Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson is in Russia presumably to interview President Vladimir V. Putin. MAGA election denier Kari Lake, who has not conceded her 2022 gubernatorial loss to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and is currently running for U.S. Senate with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, praised Carlson “for being a true journalist,” and asked “Why have no other reporters interviewed Putin?”
[The New York Times reported yesterday that Carlson “has been receiving blanket news coverage from state-run media outlets in Russia since stepping foot in Moscow” amidst speculation that Carlson may interview President Vladimir Putin.]
Why have no other reporters interviewed Putin?
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) February 6, 2024
Thank you, @TuckerCarlson for being a true journalist.
Not all American journalists are received with welcoming arms by the Russian government. Since March 2023, American journalist Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal, has been held in a Russian prison on espionage charges, which he, the WSJ, its parent company Dow Jones, and the U.S. government deny.
Prior to his arrest, Gershkovich had lived and worked as an accredited journalist in Moscow for six years.
According to Dartmouth College foreign policy fellow Danielle Gilbert, who specializes in hostage diplomacy, Gershkovich’s arrest had “suspicious” timing as “it came at a time of increased tension between the U.S. and Russia over the war in Ukraine,” and after Russian national Sergey Cherkasov was “accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of operating as an illegal agent for Russia’s intelligence service.”
In June 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously (422-0) to pass a resolution calling for Gershkovich’s immediate release. Still, as the WSJ recently reported last week, Gershkovich “is set to remain behind bars for at least another two months awaiting trial.”
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted *unanimously* (422-0, something practically unheard of!) to pass a resolution calling for Evan's immediate release, as well as that of Paul Whelan. https://t.co/NlOrPExEOp
— Free Evan Gershkovich (@FreeGershkovich) June 15, 2023
Note: Lake is vocal critic of The Wall Street Journal. When the newspaper announced a small round of layoffs of journalists on Thursday, Lake wrote on X: “The Fake News is dying right in front of our eyes. The American people aren’t buying the BS propaganda these divisive outlets are pushing.”
🚨BREAKING🚨
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) February 1, 2024
Just got word the @WSJ is laying off “reporters” at this very moment.
The Fake News is dying right in front of our eyes.
The American people aren’t buying the BS propaganda these divisive outlets are pushing.
Decrying Gershkovich’s venerable employer while lauding the Putin-friendly Carlson as a “true journalist,” Lake runs the risk of enabling the sort of Russian appeasement that Putin’s forces work to foment in the U.S.
Former Fox News star Megyn Kelly also interviewed Putin in 2018. The New Yorker claimed Kelly was “outwitted” by Putin and cited an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, in which Kelly “acknowledged having been manipulated by Putin, who, she said, ‘is the smartest man in every room.'”
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