Tucker Carlson Whines Suspected Pentagon Leaker Treated ‘Even Worse’ Than Bin Laden

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson gave a bizarre defense of suspected intelligence leaker Jack Teixeira on Thursday night. The primetime host claimed that federal authorities arrested Teixeira to cover up a covert, illegal US presence in Ukraine, and as punishment for contradicting “the National Security State and their obedient servants in the media.”

Teixeira, a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman, is suspected of having posted highly classified documents on a private Discord server. The documents were later reposted from the server to other public forums.

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“Tonight, the news media are celebrating the capture of the kid who told Americans what’s actually happening in Ukraine,” Carlson told viewers. He continued, “They are treating him like Osama Bin Laden, maybe even worse actually, because, unlike Al Qaeda, apparently, this kid is a racist.” The host was referring to reports that the Discord server in which Teixeira shared the documents contained several racist memes.

Carlson honed in on a portion of the documents that mention the number of special forces stationed in Ukraine and their various countries of origin. According to the document, there are 14 U.S. special forces stationed in Ukraine.

“The United States is a direct combatant in a war against Russia. As we speak, American soldiers are fighting Russian soldiers,” Carlson claimed, “This is a hot war between the two primary nuclear superpowers on Earth. And yet, this war has never been formally declared. It has not been authorized by Congress. And for that reason, this war is a violation of American law. It is a crime.”

A current U.S. official stressed to ABC News that the special forces were in no way involved in active combat. ABC spoke to various U.S. officials who indicated that since early in the war, a small U.S. military special operations team has been present at the United States Embassy in Kyiv. The contingent is largely tasked with embassy and VIP security, strategic planning, as well as intelligence assistance.

Fox News’ own Jacqui Heinrich reported that National Security Council member John Kirby confirmed to the network that the special forces presence at the embassy was not providing battlefield support. Carlson previously attempted to have Heinrich fired for the sin of fact-checking former President Trump’s election fraud claims on air.

Carlson railed extensively against the media for not celebrating Teixeira as a whistleblower. In an ironic twist, Fox News recently fired one of Carlson’s producers after she raised allegations of discrimination and legal coercion while working at the network, alleging she had breached expectations of “privileged communications.”

Nevertheless, Carlson has joined a growing contingent of right-wing personalities and lawmakers defending Teixeira. Earlier on Thursday night, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed Teixeira was being persecuted by the Biden administration because he was “white, male, Christian, and antiwar.” Last year, the congresswoman called the leak of a draft Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade “basically like an insurrection of the Supreme Court.”

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