Tensions are reportedly high between Fox News host Tucker Carlson and network executives after they have failed to support his claims that the National Security Agency spied on him.
Carlson is "furious" with Fox News executives "for not backing him up" after he alleged the NSA spied on him and was seeking to get his show taken off the air, CNN reports.
"Tensions are sky high," a source told CNN.
Carlson, citing an alleged whistleblower, first made his claim late last month that the NSA was "monitoring our electronic communications and is planning to leak them in an attempt to take this show off the air," prompting the NSA to release a statement denying his allegations as "untrue." CNN notes that one would normally expect statements from Fox News strongly denouncing the NSA's actions if Carlson's allegations were correct, but executives haven't done so, and the claim also hasn't received coverage on the air from Fox's news department.
Following a report from Axios that Carlson made his claims after seeking an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Fox did say it supports "any of our hosts pursuing interviews and stories free of government interference," but according to CNN, Carlson saw this statement as being "wholly insufficient." Another source told CNN that while Carlson has "always had tension with" Fox News' management, he's now "extra pissed." Carlson, meanwhile, denied CNN's "absurd" reporting.
"I'm not mad at anyone at Fox," Carlson told a CNN reporter. "If I was, I'd say so. I'm mad at you for lying relentlessly. What a loathsome person you are. Please print that."