The fallout from Fox News firing Tucker Carlson keeps spreading in unexpected directions.
Now the FBI is involved.
And Tucker Carlson could not believe what this FBI raid turned up.
Shortly after Fox News fired Tucker Carlson the left-wing, anti-Fox News group Media Matters began posting video footage of Carlson taken from commercial breaks or before Carlson went on the air.
The clips backfired on Media Matters as the footage only served to humanize Carlson as a regular guy.
“Nobody watches Fox Nation because the site sucks.” Tucker Carlson caught on tape before he was fired trashing Fox Nation, the network’s streaming platform. (Video via Media Matters) pic.twitter.com/EMSLa4uOER
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) May 1, 2023
Carlson’s lawyers accused Fox News of leaking the video stating in a letter that the network’s general counsel Viet Dinh “confessed, according to the sources, that the network’s leaders suspected a member of the board of directors had been speaking to the press about Tucker without authorization.”
But the truth is even stranger than corporate intrigue.
The videos are part of an ongoing criminal investigation where Fox News appears to be the victim of foul play.
The FBI raided the home of Tampa City Council member Lynn Hurtak and her husband, liberal journalist Timothy Burke.
FBI agents executed a search warrant on their home as part of an investigation into the Carlson tapes being part of a computer hack targeting Fox News Channel.
Mediaite reports:
A letter sent to Fox News by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Trezevant and obtained by the Tampa Bay Times asked the network to “preserve information and records” pertaining to computer hacks at the company. The federal investigation into the matter “concerns allegations of unauthorized computer access; interception of wire, oral or electronic communication; conspiracy; and other federal crimes.”
“The letter does not mention Burke, but the Times confirmed with two people close to the investigation that the matter relates to the May 8 search at his Seminole Heights home,” noted the report, which added Burke “has not been accused of any wrongdoing.”
Fox News was not behind the leaked footage to Media Matters.
But that doesn’t mean Fox News isn’t fighting to keep Carlson off the air.
The network wants to keep Carlson on ice by paying out the remaining 18 months on his contract to block Carlson from starting a new show, which Carlson announced would be livestreamed on Twitter.
Fox News is fighting Carlson’s attempt to bring his show to Twitter by enforcing a legally dubious non-compete clause.
But leaking to Media Matters about Carlson is not one of their hardball tactics.
