A new report shows text messages from former Fox News host Tucker Carlson regarding a video he saw of the violence that erupted during January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, which alarmed network executives just days before he was ousted from the cable news giant.
In the message, Carlson sent to one of his producers, the former top-rated host wrote that he had watched a video of people fighting in the street in Washington.
Carlson elaborated that he saw “A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding… him.”
The former Fox News host continues that the three Trump supporters were beating the one “Antifa kid,” claiming the fight being depicted in the video wasn’t “how white men fight,” noting that he found himself “rooting” for the group rather than the man.
Carlson described “hoping” the group would hit the man “harder, [and] kill hims,” adding he “could taste it.”
The Times said in its report that it learned the content of Carlson’s message, which was previously included in Dominion Voting Systems’ legal filings as part of a defamation lawsuit against Fox.
Fox News settled with Dominion for $787.5 million in April.
According to reports, the text messages about the video sparked panic among the media giant’s board and top-level executives, who worried the unreacted text messages would be leaked publicly and become embarrassing for the embattled network.
Carlson went on to suggest that “an alarm went off” deep inside the recesses of his brain, adding that he was “becoming something [he doesn’t] want to be.”
