The sudden and stunning end
to Tucker Carlson's tenure at Fox.
The network revealing just minutes ago
that Carlson hosted his last show
this past Friday.
Carlson had been a network staple
since back in 2009.
Six years, almost seven years.
He'd had his primetime show.
Just two weeks ago,
he headlined a very important network
get the first post-treatment interview
with the former president, Donald Trump.
Fox on air
and in its statement brands this decision
as mutual.
Let's get straight to CNN's Oliver Darcy.
All of our giant news
what do we know about how it happened
and why?
This is really astonishing news, Jon,
and the world of media and in politics.
We don't really have any details
outside this short statement
that I want to read to you from Fox News,
which was put out moments ago.
It says,
Fox News Media and Tucker
Carlson have agreed to part ways.
We thank him for his service
to the network as a host and prior
to that as a contributor.
And it goes on to say
that his last program already
aired on Friday, April 21st,
and that he will or
his hour
will now be hosted by a rotating cast of
of different hosts over on the network.
So a very short statement.
I can't imagine that this was amicable.
No.
Notably missing from the statement
was anything from Tucker Carlson himself.
And John,
this is huge,
like I said, in Republican politics
as well as media,
because Tucker Carlson exerted
so much control
and so much power
and influence
over the Republican Party base.
You often saw
lawmakers like Ted Cruz
go on his show
and grovel at his feet
when he would lash out at them on air.
And you,
like you said,
he had the first interview
with Donald Trump
after he was arraigned in New York court.
And so this was
this is a huge moment,
I think, not only in media, but also
in politics
for for the whole country.
And so all of a
we want to be careful
because there's a lot
we don't know,
as you smartly pointed out there,
and you very smartly pointed out
that there's no comment
from Tucker Carlson in a statement
issued by FOX.
You can draw an inference from that,
but we need to be careful.
There was nothing.
You very carefully covered the lawsuit.
Dominion Voting Systems. Again, Fox News.
There is this is not required.
There was nothing in that settlement.
Fox settled
the lawsuit,
agreed to pay the money,
and there was absolutely nothing
like this on the table.
So this comes as a total surprise, right?
As far as we know,
that was not part of the settlement deal.
Now, it's always possible
that there was something in there
that we didn't know.
It's hard to imagine, John,
that this is a coincidence
after Fox pays the highest defamation
settlement ever publicly recorded in U.S.
history, $787 million to Dominion last week
after the settlement.
Days after Tucker
Carlson losing his
his show, it's hard
to imagine these things are coincidental,
but the network's not tying
the decision to that
in their in their statement.
And so we just simply don't know how
directly connected they are.
But hard to imagine that
this was a coincidence.
Days after that settlement,
as certainly is, Oliver Darcy
come back to us
if you learn more in the hour ahead
on this big breaking news story.
I appreciate the hustle
to bring it to our viewers
at the top of the hour.
Now, some of Carlson's
3 million viewers
will be surprised
when they tune in tonight
and they'll find their favorite
anchor missing.
But if you were watching last hour,
this is how you learned on Fox
of this dramatic decision.
We have some news
from within our Fox family.
Fox News media
and Tucker Carlson
have mutually agreed to part ways.
Tucker's last show was this past Friday.
We want to thank Tucker Carlson
for his service to the network
as a host and prior to
that is a long term contributor.
Want to bring in our CNN media analyst,
Sarah Fisher.
Sara, just the way
that was read right there,
Harris Faulkner reading that on the air
very calmly, very quickly,
very dispassionately.
Have you learned anything in the minutes
since we've learned
this big news
to the big question, which is why
Well, we've asked Dominion spokespeople
if this is explicitly tied.
They said that there is nothing
they can share yet
about whether it's tied to the settlement.
But the other thing
that we're worried about
or thinking about right now
is what
those tapes
from former Fox producer
Abby Grossberg may have uncovered.
Of course, you'll recall
that she was part of the suit in that
she claimed that Fox News
had sort of meddled with her testimony.
She then put out an amended
legal filing
shortly
before the court
case and said that
the basically there was tapes
in which Rudy Giuliani and others
were saying things
about the voting machine
fraud, dominion, etc..
So one could ask themselves, you know,
is there something implicating their
but there was nothing
that was a part of this agreement,
to your point, John,
that said that any personnel
would be fired from the settlement.
In fact, within this settlement,
there wasn't even any requirement
that Fox had to apologize or retract
any of its reporting.
And Sara, he said the not the 8:00 hour
excuse me, since Megyn Kelly moved on,
that's almost seven years.
I think six, six, six are going on
seven years ago now.
The timing,
you can look backwards
and you look just a week or so ago,
the Dominion settled.
You can also look forward.
Fox, whatever you think of it, whatever.
People watching I think of the network
making this decision
as we head into a 20,
24 presidential campaign cycle.
Somebody who, as we noted,
had the first post arraignment interview
with the former president, United States.
Donald Trump
was the Republican frontrunner
for a network that prides itself
on its political coverage.
To do this at
this moment is stunning and tells
you something
absolutely does.
Not only was
Tucker Carlson
the highest rated
personality on Fox, Jon.
He was one of the highest
rated shows on all of cable.
So it's an explosive move
that Fox is going to do this,
especially to your point,
ahead of the 20, 24 election.
There isn't really like a backup
for Tucker Carlson.
There's no major personality
that brings in the same kind of ratings
that he does.
The five does
very well, one of their shows,
but it's not like
they have someone in their stable
that they're going to be able
to replace him with.
I do think it's
notable that they didn't give Tucker
Carlson a chance to even sign off.
To me,
that tells you that part of this decision
may have been a little bit rusty.
We don't know who's going to replace him.
All we know for now
is that that hour
will continue with political coverage.
They ran a promotional spot
earlier today touting an interview
with a potential candidate.
We just don't know who's going
to be the permanent host. But yet.
And so all of a dawsy is still with us
as well.
Let's walk through some of
what we do know.
Again, we're waiting to learn
more about the whys all over.
But in the Dominion suit,
the texts, Tucker Carlson's
texts and several Fox
host texts
essentially saying what they knew
to be true
versus what they were saying on
television, raising questions
about the election,
he said of Sidney Powell,
who was the Trump lawyer
who was a frequent guest of his program.
Sidney Powell is a lying.
I'm not going to say it on
television, F-ing bitch.
You see that there
Oh, I'm sorry, Sarah.
All of us, though, with this
any more serious?
This was
this was one of the hypocrisy,
if you will, of what was happening.
Tucker Carlson was not alone,
but his program as its lead
primetime program at the moment
had that
that other text
about moving on from Trump.
We are very, very close
to being able to ignore
Trump most nights. I truly can't wait.
I hate him passionately.
Tucker Carlson
saying that in his texts
and then again on the air
defending Donald
Trump on the air,
spreading Trump's lies
about a rigged election.
And then just recently,
that had to be an awkward moment
sitting across from him
and giving that interview
right after the arraignment.
You know, I think
the most damning stuff,
if this firing is actually tied to
the settlement,
John is actually some of the stuff
that Tucker Carlson
was saying
about trying to get a fellow Fox News
reporter
fired for her accurate coverage,
for trying to accurately fact-checked
a Donald Trump tweet.
Donald Trump had tweeted something
praising Fox News's
coverage of the voting system
machines that referenced Dominion.
That Fox News reporter
who is a colleague of Tucker
Carlson fact checked it.
And so when in pretrial
discovery hearings, we
found out that Tucker Carlson
was secretly pushing
to get reporters
fired for trying
to do accurate reporting.
To me,
that's actually even more damning
as it pertains to the Dominion suit,
the settlement and potentially
his firing
being connected to the settlement
and what he was saying
about Donald Trump,
because we know that it was hypocritical.
But again,
what he feels about Donald Trump doesn't
necessarily impact Dominion's
lawsuit for defamation.
That's very important
points and great insights.
Sara Fisher, come back to us
in the hour ahead or throughout the day
if you learn more about this.
Really appreciate your hustle
on this breaking news for us.