Fox News host Tucker Carlson says he “passionately hated” Donald Trump, new filings in a $1.6bn defamation suit against Fox News have revealed.
Despite that Carlson continued to broadcast January 6th security footage in his attempt to cast the deadly attack on Congress as “peaceful chaos” arising from a protest of Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden.
The latest filings in the case suggest Mr Carlson expressed his dislike of the outgoing US president two days before Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol to derail lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden’s election win.
“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,” he wrote in a text sent on 4 January 2021. “I truly can’t wait.”
Mr Carlson, the top-rated host on the conservative network, also appeared to denigrate the Trump presidency in these private messages, despite lauding his achievements on air.
“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. But come on. There isn’t really an upside to Trump.”
In one November 2020 exchange, Carlson said Trump’s decision to snub Joe Biden’s inauguration was “so destructive.”
Carlson added that Trump’s post-election behaviour was “disgusting” and that he was “trying to look away.”
The filings build on earlier court documents submitted last month in the lawsuit that Dominion has used to argue that Fox “knew” that “Trump lost the election” while “Fox viewers heard a different story— repeatedly.”
Fox News said in a statement Tuesday that Dominion is “using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press.”
