Fox Board Member Paul Ryan Throws Tucker Carlson Under the Bus When Grilled on ‘Toxic Sludge, Racism’ On Air at Fox News

AP Photos/Screenshot

Paul Ryan was grilled over his relationship with Fox News during a recent sit-down with Charlie Sykes. During the interview, the former speaker of the House and current Fox Corporation board member blasted Tucker Carlson and defended himself against charges of influencing the network’s coverage.

A wave of documents from the Dominion defamation lawsuit against Fox were released this week, revealing that numerous executives and hosts at the company were questioning the 2020 presidential election conspiracy theories being pushed on the network in the wake of Donald Trump’s loss.

The documents also revealed that Ryan claimed he approached Rupert Murdoch over concerns about election fraud theories being pushed with no merit, saying Fox should “move on from Donald Trump and stop spouting election lies.”

Speaking with Sykes, Ryan was grilled over his relationship with Fox.

“I think it’s very important to have an institution like that. Do I disagree with Tucker on this stuff? Of course, I absolutely disagree with him. Different kinds of conservatives — I don’t agree with that part,” Ryan said.

Sykes even provided an open letter with Ryan on the topic previously published in Politico titled, “Paul Ryan: It’s Time for You to Stand Up to Fox.”

Sykes summarized the letter for Ryan:

“I said, look, at this particular moment, with Tucker Carlson spreading the Great Replacement theory about race, you know, some of the rawest racism we have in American culture. We had disinformation about the pandemic, we had an ongoing revision of January 6, actually undermining democracy. And I guess the point was, okay, I understand the need to have another point of view, but if you are on the board of directors of a company that is pumping toxic sludge, racism, disinformation, and attacks on democracy, if you don’t stand up now, then when?”

Asked if he has any “responsibility,” Ryan acknowledged he does and brought things back around to Carlson.

“I want to make sure that we get through this moment and I think — this screed you just made on Fox — I think that was probably just Tucker,” Ryan said. “I can go four times as long about other stuff that I think are really good that are on there that are being advanced, and voices that are being heard on Fox News that are giving voice to what I would call proper conservatism properly understood. So it’s a long process, a big institution, but I do want to make sure that we get the conservative movement in a good place in America again.”

Fox claimed in an unsealed brief that Dominion was “cherry picking” quotes and “mischaracterizing” exchanges.

“Dominion spends much of its introduction and facts section mischaracterizing the record and cherry-picking quotes that it strips of key context. And it spills considerable ink on facts that are utterly irrelevant under black-letter principles of defamation law,” the brief reads.

Ryan also dismissed conspiracy theories he’s controlling Fox programming — Donald Trump Jr. suggested Ryan is why he hasn’t been on the network recently — with a rather simple answer.

“We should talk about Fox News for a moment…because Donald Trump, sitting down at Mar-a-Lago, is convinced that you are pulling the strings at Fox News,” Sykes said.

“Yeah, I could care less,” Ryan said.

Check out more of the conversation between Sykes and Ryan at The Bulwark.

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