U.S. President Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) came to the defense of former Fox News host and current political commentator Tucker Carlson over the weekend, even as a split widened between the two former allies.
Carlson, who was given a prominent prime-time speaking role at the 2024 Republican National Convention, came under fire from GOP lawmakers during the Republican Jewish Coalition’s legislative conference last month over his friendly interview with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.
Asked about the controversy on Sunday, Trump told reporters traveling with him to and from Mar-a-Lago that he’s had some “great interviews” with Carlson.
“You can’t tell him who to interview,” Trump said, before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “I mean, if he wants to interview Nick Fuentes, I don’t know much about him, but if he wants to do it, get the word out. You know, people have to decide. Ultimately, people have to decide.”
Greene, who addressed a white supremacist conference organized by Fuentes and suggested that the Rothschilds, a prominent Jewish banking family, were behind space lasers that caused wildfires in California, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that she supported everyone’s right to free speech.
“I think it’s important for people like Tucker Carlson and yourself to interview everyone,” she said. “I don’t believe in trying to cancel someone by refusing to interview them and question them.”
Trump faced criticism in November 2022 for dining with Fuentes and Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has made his own antisemitic remarks and praised Adolf Hitler.
“Well, I didn’t know he was coming and he was with, as you know, somebody, Kanye,” Trump told reporters. “Kanye asked if he could have dinner, and he brought Nick. I didn’t know Nick at the time.”
Fuentes posted a clip of Trump’s gaggle with reporters on social media and thanked the president.
The Anti-Defamation League had harsh words for Trump on Monday. “President Trump’s refusal to condemn Nick Fuentes, an avowed antisemite, or to call out Tucker Carlson for amplifying him is unacceptable and dangerous,” it said.
His comments also drew a missive from the Jewish Democratic Council of America. “Trump gave a green light to antisemitism. As the leader of the GOP, Trump backed Tucker Carlson’s softball interview with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes,” it said. “Trump is quick to denigrate Jews who don’t vote for him but can’t condemn the antisemites who do.”
Trump also ratcheted up his feud with former ally Greene, who has called for the release of all files involving financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
In his interview with reporters, Trump referred to her as “Marjorie Traitor Greene” and said, “I don’t think anybody cares about her.”
That came after he stated that he was “withdrawing my support and endorsement” of Greene for re-election.
“All I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is complain, complain, complain,” he wrote.
He promised his “complete and unyielding support” for a Republican primary challenger “if the right person runs.”
‘The question many Americans are asking’
Greene said she stood with the women who were abused.
“I stand with rape victims. I stand with children who are in terrible sex abuse situations, and I stand with survivors of trafficking and those that are trapped in sex trafficking,” she said. “I don’t believe that rich, powerful people should be protected if they have done anything wrong. And so I’m standing with the women, and I will continue to do my small part to get the files released.”
She questioned whether Israel was pushing Trump to cover up the Epstein files.
“I think it’s the question that many Americans are asking,” she said on CNN. “We saw Jeffrey Epstein with ties to Ehud Barak. We saw him making business deals with them, also business deals that involved the Israeli government, and it seems to have led into their intel agencies.”
“I think the right question to ask is, was Jeffrey Epstein working for Israel?” she added.
That led Marshall Wittmann, a spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, to tell JNS that “this is just another wild and false accusation from an anti-Israel extremist.”
“Rep. Greene is far outside the Republican mainstream as demonstrated by President Trump’s recent remarks about her,” he said.
As for those remarks from Trump, they “have been hurtful,” Greene said on CNN.
“The most hurtful thing he said, which is absolutely untrue, is he called me a traitor,” she said. “That is so extremely wrong, and those are the types of words used that can radicalize people against me and put my life in danger.”
