Fox News host Tucker Carlson made a veiled threat to Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), the National Republican Congressional Committee chair, after accusing Emmer of insulting his son, Buckley Carlson, Axios reported on Sunday.
Some Republicans immediately took sides, with Donald Trump Jr. and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) backing Carlson amid the GOP infighting.
Carlson was reacting to a Daily Beast story on Friday that quoted an unnamed GOP strategist who said potential Emmer rival Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) “dies to be liked by the Establishment. He hires Tucker Carlson’s son, a 24-year-old kid, to be his communications director.”
The elder Carlson apparently took serious umbrage, calling up Emmer and demanding that he “either reveal which staff member took a swipe at Carlson’s son, a Capitol Hill aide ... or the Fox host would assume Emmer himself was to blame for the quote,” Axios wrote.
Emmer denied that his office was involved, but Carlson didn’t buy it and declared he now had a personal beef with the lawmaker, according to Axios.
The enormously popular Carlson holds sway among conservatives, so his reported anger over the apparent diss of Buckley Carlson could affect how the GOP power maneuvering plays out. Banks is expected to challenge Emmer and Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) for the position of House Republican whip if Republicans win control of the House in the November elections, NBC News previously reported.
Other prominent GOP figures got involved. Trump Jr. accused Emmer of having his “henchmen” attack Carlson’s son and “trying to throw the staff of another member of Congress under the bus to cover his own ass???”
“I stand with Buckley Carlson,” Greene, the Georgia radical who claimed to be a contender for ex-President Trump’s 2024 running mate, tweeted Sunday.
An NRCC spokesperson told Axios that Emmer was not to blame and that the “baseless accusations are meant to distract and divide Republicans. Our focus is on retaking the majority and firing Nancy Pelosi.”
Fox News reps did not immediately respond to a request for Carlson’s comment.