As we’ve reported, over the last few days Media Matters has been publishing leaked behind-the-scenes videos of Tucker Carlson talking with his “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show staff. The conventional wisdom is that someone at Fox is behind the leaks and that they’re part of a campaign by Fox to smear Carlson due to the backlash the network is receiving after it unceremoniously dumped the most popular talk show host in the country.
Unfortunately for whomever is leaking them and hoping to hurt Carlson, these leaks are only upping his public image among his fanbase, who relish watching Carlson uncensored, saying the things they feel.
Wednesday morning brought a fresh video leak from MMFA in which Carlson unloads after a long week, the week in which his deposition in the Dominion suit was taken. Carlson tells his staffers that the deposition was a 10-hour ordeal, and characterized the Dominion attorney as a “slimy motherfu**er” who “triggered the sh*t” out of him. Carlson goes on to talk about the unhealthy amount of hate he felt for the lawyer – who apparently was attempting to “gotcha” Carlson regarding his state of domicile – during the deposition.
Here’s the full transcript – note, though, if you don’t watch the video, that Carlson is also speaking with producers and show staff who are in the process of taking his mic off and handing him makeup remover wipes as he’s talking about the deposition and the Dominion lawyer.
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Well, that was a week, I’ll say. Holy shit, 10 hours. That slimy little motherfu**er sitting across from me. Oh, you’re the best. And I wasn’t talking about you. It’s just the opposite.
OFF-SCREEN: [UNINTELLIGIBLE]
CARLSON: No, I’m not. What do you mean, because you’ve never been this affirmed in your life? I bet. Thank you, Alex. Have a happy weekend. See you, man. The amount, it was so unhealthy, the hate — thank you, seriously — the hate that I felt for that guy. I mean, thank you —
OFF-SCREEN: How could you not?
CARLSON: Well, I never feel that way, you know, because I don’t put myself. I don’t want to feel that way. I think it’s wrong. It’s bad. It’s totally bad for you to feel that way. But that guy, he triggered the shit out of me. “Where are you now? Where do you live?” The amount of times I had, “First of all, f**k you,” on my lips was like, it was unbelievable. Suggesting that I was — that I was cheating on my taxes?
OFF-SCREEN: Really?
CARLSON: Oh, absolutely. “So where, what’s — where are you domiciled? Where are you now? Do you own a home there?” I was like, No, I do not own a home.
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]
It’s hilarious that people at MMFA or presumably Fox News think that a host who’s popular precisely because of his populist opinions will be harmed by calling an attorney representing a company most of that audience despises a “slimy motherfu**er.”
The funniest line, in my opinion, is when Carlson says, “The amount of times I had, ‘First of all, f**k you,’ on my lips was like, it was unbelievable.” As many of our readers know, my first career was as a court reporter. I sat through more of these contentious 10-hour corporate depositions than I want to remember (in fact, I have purged many from my memory), and I can’t tell you the amount of times I thought a witness should answer exactly as Tucker wanted to. I have a theory that some attorneys have inferiority complexes that they address by bullying unwitting deposition witnesses who are essentially trapped in that witness seat for as long as the attorney wants them there, and judging by Carlson’s description this attorney could fit right in that mold. In my mind, I see a Jerry Nadler look-alike sitting across from Tucker, desperately attempting to “gotcha” someone who refuses to be gotcha’d.
But even for those who haven’t set foot in a deposition room in any capacity (whether attorney, party, witness, or court reporter), Tucker’s reaction touches a nerve. He’s the everyman, fighting against big corporate interests who want to silence the truth. Nothing he says in this video changes that; in fact, every word bolsters his credibility. Keep the videos coming.
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