Tucker Carlson Privately Said Trump Skipping Biden’s Inauguration Was ‘So Destructive’ – But Here’s What He Told Viewers

Fox News host Tucker Carlson privately criticized former President Donald Trump for skipping Joe Biden’s inauguration, but he sang a very different tune for his viewers.

According to a court filing unsealed on Tuesday, texts between Carlson and an unidentified Fox News employee show the host was fed up with Trump, who falsely claimed the 2020 election had been stolen from him.

The filing is part of a lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, which several Fox News hosts and guests alleged were involved in rigging the election. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages. Fox News claims the coverage is protected by the First Amendment.

Here is the Nov. 11, 2020 exchange between Carlson and the unidentified network employee, who tells the host Rep. that Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told him Trump won’t be attending the inauguration the following January.

EMPLOYEE: Maybe you already knew but gaetz told me trump isnt going to the inauguration

CARLSON: [REDACTED]

CARLSON: I’d heard about the inauguration. Hard to believe. So destructive.

EMPLOYEE: I dont know her but yeah we could. And yes I really hate what he is doing. Millions believe every word he says.

CARLSON: It’s disgusting. I’m trying to look away.

A little more than two months later on air, Carlson mocked CNN’s Jim Acosta for publicly showing the same kind of disgust about Trump the Fox host displayed privately.

“This is looking like, you know, a president or a former head of state leaving Washington and in a way – because the president is defying these traditions [and] not being a part of the inauguration of President Joe Biden – he’s almost leaving town like an autocrat ousted from power heading off into exile,” Acosta said on CNN earlier that day.

“It’s just hilarious that someone who is literally wearing a black mask on camera is calling someone else a fascist,” Carlson said in a video flagged by Media Matters. “Why are you wearing a mask? You’re not gonna get Covid outside at a live shot.”

Carlson’s inauguration comments were hardly the only example of the Fox News host privately saying one thing and publicly stating the opposite for his viewers.

In the same filing unsealed on Tuesday, Carlson was revealed to have said of Trump, “I hate him passionately.”

“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,” he added. “I truly can’t wait.”

In another filing unsealed last month, Carlson called Trump “a demonic force” and “a destroyer.”