Tucker Carlson offered a bizarre new take on the Watergate scandal, suggesting it wasn’t the illegal activity and cover-up that brought down President Richard Nixon.
Instead, he said on Fox News on Tuesday that it was “an FBI operation to drive a sitting duly elected president from office.”
Carlson made the claim during a nearly 20-minute segment on the discovery of classified documents in a private office used by President Joe Biden when he was vice president. The segment included clips of media figures speaking about the discovery of classified documents at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last year.
One of those figures was Carl Bernstein, who along with Bob Woodward broke the Watergate story for The Washington Post.
Carlson laughed after playing the clips.
“The funniest part was Bernstein, formerly of The Washington Post, who literally participated in an FBI operation ― not guessing, documented ― an FBI operation to drive a sitting duly elected president from office,” he said. “Carl Bernstein participated in that.”
One of Woodward and Bernstein’s most famous sources during Watergate was a mysterious figure known for decades only as Deep Throat.
That turned out to be Mark Felt, who at the time was deputy director of the FBI.
But far from being an FBI operation, the Watergate scandal was driven by the actions of Nixon himself, who was caught on tape repeatedly discussing the cover-up and other elements.
Despite that, Carlson has tried to rewrite the history of the scandal, saying last year that “no one can explain” it.
“That was clearly driven by government agencies, including the FBI,” Carlson insisted in September.