Tucker Carlson was fired before he could give a conspiracy-theory-fueled monologue alleging a January 6 protester was actually an FBI informant, biographer says
- Tucker Carlson was kicked off Fox News before a monologue about January 6, 2021, his biographer said.
- Carlson reportedly planned to talk about Ray Epps, whom some GOPers accuse of sparking the riot.
Fox News fired Tucker Carlson ahead of a planned monologue promoting a conspiracy theory that a pro-Trump protester was actually an FBI informant who sparked the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, a conservative columnist writing a biography of the ex-host said.
The columnist, Chadwick Moore, said in a video posted Monday on Twitter that he saw the monologue Carlson planned to deliver on April 24, the day Fox News took his show off the air.
"That monologue dealt with, among other things, investigations around January 6 and, particularly, Ray Epps, the only person captured on video inciting people to violence that day and allegedly an FBI informant who has still not been arrested and charged," Moore said.
Carlson retweeted the video to his 7.6 million Twitter followers.
Epps is at the center of a conspiracy theory that alleges he was an anti-Trump FBI plant who encouraged Trump supporters to storm the US Capitol.
But Epps was a Trump supporter who said he took issue with the 2020 election and attended Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, DC. Though he headed toward the Capitol, he stopped after seeing rioters attack police officers, police body-camera footage shows, and did not enter the Capitol.
The FBI has denied that Epps ever worked for the bureau or was an informant. Epps told CBS News that the conspiracy theory had made him the subject of death threats from fellow Trump supporters, which have forced him to sell his home and live in an RV in an undisclosed location.
Carlson has nonetheless repeatedly promoted the conspiracy theory, as have Republican lawmakers including Sen. Ted Cruz and Reps. Matt Gaetz, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The US House of Representatives committee that investigated the January 6 attack interviewed Epps and found no links between him and the FBI.
An attorney representing Epps didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Moore, who says he's working on a biography of Carlson, also said in his video that sources — who he said "have intimate knowledge of the situation" — had "assured" him that Dominion Voting Systems required Fox News to take Carlson off the air as part of its $787.5 million settlement with the network and its parent company, Fox Corp.
Dominion and Fox News have both denied that claim. The full terms of the settlement remain secret.
Carlson and Fox News are negotiating the terms of Carlson's exit from the network. He has said he plans to stream his show on Twitter.
A representative for Fox News declined to comment. A representative for Carlson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.