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Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson planned to have House Speaker Kevin McCarthy "beg and grovel" for the speakership on an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight, ex-producer Abby Grossberg revealed.
The network announced it had parted ways with Carlson on April 24 in an announcement that seemed to take even Carlson by surprise. Fox News has not revealed a reason for the decision, but many believed that it may have had something to do with the $787.5 million settlement the network recently agreed to in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit.
Critics of Fox News have speculated that with Carlson gone, the network may be moving toward more accountability.
Grossberg, who was fired in March after filing a lawsuit against the network claiming it had coerced her into providing misleading testimony in the Dominion case, appeared on CNN on Tuesday, telling host Anderson Cooper that Carlson had the power to destroy a political campaign. She said that political candidates were terrified of Carlson's power.
She went on to tell Cooper that when she worked as a producer with the network, Fox News requested that she book McCarthy on the show in early January. At the time, McCarthy was in the midst of fighting for the House speaker position, which he would later win after 14 rounds of voting.
Grossberg said that Carlson's executive producer, Justin Wells revealed a "grand plan" where Carlson would set his own terms for McCarthy to achieve the speakership. At the time, Florida Representative Matt Gaetz was one of the congressional members that stood in the way of McCarthy's election.
"[Wells] said: 'Here's the plan. Tucker is going to first have Kevin on, hear him beg and grovel, then we'll bring in Matt Gaetz and Matt Gaetz will then set his terms, and then Tucker will set his terms that McCarthy has to agree to, and we're going to make this whole thing happen on air and save the Republican party,'" Grossberg said.
"Fortunately, for McCarthy's sake, [the speaker] said no," she added.
A spokesperson for Fox News called Grossberg's actions against the company "unmeritorious."
"FOX News engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms. Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review," Fox News said in a statement to Newsweek. "We will continue to vigorously defend Fox against her unmeritorious legal claims which are riddled with false allegations against the network and our employees."
In the interview with Cooper, Grossberg added that McCarthy called Carlson the next day and agreed to some of Carlson's terms, which Grossberg didn't specify in the interview. Grossberg said that, according to Carlson, McCarthy agreeing to the terms was a "win."
"I don't think journalists should have that kind of power to threaten and bully people, and Tucker did and reveled in it," she said. "They believed that he could broker who was speaker, House speaker. He wanted to do that live on air, but Kevin McCarthy said no."
About the writer
Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more