White House condemns Tucker Carlson’s ‘Nazi propaganda’ interview as ‘disgusting and sadistic insult’

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CNN
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The Biden administration is condemning Tucker Carlson after the far-right politician had a guest on his show this week who claimed the Holocaust happened by chance, calling the interview a “vile and sadistic insult to all Americans.”

During Carlson's two-hour conversation with Darryl Cooper, a podcaster who he says is “perhaps the best and most honest popular historian in the United States,” Cooper claimed that Nazi Germany's mass murder of the Jews was an unintended consequence – something akin to poor planning, rather than the systematic extermination that it actually was.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Cooper said, was the “main villain of World War II” and “primarily responsible for making that war what it became, something other than an invasion of Poland.”

Carlson's appearance on Cooper has been heavily criticized in recent days, including by some right-wing figures who have defended Carlson in the past. Elon Musk, who promoted the interview on his social media platform X and called it “very interesting. Worth watching,” later deleted his post.

On Thursday, the White House focused on the issue.

In a statement first seen by CNN, deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said: “Giving a microphone to a Holocaust denier who spreads Nazi propaganda is a vile and sadistic insult to all Americans, to the memory of the more than six million Jews genocidally murdered by Adolf Hitler, to the service of the millions of Americans who fought to defeat Nazism, and to all subsequent victims of anti-Semitism.”

The US government's statement specifically refuted Cooper's claim to Carlson that Churchill was the “main villain” of World War II.

“Hitler was one of the most evil figures in human history and the 'chief villain' of World War II, period,” Bates wrote. “The Biden-Harris administration believes that trafficking in this moral rot is not acceptable at any time, let alone less than a year after the deadliest massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust and at a time when the cancer of anti-Semitism is growing around the world.”

When asked for comment on Thursday, Carlson sharply criticized the White House.

“The fact that these lunatics have used the Churchill myth to bring our country closer to nuclear war than ever before in history disgusts me and should terrify every American,” he said in a text message to CNN. “They are warmongers and freaks. They do not have the moral high ground.”

However, numerous columnists have pointed out inaccuracies in Cooper's remarks, including his claim that the Nazis had “no plan” for housing millions of prisoners of war and “simply put these people in camps where millions of people died.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League, called Carlson's interview with Cooper “truly disgusting.”

“The Nazis' extensive network of concentration, forced labor and extermination camps was part of Hitler's deliberate plan to exterminate the Jewish people. The inmates are not simply 'dead' and they did not 'surrender,'” he said on Wednesday.

In the year and a half since Carlson was fired from Fox News, the former primetime host turned internet vlogger has stoked controversy and embarrassment with his web videos and speeches. On Musk's X and his video subscription website, Carlson has interviewed radical figures like Alex Jones and others, given a large platform to fringe groups and seemingly reveled in the outrage that followed.

Despite the conviction, Carlson continues to enjoy the sympathy of the Republican Party and was invited to speak at the party's prime-time convention in Milwaukee last month.

Carlson is also embarking on a live speaking tour with events across the country in the fall. Donald Trump's vice presidential nominee JD Vance is scheduled to appear alongside Carlson at an event in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 21, a person familiar with the plans told CNN.

Several conservative columnists have questioned whether Vance will go ahead with the appearance in light of the Cooper controversy. In a statement, the Vance campaign attempted to distance the candidate from the interview.

“Senator Vance does not believe in the cancel culture of guilt by association, but he clearly does not share the views of the guest interviewed by Tucker Carlson,” Vance's campaign spokesman William Martin said in a statement to CNN.

CNN's Alayna Treene contributed reporting.