NSA Inspector General Investigating Tucker Carlson Spying Claims
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The National Security Agency’s inspector general is investigating Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s allegations that the agency spied on his communications.
The office of the inspector general “is conducting a review related to recent allegations that the NSA improperly targeted the communications of a member of the U.S. news media,” IG Robert Storch said in a statement.
While Storch did not mention him by name, the OIG is looking into the allegations by Carlson, a person familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.
“The OIG is examining NSA’s compliance with applicable legal authorities and agency policies and procedures regarding collection, analysis, reporting, and dissemination activities, including unmasking procedures, and whether any such actions were based upon improper considerations,” Storch added.
Carlson claimed during his show on June 28 that the Biden administration was “spying” on his teams’s internal communications and was “planning to leak them in an attempt to take this show off the air.” Carlson alleged that a government whistleblower tipped him off to the effort.
Expanding on the claim a week later, Carlson told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that the NSA had leaked contents of his emails to other journalists “in an effort to discredit” him. One journalist called Carlson and read him the contents of one of Carlson’s emails, he said.
“This is not in any way a figment of my imagination. It’s confirmed. It’s true. They’re not allowed to spy on American citizens. They are,” Carlson said at the time. “I think more ominously, they’re using the information they gather to put leverage and to threaten opposition journalists, people who criticize the Biden administration.”
The alleged spying occurred as Carlson was negotiating an interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Axios reported.
