US Politics
Tucker Carlson claims Jeffrey Epstein worked for Israel to blackmail US officials: ‘Every single person in DC thinks that’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Read more
Tucker Carlson has claimed that deceased child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was working for the Israeli government and that “every single person in Washington D.C.” thinks the same.
“I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t think that. I don’t know any of them that hate Israel. But no one feels they can say that,” the former Fox News host told an audience in Florida on Friday.
Carlson also suggested that the disgraced financier may have been running “a blackmail operation” as he discussed new information recently released by the Department of Justice.
A two-page memo from the DOJ and FBI said that Epstein had no “client list,” and that the convicted pedophile died by suicide in his jail cell in 2019, shortly before going to trial – angering some among the MAGA faithful.
Speaking about the development at a Turning Point USA summit in Tampa, Carlson slammed the findings of the administration.“The real question is, why was he doing this, on whose behalf, and where did the money come from?” he said.
open image in gallery
“I think the real answer is Jeffrey Epstein was working on behalf of intel services, probably not American. And we have every right to ask, on whose behalf was he working?
“Now, no one’s allowed to say that the foreign government is Israel because we have been somehow cowed into thinking that’s naughty. There is nothing wrong with saying that. There is nothing hateful about saying that, Carlson said.
“There’s nothing anti-Semitic about saying that. There’s nothing even anti-Israel about saying that.
“And you have the right to expect your government will not act against your interests, and you have a right to demand that foreign governments not be allowed to act against your interests.”
open image in gallery
Carlson has become one of the the big names on the list of MAGA luminaries who are irate over the DOJ’s conclusions and previously insisted there was an “obvious” reason why Attorney General Pam Bondi was “covering up” the “client list.”
In addition, footage capturing Epstein’s final hours – also released by the DOJ – has fuelled further conspiracy theories, after it appeared to have a minute of footage missing.
A digital clock visible on the bottom left corner of the footage jumps from 11:58:58 p.m. to 12:00:00 a.m. Officials have not yet offered an explanation for the time gap to The Independent or the New York Times.
