Tucker Carlson joined Trump in questioning whether Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dying wish is real, and called it 'pathetic'

• Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday night questioned the account of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dying wish given by her granddaughter.
• "My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed," Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg told her granddaughter.
• "We don't believe that for a second," Carlson said. "If it were true, it would be pathetic because life is bigger than politics, even this year."
• Carlson was echoing President Donald Trump's attempts earlier to cast doubt on the final wishes of the Supreme Court justice.
• Her death has caused a political firestorm, with Republicans rushing to replace her ahead of the November 3 election, against her wishes.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson echoed President Donald Trump in casting doubt on Ruth Bader Ginsburg's family's account of her dying wish, remarking "If it were true, it would be pathetic."

Ginsburg's granddaughter, Clara Spera, had transcribed the justice's dying wish, reported NPR's legal correspondent Nina Totenberg, a friend of the Supreme Court justice.

"My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed," Ginsburg told her granddaughter.

—Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) September 22, 2020

The issue of how and when to fill Ginsburg's seat has become an intensely-debated issue since, split on partisan lines. Numerous Democrats have cited Ginsburg's words in arguing that a nomination for her replacement should not be made until after the November election.

On Monday night's edition of his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, addressed the controversy, and sought to cast doubt on the account.

"Keep in mind, we don't know actually what Ruth Bader Ginsburg's final words were," Carlson said. "Did she really leave this world fretting about a presidential election?

"We don't believe that for a second," he continued. "If it were true, it would be pathetic because life is bigger than politics, even this year."

Carlson's attack echoed comments made by President Donald Trump earlier in a phone-in with "Fox & Friends," where he insinuated that his Democratic foes could have invented the wish.

"That came out of the wind, it sounds so beautiful. But that sounds like a Schumer deal or maybe a Pelosi or Shifty Schiff," Trump said, adding, "Maybe she did and maybe she didn't."

The fight over replacing Ginsburg on the Supreme Court adds another layer of controversy to this year's election, with Senate Republicans moving within hours of her death to begin the process for nominating a replacement.

Democrats are accusing Republicans of hypocrisy, pointing to the refusal by GOP lawmakers in 2016 to consider Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, citing the proximity of the presidential election.

Democratic leader have pledged to use scorched-earth tactics in opposing the GOP's rush to fill the position, with Schumer saying that a Democrat-controlled Senate could even expand the number of Supreme Court justices in response.