Chris Cuomo rips Tucker Carlson for not asking Putin tough questions

Article content

Chris Cuomo ripped into Tucker Carlson, accusing him of lobbing softball questions while in Russia last month to interview Vladimir Putin.

Article content

Both fired cable hosts, Cuomo had Carlson on his News Nation show for a sit-down interview with the two parts aired this week.

Article content

Cuomo, who was let go by CNN in December 2021 for allegedly helping his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, when the then-governor was accused of sexual harassment, told Carlson that he didn’t ask tough questions of the Russian leader in early February, specifically about opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s imprisonment.

“You made choices,” Cuomo said. “You didn’t ask him about Navalny. You said, ‘All leaders kill.’ But don’t you feel that if you are going to go and sit with someone like that, you have to hold them to account for things that matter? The fact that he may have murdered somebody, or a lot of people?”

Article content

Article content

Carlson said that Ukrainians — specifically the government — say Putin didn’t kill Navalny but that the jailed opposition leader died of natural causes.

Navalny, 47, who was Russia’s best-known opposition politician, recently died at an Arctic prison. While his  family alleged that the Kremlin murdered him, Russian authorities rejected the claim, blaming his death on a blood clot.

According to Ukrainian media, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, also said Navalny died of a blood clot in prison.

No autopsy was performed due to the political sensitivities surrounding Navalny’s death, reports Novaya Gazeta.

“What is actually going on there, I can’t even guess,” Carlson said. “Navalny died in the middle of the Munich security conference, also in the middle of the debate over Ukraine funding in the United States. His death was used — within hours — by the President of the United States to justify another $60 billion to fund Ukraine’s military.

Article content

Carlson, who was fired from Fox News in April 2023, said the situation in Russia is extremely complicated and asking Putin about Navalny wouldn’t “move the ball” while there is a war going on.

“I’m not for throwing your political opponents in prison,” Carlson said. “I hate it. I’m mad that the Biden administration is now doing it (to former president Donald Trump). I’m worried about it happening to me, honestly.”

Carlson said he was actually afraid of the U.S. government before going to Russia to interview Putin, revealing big-name lawyers told him he would be violating sanctions against Russia.

“If you go talk to Putin, and if you don’t ask him tough questions, the Biden administration very easily arrests,” Carlson said.

The war in Ukraine is crushing the U.S. economy “and most Americans don’t understand that,” Carlson added.

Article content