News host Tucker Carlson recently claimed that the National Security Agency (NSA) has not only spied on him but leaked emails to reporters in to undermine his show. Carlson explained that he received information from a source inside the NSA that could’ve only been obtained by someone his text messages and emails. He said it was a huge problem for the NSA to spy on American citizens in a free country.
“I think, more ominously, they are using information they gather to put leverage and to threaten opposition journalists, people who criticize the Biden administration. It’s happening to me right now. And I think it’s shocking, and I don’t think we should put up with it in a free country,” Carlson told host Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria.”
Carlson emphasized that the content of his emails was only known by executive producer Justin Wells and his wife. He said there is no possibility that anyone else could’ve known about certain information unless the NSA leaked it. He said he received a call around 7:15 from a journalist who repeated the information back to him. Carlson said he was surprised that more journalists didn’t find the move to be “out-of-step” or “alarming,” but acknowledged that most journalists are left-leaning operatives.
“This is a massive threat not simply to me and my show…but to journalism itself, to the idea of a free press. You can’t have a free press if the intel agencies are secretly spying on you and then using that information to threaten you and to control you. This is a huge problem for the country. And yet, outside of Glenn Greenwald, I don’t think there was anybody who stood up and said, ‘Wait, this is a huge problem for all of us.’ Instead, they made excuses for the NSA,” Carlson said.
Liberal journalist Glen Greenwald was one of the few voices daring to object to the NSA, saying you’d have to be “staggeringly naive or willfully ignorant” to think that the NSA/CIA haven’t always done exactly this and still do.
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called for a probe into the NSA’s disturbing activities. He accused them of refusing to cooperate with the GOP over the last few months and expressed concern about Michael Ellis, who he asked to be reinstated to his position. NSA General Counsel Michael Ellis was placed on administrative leave the day President Biden took without any explanation or updates. Ellis eventually resigned in April, to NSA director Gen. Paul Nakasone that he’d been sidelined for nearly three months without any explanation. “There is no sign that NSA will attempt to solve the issue. I, therefore, resign my position, effective immediately,” he writes.
Many people said they didn’t believe Carlson’s claims until they saw the extraordinary denial from the NSA. The NSA released a statement and publicly denied targeting Carlson, but did not deny and going through his private emails.
“On June 28, 2021, Tucker Carlson alleged that the National Security Agency has been ‘monitoring our electronic communications and is planning to leak them in an attempt to take this show off the air.’ This allegation is untrue. Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air,” the statement reads.
White Press Secretary Jen Psaki even gave an evasive answer when she was asked about it, claiming that the NSA focuses on foreign threats and individuals who are attempting to do us harm on foreign soil.
The NSA adds that they have an intelligence mission to target foreign powers that could harm the United States. They said that without a court , they cannot explicitly target a US citizen.
Rep. Justin Amash criticized the NSA’s response, saying it only denies wanting to take the show off the air and that he’s not considered a target. While it denied targeting, it didn’t deny the emails.
Government officials continue to Carlson’s claims and create an Orwellian experience for conservatives. Even NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is still hiding out in Russia after revealing that the U.S government was gathering loads of data on Americans. And then there was the spying on former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Carlson’s claims are plausible and should be taken seriously. But snooping and sneaking is the Democrat way to do things. That’s how they won an election.
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