Tucker Carlson ignores legal threat from Fox News and airs a new episode of his Twitter show, titled 'America's principles are at stake'
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- Fox News wants Tucker Carlson to end his Twitter show — but he doesn't care.
- Carlson aired a new episode on Tuesday, despite the network's cease-and-desist letter.
- He weighed in on the charges against former President Donald Trump with a lengthy monologue.
Tucker Carlson has ignored a cease-and-desist letter from Fox News by airing a new episode of his Twitter show, which racked up more than 30 million views in less than 12 hours.
The former Fox anchor aired the third episode of the show on Wednesday. It was titled "America's principles are at stake" and featured a lengthy monologue on Donald Trump's arraignment in a Miami courthouse.
During the episode, Carlson said, "These were the first steps in a process that is designed to put Donald Trump behind bars for the rest of his life," as the former president pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he put national security at risk.
"Yes, Donald Trump is a flawed man, but his sins are minor compared to those of his persecutors," Carlson said. "In this life we don't get to choose our martyrs, we can only choose our principles, and America's are at stake."
Fox accused Carlson of breaching his contract by starting a new show on Twitter, per an Axios report. The contract terms said Carlson's content would be exclusive through to the end of 2024, with his contract terminating in January 2025.
A later Axios report included more details about Carlson's dispute with Fox.
Carlson left Fox in April after it reached a $787 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. The voting company was baselessly accused of rigging votes during the 2020 presidential election.
Since then, Carlson has turned to Elon Musk's Twitter to carve out a new platform for himself. Announcing his decision to launch the show, Carlson said Twitter was the only free-speech platform remaining in the world.
Carlson's legal team and Fox did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment outside regular working hours.