Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson says the Murdoch family, which owns Fox News along with the Wall Street Journal and a number of other international media properties, urged him to run for president against Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
“The Murdochs really hate Trump,” Carlson said during a recent episode of his internet-based commentary and interview show. “I got fired in April of 2023. In May of 2023, they asked me to run for president against Trump and said they would back me.”
Carlson, as he has done before, seemingly scoffed at the idea of a run for president, saying, “I’d never get elected, plus I like Trump.”
The pundit, who has criticized Trump in recent days on his posture toward the Middle East, conceded he was “frustrated” with the president but still holds him in high regard.
Carlson claimed Lachlan Murdoch, the eldest son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, urged the pundit to run against Trump weeks after the network ousted him, and suggested he offered support through Fox, the Journal and other major media properties owned and controlled by the family.
A firebrand commentator known for his blistering criticism of Democrats and the media, Carlson was ousted by Fox after litigation it was involved in showed the host berating top network leaders and making controversial comments about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, among other controversies.
He has since launched his own media company, a perch he has used to interview top lawmakers and news makers, including the president.