Tucker Carlson’s Lawyers Fire Back at New Fox Cease-and-Desist Letter: ‘Tucker Will Not Be Silenced’

Tucker Carlson’s legal team indicated that their client would not comply with a cease-and-desist letter sent by his ex-employer over Carlson’s nascent Twitter show on Monday.

According to Axios, the letter from Fox News to Carlson boasted a bolded “NOT FOR PUBLICATION” at the top of it and insisted that Carlson’s contract with Fox included a noncompete clause preventing him from producing content for as long as the company continues to pay him. It is in effect through the end of 2024.

But Carlson has alleged that Fox has already broken the terms of the contract by leaking his private communications and video of his off-air commentary on set. In a letter sent to Fox in early May, Carlson argued that those alleged breaches served as the basis of his argument that the noncompete clause “is no longer valid.”

Reporting since then has indicated that Fox was not responsible for the leaks. Media consultant Tim Burke’s Florida home was searched by federal authorities in connection with them late last month.

The first two episodes of Carlson’s new venture, “Tucker on Twitter,” was viewed by an impressive 169 million people on the social media platform, although that number is misleading and counts every user for whom the video so much as appeared in their feed.

In a statement Harmeet Dhillon, a former candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee and lawyer for Carlson, asserted that “Fox News continues to ignore the interests of its viewers, not to mention its shareholder obligations” by “doubling down on the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry” and “demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election.”

“Tucker will not be silenced by anyone,” continued Dhillon. “He is a singularly important voice on matters of public interest in our country, and will remain so.”