Tucker Carlson has slammed Boris Johnson as being “a lot sleazier and lower than Putin” after the former Prime Minister refused an interview with the American journalist.
Johnson said he was prepared to hold a debate with the ex-Fox News presenter, who interviewed Vladimir Putin earlier this month, for $1million.
Carlson said that Johnson had demanded the $1million payment for himself, but the former Prime Minister said this was “untrue”, saying that the money he wanted for the interview would instead be donated to Ukrainian charities.
It is understood that Johnson then pulled out after the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Foreign Office has said that Navalny was murdered.
Tucker Carlson has slammed Boris Johnson after he turned down an interview with him
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Johnson had previously accused Carlson of acting as a “tool for the Kremlin” after it emerged that he was interviewing the Russian president, after which the US journalist reached out for an interview.
He called the sit-down between Carlson and Putin something straight out of “Hitler’s playbook”, when writing for the Daily Mail earlier this month.
Carlson said that after making numerous attempts to secure an interview with Johnson, an adviser finally responded to him. They allegedly said: “He will talk to you, but it’s going to cost you a million dollars.”
Recalling the conversation, Carlson told The Blaze: “I said to the guy… I just interviewed Vladimir Putin. I’m not defending Putin, but Putin didn’t ask for a million dollars. So you’re telling me that Boris Johnson is a lot sleazier than Vladimir Putin?"
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Carlson said that Johnson was 'sleazier than Putin'
ReutersA spokesman for Johnson said: “This account is untrue.”
Carlson has been heavily critiqued for his two-hour sit-down with the Russian president, after he defended the Russian president by saying that “leadership requires killing people”.
He let Putin speak at length about pet topics like Russian and European history – which the ex-KGB man says he didn’t expect and also added that he “was not prepared” for how “soft” Carlson would be.
After the sit-down in Moscow, the American journalist was interviewed at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Monday by Egyptian journalist Emad El Din Adeeb, who grilled him for the questions he failed to ask Putin.
Adeeb said: “You should challenge in the roles of an interview, and you're a master in your business. It's not for me to give you a lecture about that, but you should challenge some ideas.
Tucker Carlson sat down with Russian leader Vladimir Putin for two hours earlier this monthTucker Carlson Network on X“For instance, you didn't talk about freedom of speech in Russia, you did not talk about Alexei Navalny, about assassinations, about restrictions on opposition in the coming elections.”
Carlson replied: “I didn't talk about the things that every other American media outlet talks about. Because those are covered and because I have spent my life talking to people who run countries in various countries and have concluded the following: that every leader kills people, including my leader.
“Every leader kills people, some kill more than others. Leadership requires killing people, sorry, that's why I wouldn't want to be a leader.”
Many slammed Carlson online. Liz Cheney, a former House Republican leader who was ousted for her strong criticisms of former President Donald Trump, wrote on social media: “This is what Putin’s Russia is, Tucker Carlson. And you are Putin’s useful idiot.”
Meghan McCain, a former co-host of The View, said: “Don’t forget that Putin’s favourite useful idiot Kremlin propagandist Tucker Carlson didn’t give a s*** about Navalny’s life when asked about him a few days ago.”