Tucker to Trump: Dangerous NeoCons Like Nikki and Pompeo will Try to ‘Control You Not Serve You’
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Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson reportedly “killed” Mike Pompeo’s chances of becoming secretary of defense in President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
According to the Journal, which cited “multiple people with knowledge of Carlson’s efforts,” the former Tucker Carlson Tonight host “approached Donald Trump” before the 2024 presidential election “with an urgent plea” that “Pompeo had to go,” after the former Trump secretary of state was seen to be the “clear front-runner” for secretary of defense in a second Trump administration.
“Carlson argued that he is a warmonger,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “He highlighted to the president-elect a list of grievances he holds against Pompeo, including what he said was an alleged plot by the then-secretary of state to assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.”
Carlson and Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., also reportedly “outlined what they said were the dangers of bringing neoconservatives into the administration—men and women, they claimed, who seek to control him, not serve him,” and brought up Pompeo’s history of being “disloyal” to the president-elect and taking opposite stances on the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
Trump announced following his victory last month that neither Pompeo nor former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley would receive roles in the second Trump administration.
“I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation,” he said. “I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our Country.”
Instead of Pompeo, Trump nominated former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as the next secretary of defense.
