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Is Tucker Carlson Facing Charges for Being a Foreign Agent

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  March 17, 2026 5:30 PM

Tucker Carlson revealed on Saturday that he discovered the CIA has been monitoring his text messages, and that the Trump administration’s Department of Justice is preparing a criminal case against him for allegedly acting as a foreign agent.

The CIA and DOJ have yet to respond to Carlson's claims.

"So the other day I found out that the CIA is preparing some kind of criminal referral against me, a crime report, the Department of Justice, on the basis of a supposed crime I committed," Carlson said in video that went on for over five minutes. "What's that crime? Well, talking to people in Iran before the war. They read my texts."

"So the crime under consideration apparently would be the Foreign Agent Act or something like that, acting as an agent of a foreign power," he continued. "And I don't expect this to go anywhere. I'm not too worried about an actual criminal case against me for a bunch of reasons."

Carlson went on to deny that he acts in the interest of any country except the United States, a claim counter to much of his commentary over the last several years. 

Some speculated that, in an astonishing move, President Trump used Carlson to mislead the Iranian regime before the war, making them believe they had an ally influencing the president, only for Trump to use that to his advantage.

President Trump has recently distanced himself from Tucker Carlson, declaring, “Tucker has lost his way” and insisting, “He’s not MAGA,” as the former Fox News host tried to position himself to steer the ideological battle within the movement following the president’s departure from office. 

Carlson has already had a notable impact, helping shift the party so that only older Republicans remain consistent supporters of Israel, while younger Republicans develop an unusual fixation on Israel, mostly critical, and increasingly lean toward pure isolationism as a good foreign policy.