Tucker Carlson Lawyer Speaks Out on Recent PAC Claims

Tucker Carlson during 2022 FOX Nation Patriot Awards at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood in Hollywood, Fla., on Nov. 17, 2022. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images)

A lawyer for Tucker Carlson said a political action committee (PAC) that seeks to “draft” the former Fox News host isn’t authorized and called on people to not donate to it.

“I can unequivocally state that this PAC is unauthorized, that the people running it didn’t get his permission to use his name/likeness, and that it would be fruitless to contribute to such a PAC,” Harmeet Dhillon, who said she’s Carlson’s attorney, wrote on Twitter several days after the Draft Tucker Carlson PAC released what appears to be an advertisement.

Dhillon is the executive of the California Republican Party who unsuccessfully attempted to challenge current Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel earlier this year. As an attorney, she has represented former President Donald Trump and other prominent conservatives in various cases.

Over the weekend, the Draft Tucker PAC released a video that suggests that Carlson should enter politics and maybe make a 2024 White House run, despite Carlson previously saying in public that he has no desire to run for office.

“Republicans need a new leader that can stand up to Biden. It’s time to draft Tucker Carlson,” the ad states, comparing Carlson to the late radio host Rush Limbaugh.

“Republicans need a new leader, and Tucker Carlson is ready to lead. No one in America is more articulate and pins down leftists in both parties better than Tucker.”

The advertisement also states that Carlson “is witty, sharp, and mocks woke nonsense” before noting that he'll “whip Biden in a debate.”

The head of the PAC is Chris Ekstrom, who told The Hill that he personally knows Carlson “vaguely” and was approached about forming the PAC before Carlson’s exit from Fox News, saying that Carlson has a “realistic opportunity” to run for president and that other Republican candidates have issues.

“I’m very concerned that they’re going to not move the debate as far right as it ought to be,” Ekstrom said of both Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s widely expected to announce a 2024 presidential bid. “If Tucker Carlson entered the race in a reasonable amount of time and just continued in the same territory that he was covering at Fox, I think that’d be a rude awakening for both President Trump and Governor DeSantis.”

Lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, at the 2020 CPAC Convention in National Harbor, Md., will co-chair the new 12-member Republican Party Advisory Council. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Carlson hasn’t made any public overtures toward a potential 2024 White House bid. Since he left Fox News, the former host has issued few public statements, although he released two viral videos on Twitter, including one saying he would be moving his program to the social media platform, although it isn’t clear when he will do so.

“The best you can hope for in the news business at this point is the freedom to tell the fullest truth that you can. But there are always limits. And you know that if you bump up against those limits often enough, you will be fired for it,” Carlson said in his most recent Twitter video.

In The Hill report, an alleged unnamed source connected to Carlson echoed Dhillon’s concerns and said he isn’t looking to run for office. The source also claimed that the PAC’s operators are “trying to make a quick buck” and that “no one should donate” to the group.

But Ekstrom insisted that the PAC “isn’t some kind of scam PAC or grift.”

“I hate that,” he said. “That is something that I’ve always tried to oppose.

“All the money is spent on the fight with me.”

Fox News in late April confirmed that Carlson departed the network, while few details about why or whether he’s still under contract are clear. Aside from the two videos Carlson released, the former host reposted claims that the author of his biography made against Fox News in a Twitter video released on May 22.

Recent Nielsen ratings show that the temporary replacement program, “Fox News Tonight,” has drawn significantly fewer viewers during the 8 p.m. timeslot. The program has used a rotating cast of Fox News hosts so far, while Fox News said in a statement that it would be a temporary program.

But one Fox News advertising executive recently said several large corporate advertisers approached Fox to do campaigns. Over the years, a range of big-name companies dropped advertising during Carlson’s show over what they said were controversial comments made by the former host on his show.

There have also been rumors that Fox News is looking to change its primetime lineup. A Fox spokesman told The Epoch Times last week that “no decision has been made on a new primetime line-up, and there are multiple scenarios under consideration.”

The popularity gap Carlson enjoys over Fox News among conservatives has increased sharply in the wake of his departure, according to a new poll, showing that his net favorability rating among Republicans stands at plus 59. Fox News, by contrast, has a minus 4 favorability rating, the numbers show.