'I made a huge mistake': Tucker Carlson's first interview since being fired, weighs in on Fox News, Trump, RFK Jr, and suggests Jan. 6 was 'filled with federal agents'

Tucker Carlson gave his first interview since being fired from Fox News on Friday. During the hour-plus long interview with Russell Brand, Carlson talked about leaving Fox News, loving former President Donald Trump, greatly admiring Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the war in Ukraine being a "red line" at Fox News, and suggesting the Capitol riot was "filled with federal agents."

Brand began the interview by asking Carlson how he has dealt with being fired from Fox News. Carlson claimed someone attempted to leak the fake story that he is a "racist."

This is not the first time I've been fired. And I think in our business, when you work for a big company in media, and you know, you say what you think, there's an expectation that you could get fired. So I've always had that. And I've always tried to take the long view, not just on media, but on life. All graves go unvisited in the end. I always think. I was surprised. I didn't, you know, expect to get fired that morning at all in April. So I was shocked, but I wasn't really shocked. And I wasn't mad. It's not my company. And when you work for someone else, that person reserves the right, in fact, has inherently the right, to decide whether you work there or not. And I don't know why I was fired. I really don't. I'm not angry about it. You can believe me or not, but I think you can feel that I'm not. And you know, I wish Fox well. There was, you know, ugly leaking that I'm a racist or whatever they leaked. Someone there leaked to the New York Times, but that's not true. And I think the people who run the company know that's not true. Actually don't think they did it. And I'm not mad about it. And I've been I've been happy.

Carlson said he has enjoyed his initial time off by fishing, being with his dogs, and having late breakfasts with his wife. However, he said that his recent lifestyle had left him unsatisfied.

I guess the only thing that bothers me is I'm 54 and when you get a little bit older, and my wife and I you know our children are grown and we live in rural settings, as you do because we believe in nature and God and dogs, you know, you can lose your drive. I mean, it's just a little bit too nice kind of. And I do feel like we you know people who are healthy and aware and who can read like have an obligation to be engaged in the life of the community they live in, in the life of the country they live in, in the life of the world to the extent that they can. And so my only fear has been maybe being a little bit too happy. You know, I've spent a lot of time trout fishing, a lot of time with our four dogs a lot of time with my dogs and my wife and a lot of kind of like late breakfast outside stuff. You know, that's great, but life has got to be more than that. So, now I'm back to work and I'm grateful to be to doing that.

Brand asked Carlson if there was a specific viewpoint that caused Fox News to fire him. Tucker said the cable news network behemoth always allowed him to speak his mind. However, he noted that the Ukraine war is a "red line."

I honestly don't know. I will say, you know, my views changed dramatically over the course of 20 years. As I've said many times I was a half-hearted booster of the war in Iraq — which is hard to believe. But, you know, that was in 2003, and so my views for the last 20 years have been, and I realized, and I repented of that, and I, I feel sick even thinking about it now. But my views have remained pretty much the same for the last 20 years. They've evolved, you know, as things have changed. But in general, I've been skeptical of the storylines and all kinds of different things, and I certainly was for the 14 years I was at Fox. And they were always — they didn't agree with me, of course, I don't think — but they were always very nice to me. And they always let me say what I want. Not one time did they tell me not to say anything. So I was always grateful to Fox, and I am in retrospect, grateful to Fox for that. So that never changed up until the moment they called me and said, you know, we're taking the show off the air. And so I can only speculate, I know but I do think as a general matter, not even about me. The war in Ukraine is a red line for a lot of people in business and politics. And you see it in our politics in the U.S., where the leaders of the Republican Party in the Congress really are repulsive, in my view, are now supporting sending cluster bombs to Ukraine. Ukraine is losing the war, obviously. Ukrainians are dying in huge numbers and the country is being destroyed. And so the U.S. could force a peace like tonight. They could, uniquely they have that power, and they won't. And they're continuing to allow Ukrainians to be killed in the country to be devastated. So I don't know their motive. I can only guess but I know that if you criticize that they they really are intent on making it be quiet.

Carlson said he loves Trump personally but admits making a "huge mistake" last year.

Where am I on Trump? Now? I love Trump personally. I mean, I made a huge mistake last November in getting involved in American politics — something I've never done before. And making calls, you know, 'This guy's gonna win. I think this is going to happen in this state. Meet your new governor New York.' And I was wrong on almost every call. I'm not a very astute political analyst. I'm not interested in politics. I never have been interested in politics. I'm interested in ideas. I'm interested in people; and so there's a primary going out in the United States between Trump and a bunch of other people — primarily Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, but others, Vivek Ramaswamy, for example. And I haven't said word one about it. Don't plan to I, you know, I think looking back on this 10 years from now, assuming we're still around, I think we're gonna see Trump's emergence as the most significant thing that happened in American politics in 100 years because he reoriented the Republican Party against the wishes of Republican leaders. But when I think about Trump right now, so it's July of 2023, I'm struck by his foreign policy views. You know, Trump is the only person with stature in the Republican Party, really, who's saying, 'Wait a second, you know, why are we supporting an endless war in Ukraine?' And that, you know, leaving aside whether Trump's gonna get the nomination or get elected president or would be a good president, and I can't even assess that. All I can say at this point is: I'm so grateful that he has that position. He's right, and everyone in Washington is wrong. Everyone. And Trump is right on that question. And it's a big question. That war is reshaping the world. It's reshaping the economy of the world. It's reshaping populations. I was just in Romania last week, you know, which is of course shares a border with Ukraine. The refugees in that region, the number of people killed in that war. I mean, Europe will never be the same because of this war. It really matters. And Trump alone among popular figures in both parties understands that, and I'm grateful for whether he gets the nomination or gets elected. You know, words really matter saying something true out loud matters. And he is saying true things about Ukraine, and God bless him. That's how I feel.

Carlson decaled that he has great admiration for RFK Jr.

I love Bobby Kennedy, and I've had him on my show many times. He announced for president on my show, which took a lot of stones on his part, given how despised I am by a lot of Democratic primary voters. I think he's a wonderful person. I'll say that as a man. I admire him. He said the greatest thing any politician or any public figure has ever said to me at dinner a couple of years ago. You know, they've gone after his family. The pharma companies and their agents in the media have really gone after his family. They convinced a bunch of his siblings to denounce his views. So painful. And I'm so close to my family, I can't even imagine that. And I said to him, 'What's that like?' I thought I took a lot of s**t, I can't even imagine what that would be like if my brother denounced me, I'd shoot myself. I couldn't handle it. But anyway, so I said, 'What's that like?' And he said, and I'm quoting, and I shouldn't be quoting a private conversation, but he said this to me, he said, 'I've got seven children and they all love me, I don't care.' And I thought, you want to distill my values into a sentence — that's the sentence. So I really admire him. I don't agree with him on everything. I do agree with him, I'll just be honest, on most things — on the big things. And so no, I love what he's doing. I love his bravery, which is just remarkable. The amount that man has suffered for what he thinks is true. The amount of money he's lost, the friends he's lost. He's been ostracized in a way most people can't even understand because he ticked off a drug company, really? And he's persevered. And I really admire him.

Carlson discussed the "lying" surrounding the events of Jan. 6 and claimed the Capitol riot was "filled with federal agents."

Let me just say, one of my children was there working in the building and called me during it and was right nearby when Ashley Babbitt was shot. So I was interested in it from the moment it happened. I was appalled by the vandalism outside, by fighting with police officers. I hate violence, from abortion to the war in Ukraine. I mean, I am consistent on that. I'm not a Catholic, but I definitely share those views. I'm not for the death penalty, I'm not for killing people, I'm not for hurting people, I'm not for violence. And I've had those views for a long time. So you know, any violence on January 6, I oppose. I've said that many times.

I was kind of happy to leave it where it was, which is: This got completely out of hand. The only reason I ever got involved in commenting on it was I mean, we did a show that night saying, 'Well this is awful, right?; What happened? Was the lying about it was immediate. 'This was a racist white supremacist insurrection.'' Okay. That was no indication to this day that race had anything to do with it at all, like nothing. These were people who thought the election was stolen from them. There's some evidence they were right. We could debate that but that's what they thought. That's a meaningful thing. If you've got a big population in your country that doesn't believe that your elections are on the level, you need to figure out a way to convince them that the elections are on the level or else you can't have democracy because it's a faith-based system.

Tucker declared that the Capitol riot was not an "insurrection" but rather a "spasm of rage that Trump definitely helped inspire at the election results."

Speaking to his critics who attacked him for airing tapes of "QAnon Shaman" Jacob Chansley being escorted through the Senate chamber by uniformed police, Tucker lashed out, "F*** you!"

You can watch the entire Tucker Carlson interview with Russell Brand below.

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