."
Navarro, a former Trump advisor, publicly admitted in January 2022 to devising a scheme to overturn the 2020 election. He was indicted by a grand jury in June for contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the House January 6 committee.
Carlson in the text exchange showed personal support for Trump's baseless 2020 election fraud claims, writing he had "no doubt there was fraud." But he said Trump and the lawyers who allied themselves with him — Lin Wood and Sidney Powell — had "discredited their own case."
"It really explains why the left wins so much," Carlson's confidant wrote, per the filing. "They have Marc Elias and lawyers from every major firm. We have Lin Wood and Powell."
"That's the last four years. We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest," Carlson replied, per the filing. "But come on. There isn't really an upside to Trump."
In a general statement to Insider on Dominion's Tuesday filing, a Fox News spokesperson claimed that Dominion's Tuesday filing took messages from Fox journalists and executives out of context.
"Thanks to today's filings, Dominion has been caught red-handed using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear Fox News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press," the spokesperson said.
Dominion's ongoing lawsuit against Fox alleges that Fox executives permitted its hosts and guests to push baseless narratives about the 2020 election, even though they knew these claims were false.
Representatives for Fox News and a spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment on Carlson's Trump texts.