Tucker Carlson Sends Cease and Desist to PAC Fundraising For Candidacy: ‘Will Not Run For President in 2024’
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Tucker Carlson sent a cease and desist letter to a political action committee formed ostensibly to encourage the former Fox News host to run for president in 2024.
The letter, obtained by Mediaite, was sent by Carlson’s lawyer Harmeet Dhillon to the “Draft Tucker PAC,” which was announced last Thursday with an ad set to run all week on Newsmax.
Republicans need a new leader that can stand up to Biden. It’s time to draft Tucker Carlson pic.twitter.com/FV9s3wxalc
— Draft Tucker Carlson (@DrafttuckerPAC) May 19, 2023
“It has come to Mr. Carlson’s attention that you are soliciting contributions and donor contact information from the public by representing that the funds will be used to draft Mr. Tucker to run for President in 2024,” Dhillon wrote in the letter.
“Mr. Carlson will not run for President in 2024 under any circumstances, and therefore your misrepresentations are damaging to Mr. Carlson and defrauding his supporters,” she continued. “If you do not immediately cease and desist your efforts to solicit money to ‘draft’ Mr. Carlson, we will use every legal means at our disposal to vindicate his rights and protect his supporters from these misrepresentations.”
According to The Hill, the group first filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission back in April, soon after Carlson was fired by Fox News.
Dhillon repeatedly denied in the letter that Carlson has any plans to run for president in 2024, an election that already has a crowded Republican field that includes former President Donald Trump.
“Mr. Carlson is not now, and will not under any circumstances be, a candidate for President in the 2024 election,” Dhillon wrote. “Mr. Tucker unequivocally disavows your activities. Therefore, your efforts to raise money for a ‘draft’ committee are a waste of your time and the money of every donor to your committee, as you are on notice that these funds will not, in fact, be used for the purpose stated. Nor will the data you are collecting under false pretenses be used for the stated purpose.”
The letter, sent to the PAC’s executive director Charlie Kolean, a GOP operative, and its treasurer Elizabeth Curtis, accused the PAC of fraudulently using Carlson to fundraise despite his making clear that he will not be running for president.
Dhillon further threatened the PAC with legal action, demanding its staffers preserve all evidence pertaining to the committee’s efforts.
“Mr. Carlson does not want his supporters to be fooled into sending their hard-earned money and contact information to a project run in his name that he does not support and that has no chance of succeeding in its stated aims, and thus will necessarily be using the funds and donor data for other, undisclosed purposes,” Dhillon concluded. “If you do not voluntarily stop your ‘Draft Tucker’ effort, we will use every legal option to prevent the misappropriation of Mr. Carlson’s name, likeness, and image, and to protect his supporters from fraud.”
Carlson has regularly denied any political ambitions. In a 2020 interview, Mediaite asked Carlson, then the most-watched host in all of cable news, if he was considering a run for president in 2024.
“No, I’m not running for anything — come on,” he replied.
