AWKWARD: Ted Cruz Attacks Tucker Carlson for Speaking at Conference Featuring His Own Former Advisers

AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) attacked former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday for speaking at a conference in Qatar, which is also set to include Cruz’s own former national security advisers.

Reacting to the news that Carlson would be one of the speakers at the Doha Forum in Qatar’s capital this weekend, Cruz accused Carlson of being “#QatarFirst.”

Social media users were quick to point out, however, that the lineup also includes Cruz’s own former national security adviser Victoria Coates, who worked for the senator between 2013 and 2016 before being appointed a national security adviser to President Donald Trump in 2019.

Coates is scheduled to take part in a panel discussion on U.S. strategy in the Middle East on Friday, in partnership with the Atlantic Council, which Cruz has previously worked with.

Another former Cruz adviser, Fred Fleitz, is also scheduled to appear at the Doha Forum.

Fleitz, who is currently the vice chair of the America First Policy Institute and a Newsmax contributor, previously advised Cruz as a member of his 2016 National Security Coalition.

In addition, the lineup is set to include Omeed Malik, who made donations to Cruz in 2023; President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr.; Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz; Trump’s U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whittaker; U.S. Ambassador to Turkiye Thomas Barrack; and Breitbart News Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle.

The Trump allies will headline the event in Doha alongside a number of prominent liberal figures, including former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, billionaire Bill Gates, and several CNN correspondents.

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