A lawyer for Tucker Carlson fired off a authorized warning to a political motion committee elevating cash for what it claims is an effort to “draft” the previous Fox Information host into the 2024 presidential race.
“Mr. Carlson is not going to run for President in 2024 below any circumstances,” legal professional Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a letter to the PAC cited by each The Hill and Mediaite.
The letter accused the group of “damaging” Carlson and “defrauding” his supporters, and mentioned it didn’t have permission to make use of his title and likeness in adverts that had begun to look on Newsmax.
“If you don’t instantly stop and desist your efforts to solicit cash to ‘draft’ Mr. Carlson, we are going to use each authorized means at our disposal to vindicate his rights and defend his supporters from these misrepresentations,” she wrote.
The PAC’s Twitter account vanished after the letter was made public, with The Hill reporting that the PAC itself had shut down after elevating simply $212.
Dhillon additionally fired off some tweets warning of “SCAM PAC season,” saying that anybody who donates to those organizations “is getting ripped off and can in all probability get their title on a listing for limitless political donation pitches on behalf of another candidate.”
Dhillon, who launched an unsuccessful bid to unseat Ronna McDaniel as chair of the Republican Nationwide Committee, added:
Carlson, a far-right conspiracy theorist, was accused of “gaslighting” viewers with an alternate historical past of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol based mostly on cherry-picked footage from the location. Republicans and Democrats alike denounced his claims, together with his assertion that the rioters had been mere “sightseers.”
Fox Information parted methods with its star host final month in a stunning announcement that got here days after the right-wing community agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over lies about widespread fraud within the 2020 presidential election.
Carlson, who has additionally given air to racist conspiracy theories and white nationalist speaking factors, has since resurfaced on Twitter.
Some have speculated that Carlson may flip to politics, maybe with a presidential bid subsequent yr.
Carlson trolled a reporter on the subject earlier this month, telling Enterprise Insider he was planning a presidential announcement in New Hampshire earlier than rapidly strolling it again.
“Completely kidding,” he wrote to the reporter. “Sorry. I can by no means management myself. I’m essentially a dick. My apologies.”
Dhillon’s assertion seems to formally shut the door on that notion.