Robert F Kennedy has expressed his support of a potential sit-down between Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin.
‘The legacy media is in shambles because we’ve caught onto their lies and propaganda. Tucker Carlson has every right to interview Putin,’ the third-Party presidential candidate said on Sunday.
‘We need more transparency instead of less. It used to be understood journalists would interview world leaders, even those with whom we were at war.’
Kennedy’s post on X comes amid ongoing speculation that Carlson may become the first Westerner to interview the Russian despot during the war in Ukraine.
Russian state media fueled the rumors on Monday, posting a video they claimed showed Carlson leaving the Russian Presidential Administration. The outlet, however, would still not confirm the interview took place.
Robert F Kennedy has expressed his support of a potential sit-down between Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson (center), 54, was spotted in the Russian capital at a Spartacus performance in Bolshoi Theatre, according to media in Russia
Carlson star kept his cards close to the chest on Monday, after Russian media showed pictures of him at several spots around Moscow, including at a box at the Bolshoi Theatre and eating at a hotel.
‘It is beautiful,’ Carlson said of Moscow in an interview aired by the Izvestia newspaper. ‘I just wanted to see it because, you know, I have read so much about it but I have never seen it before.’
When asked if he was in Moscow to interview Putin, Carlson said: ‘We’ll see’ and smiled.
The former Fox News host, 54, reportedly arrived in the capital on February 1 and was spotted at a Spartacus performance in Bolshoi Theatre.
Back in 2021, Carlson claimed the National Security Agency began ‘spying’ on him after he said he was trying to interview Putin.
Carlson said that his communications were intercepted by the NSA, and that his identity – which should by law have been kept a secret – was ‘unmasked’ by senior intelligence officials. Carlson claimed that the content of his emails and texts was then disseminated, in a bid to discredit him.
Images of Carlson shared by Russian media led to many believing he could be the first Western journalist to interview Putin since the country’s invasion of Ukraine
The former news anchor, who has defended Putin in the past, claimed he previously tried to interview the Russian president last year but that he was stopped by the US government
His claims have not been confirmed.
The Kremlin has also refused to confirm it Putin would be sitting down with the American podcaster.
In a statement, it said: ‘We can hardly be expected to provide information on the movement of foreign journalists… Many foreign journalists come to Russia every day, many continue to work here, and we welcome this,.
‘We have nothing to announce in terms of the president’s interviews to foreign media.’
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has also defended the prospect of Carlson interviewing Putin and hit out at those criticizing him.
‘We have a free press in this country and its people like Tucker Carlson who we depend on to speak the truth,’ she wrote on X on Saturday.
Images of Carlson shared by Russian media led to many believing he could be the first Western journalist to interview Putin since the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
‘Democrats and their propagandists in the media are spasming at the prospect of Tucker Carlson interviewing Putin,’ politician Greene said.
‘They feel entitled to the position of gatekeeper and believe they are the ones who tell you what to think and believe.
A picture of Carlson appears to show him at a Spartacus performance at the Bolshoi Theatre
‘They HATE when someone like Tucker goes “off script”.’
Carlson reportedly arrived in Moscow on February 1 after flying in from Istanbul and it is his first time in the country.
The former news anchor, who has defended Putin in the past, has opposed America’s support for Ukraine and suggested that the West is to blame for the invasion.
His show Tucker Carlson Tonight was once the most viewed cable news show in the US before it was taken off-air in April 2023.
Carlson has now started his own show X where he has interviewed Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban and controversial figure Andrew Tate.
The first rumors about a potential interview with Putin first surfaced in the summer as Russian state television ran adverts of Carlson saying ‘Russia, the high-profile American presenter is moving to another level. Here.’
Russia 1 channel anchor Vladimir Solovyov pleaded with Carlson to ‘come join us’ after his abrupt departure from Fox News.
While Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said in September that the ‘time will come’ for a Western media interview with the Russian president.
He added: ‘Whether Carlson will be among those who will be considered for an interview, well, let’s wait and see.’
DailyMail.com has contacted Tucker Carlson for comment.