Tucker Carlson gives ‘update’ after segment on Sidney Powell, voter fraud draws backlash
Tucker Carlson has issued an “update” after a segment on his Fox News show about voter fraud allegations drew backlash.
On Thursday night, Carlson delivered a monologue in which he discussed President Donald Trump‘s attorney Sidney Powell and her claims that rigged voting software switched millions of votes from Trump to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
According to Carlson, Powell refused to send him evidence supporting her claims, despite multiple requests from “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“When we kept pressing, she got angry and told us to stop contacting her,” Carlson said in the Thursday segment. “When we checked with others around the Trump campaign, people in positions of authority, they told us Powell has never given them any evidence either, nor did she provide any today at the press conference.”
Earlier this month, a national coalition announced there is no evidence that any voting software deleted or changed votes in the election, per USA TODAY. The security group — which includes the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Association of State Election Directors — described the election as “the most secure in American history.”
“There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” the coalition concluded.
Carlson’s comments drew backlash from Trump’s supporters online, who argued Powell is saving her evidence for court rather than revealing it to the media first.
The Fox News host later updated his statement on Powell, in a clip shared to his Twitter account Friday.
“An update on our reporting on Sidney Powell’s voter fraud investigation,” he wrote. “Watch.”
In the clip, Carlson said that Powell’s refusal to provide evidence does not mean her claims are false.
“It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” he said. “It might have happened. It means they haven’t seen any evidence that it happened. And by ‘they,’ we are including other members of Donald Trump’s own legal team.”
Carlson also brought up that Powell has “suggested we may not have to wait much longer” for evidence.
A rep for Fox News confirmed to USA TODAY on Friday that Powell, as well as Rudy Giuliani, another of Trump’s lawyers, both canceled their appearances on that network’s program “Justice With Judge Jeanine,” with host Jeanine Pirro, scheduled for Saturday.
On Thursday, Carlson devoted a large portion of his opening monologue to discussing Powell and her “bombshell” allegations, which, if proven, “would amount to the single greatest crime in American history,” he said.
Carlson added that he did not dismiss Powell’s claims and has “always respected her work.”
“We simply wanted to see the details,” he said. “How could you not want to see them? So we invited Sidney Powell on the show. We would have given her the whole hour. We would have given her the entire week, actually, and listened quietly the whole time at rapt attention. That’s a big story.”
Powell, however, declined to provide evidence, Carlson said. Though the host said he agrees with the lawyer that electronic voting “is dangerous,” Powell “never demonstrated that a single actual vote was moved illegitimately by software from one candidate to another,” he added.
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“We’re telling you this, because it’s true, and in the end, that’s all that matters, the truth,” Carlson continued. “It’s our only hope. It’s our best defense. And it’s how we’re different from them: We care what’s true, and we know you care too.”
Both Carlson’s Thursday monologue and Friday follow-up drew conservative criticism on Twitter.
“So @TuckerCarlson wants @SidneyPowell1 to go on his show to discuss highly sensitive evidence BEFORE presenting in court,” wrote @RealBasedMAGA. “Im old enough to remember when he & his staff shipped highly sensitive evidence via UPS…..only to be ‘lost’. Good times.”
“I don’t know a single lawyer that would hand over their evidence to a news Outlet,” wrote @Edward22J.
“Sidney’s reputation is impeccable,” wrote @PamBlizzard. “Tucker: Betrayal of viewers and his profession. Done with him.”
“TUCKER CARLSON JUST COOKED HIS GOOSE BY GOING AFTER @SidneyPowell1,” wrote @JohnMappin. “Sidney is We the People’s Lawyer now.”
Contributing: Camille Caldera
*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from USA TODAY can be found here ***
