'We’ll demolish him': Tucker Carlson ex-producer recalls being told to threaten guests

04 May 2023

A few weeks following Tucker Carlson's exit from Fox News, one of his former Tucker Carlson Tonight (TCT) producers is sharing details on the "toxicity" she endured working with him.

Abby Grossberg spoke to Rolling Stone about the bullying tactics Carlson would use to force top GOP officials to "come on his show and bend the knee to the MAGA agenda."

Grossberg, who began working on the right-wing show in 2022, told the publication although most of Carlson's GOP guests "got challenged in interviews," it was "those who didn't show" who received "the worst of Tucker's fury."

Rolling Stonereports:

Grossberg says Carlson pressured Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to militarize the southern border, tried to threaten Rep. Michael McCaul over military aid to Ukraine, and pushed Kevin McCarthy — then the aspiring House Speaker — to create the Republican-led committee on the 'Weaponization of the Federal Government.'

Carlson wanted to publicly debate McCaul — a Texas GOPer and advocate for sending military aid to Ukraine, as well as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs — but the Republican congressman declined.

Although he declined Carlson's invitation due to "family obligations," Grossberg said, "As far as threatening people, Michael McCaul was somebody they told me to call and threaten."

Grossberg told the publication a "fellowTucker Carlson Tonight producer Alex McCaskill 'let me know that if he didn't come, we would destroy him.'"

Grossberg continued, "Whenever I did make those calls, I obviously would never threaten them so when I called [it was], 'Hey, this is what I’m being told, and we've worked together for three-and-a-half years, I have to tell you, but I'm also letting you know as friends.' It was always friendly. I always made a call. It was purposefully not in writing because I was disobeying my bosses."

In addition to McCaul, Grossberg mentioned Texas Governor Greg Abbott as another top GOP official Carlson targeted with threats.

Abbott, an avid supporter of anti-immigration policies, according to Grossberg, was not far-right leaning enough on his immigration policies for Carlson, leading the former host to debate the governor on the issue.

The former producer told Rolling Stone, "She called Governor Abbott's communications director and warned her that Carlson planned on ambushing the governor once he agreed to come on."

She asserted, "Senior staff (on TCT) were saying, 'We'll demolish him,' which led her to "warn his team to have [Abbott's] ducks in a row and be ready" for Carlson's ambush.

"It was about the National Guard and how they were being deployed at the Texas border, and the fact he wasn't using them as much as he could be. And that's where that threat came in," Grossberg said.

Additionally, Rolling Stone noted Carlson's most recent signs of threatening a top Republican official were revealed when House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) gave Carlson over 40,000 hours of security footage from the Jan. 6 attack, which the former host used to "spin the insurrection as a largely peaceful event."

The Speaker received significant backlash for that decision.

Rolling Stonereports:

Text messages published in Grossberg's lawsuit show that Carlson had ridiculed McCarthy as 'a cowardly idiot not to' go on his show, 'which he may be.' But regardless, Grossberg believes the incident 'established the relationship between him and Kevin McCarthy' and led to the newly elected speaker’s decision to turn over previously unaired Jan. 6 security footage to the Fox News host.

According to Rolling Stone, Grossberg filed a lawsuit against the ousted host last month alleging both he and Fox News "fostered a workplace climate of misogyny and toxicity during her tenure at the company."

Rolling Stone's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

From Your Site Articles