Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin Breaks Down Why Russia is Prime Suspect Behind Nord Stream Pipeline Attack, Allegation Tucker Carlson Calls ‘Idiotic’

Fox News’s Chief National Security Correspondent, Jennifer Griffin, reported on the Pentagon’s rationale for believing Russia may be behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, just hours before Tucker Carlson emphatically condemned such allegations as “idiotic.”

“US officials and European allies say attack on Nordstream 2 appears to be ‘sabotage,’ evidence suggests ‘state actor.’ ‘Likely culprit: Russia’ question is why? One official: ‘Did Putin order to prove Mad Man theory, to make his nuclear threat more plausible?’” wrote Griffin on Twitter Thursday afternoon detailing some of her discussions at the Pentagon.

Griffin added further context, noting that attacking the pipeline would fit in with historic Russian military tactics, “Western allies are viewing the apparent sabotage of the Nordstream 2 pipeline as a ‘serious escalation.’ Russian military doctrine: ‘escalate to deescalate.’”

“Regarding Nordstream 2 explosions: Western allied official tells me: ‘If they (Russia) intend to escalate more directly with the EU/NATO, they will claim US guilty of sabotage and ‘retaliate.’ The only logic I see (for Putin) is related to escalation dynamics,’” Griffin added, detailing her reporting.

Just a few hours later, Carlson, Fox News’s top-rated opinion host, took aim at the allegations Putin “would blow up his most important asset.”

“Whatever you think of him, Vladimir Putin, he may be evil, but he’s not stupid. Those were his pipelines. Russia paid for them and critically, they gave Russia leverage over the rest of the world,” argued Carlson.

“In the middle of a war, those pipelines are what they plan to use to sell gas to Europe. So why would Putin blow up his own most important asset? So who did this? Well, we don’t know. We do know. Just a few months ago that Joe Biden promised to, quote, bring an end to those pipelines,” Carlson added, before playing a clip of Biden speaking before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“If Russia invades, that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine again. Then there will be we there will be no longer a Nord Stream II. We will bring an end to it,” Biden warned regarding the pipeline, which was finished in September 2021 but has yet to go online.

Germany did in fact freeze the pipeline (which is largely under its control, not Russia’s) in February after Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

“There will no longer be a Nord Stream II,” said Carlson repeating Biden’s words.

“Okay. So when this week there no longer was Nord Stream II, someone blew it up,” he continued, seeming to confuse Nord Stream II with the original Nord Stream pipeline, which has been operational and is now leaking gas into the Baltic. European and U.S. officials have pointed the finger at Russia, but have fallen short of officially accusing anyone yet of the apparent sabotage.

President Joe Biden said on Friday an investigation is underway with European allies and divers will be sent down to the pipeline to gather more information. Meanwhile, Russia has blamed the U.S. for the pipeline damage and Russian state TV has played Carlson’s Tuesday night monologue suggestion Biden was behind the sabotage.

“A Polish lawmaker who’s married to Ann Applebaum of the Atlantic and close friends of Joe Biden tweeted this, ‘Thank you, USA.’ He’s since deleted that tweet. Wonder why,” continued Carlson.

“So based on the evidence, the likely suspect is not Vladimir Putin. Obviously, blame Putin for whatever you want. But he clearly didn’t do this. I mean. Right. Well, not if you’re the U.S. media, you’re insane if you suggest that,” he continued, adding:

The Daily Mail, which we love, but they just ran this headline quote, ‘What Putin Could Gain from blowing up the Nord Stream Gas Pipeline.’ What? The article noted that quote, ‘conspiracy theories abound,’ the conspiracy theory being if you suspect that maybe Putin didn’t do it, you’re crazy.

But in reality, Putin blew up his own pipeline, quote, ‘as part of a terrifying new attempt to intimidate the West.’ What? By destroying his own country. This is insane. It’s idiotic. Now, again, we can’t say who did it.

“We’re pretty sure who didn’t do it. And telling us otherwise is just too insulting. Actually, save it for dumb people, please,” Carlson concluded.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News.