Ex-Fox producer: Tucker Carlson sought to broker House speaker selection
Former Fox News cable host Tucker Carlson wielded immense power over Republicans, and at one point sought to broker the Republican speakership selection, a former producer said Tuesday.
Abby Grossberg, a former senior booker for “Tucker Carlson Tonight” who is suing Fox News on allegations she was pressured to lie to in a deposition in the Dominion lawsuit, described Carlson’s power over Republicans during an appearance on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
“His lieutenant, Justin Wells, who was fired along with him, I have messages I was just looking at today saying, ‘We are the most powerful political platform in the Republican Party.’ And they acted that way, especially leading up to the 2022 midterms,” Grossberg said.
“They would say, there was like Ron Johnson, for example, the office called me and said, he'll come on the show, but are you going to destroy him because this will ruin his chances? It will be over for him.”
“So the politicians were terrified of him?” Cooper asked.
“They were, and that was a power that I was terrified of too,” Grossberg said.
“I don't think journalists should have that kind of power to threaten and believe people and Tucker did and reveled in it.
“I mean, they believed that he could broker who was House Speaker. He wanted to do that live on air, but Kevin McCarthy said no.
Cooper seemed startled.
“What do you mean, you wanted to do that live on?” he said.
“His plan was to have Kevin McCarthy come on the show, according to Justin Wells, to reveal this grand plan to us.
She said Carlson a few days earlier had set some terms for McCarthy.
Wells described the plan to Grossberg, saying, “Tucker's gonna first have Kevin (McCarthy) on, hear him beg and grovel. Then we'll bring in Matt Gaetz and Matt Gaetz will then kind of set his terms, then Tucker will set his terms that McCarthy has to agree to those terms.”
“We're gonna make this whole thing happen on air and save the Republican Party."
“Fortunately for McCarthy’s sake, he said no, but he did call Tucker the next day from his office with Representative Thomas Massie and had agreed to some of Tucker's terms according to a text that Tucker had sent me and he said that was a win.”
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