It was already going to be massively entertaining to watch Fox News wage legal war on Tucker Carlson, but now add to the mix that Carlson’s attorney is former SF GOP chair Harmeet Dhillon, who’s facing her own set of financial impropriety allegations.
We still don’t know entirely why Fox News fired Tucker Carlson, their highest-rated host, in late April. (The New York Times links it with “the discovery of one particularly incendiary text from Mr. Carlson,” which was the “It’s not how white men fight" text, but that story may just be cover for some other Fox News palace intrigue.) Yet we do know that the fired Carlson announced he’d be doing a show on Elon Musk's Twitter, and that show started last week with two separate episodes of ten minutes or so, prompting a report from Axios that Fox News accused Carlson of breaching his contract.
Fox News sent Tucker Carlson a "cease-and-desist" letter over his new Twitter series, Axios reported Monday, amid reports of a contract battle between the conservative network and its former prime-time host. https://t.co/Mo2rUIEogU
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 13, 2023
Well, that has escalated. Axios is now reporting that Fox News has sent Carlson a cease-and-desist letter demanding he stop doing that Twitter show. As Axios explains, “Fox is continuing to pay Carlson, and maintains that his contract keeps his content exclusive to Fox through Dec. 31, 2024.”
But the Associated Press has an additional interesting detail that one of Carlson’s lead attorneys is Harmeet Dhillon, the former chair of the SF Republican Party who may be known to SFist readers for representing anti-diversity Google bro James Damore, a short-lived lawsuit against the 2020 safe sleeping site at the former Haight Street McDonald’s, and more recently, an unsuccessful run to become chair of the Republican National Committee in January.
For all the friends who have been asking “why don’t we see you on Fox anymore?” — This is why. I am passionately committed to free speech and a free flow of information necessary for a free society. Until Fox stops trying to silence Tucker, it’s not a place for me. And I feel for…
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) June 12, 2023
Dhillon said in a statement to Axios, "Doubling down on the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election."
"Tucker will not be silenced by anyone,” the statement continued. “He is a singularly important voice on matters of public interest in our country, and will remain so."
(Dhillon was already representing Carlson in a gender discrimination lawsuit brought by former Tucker Carlson Tonight senior booker Abby Grossberg.)
Republican official appears to have moved $1.3m from non-profit to own law firm | Republicans | The Guardian
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 12, 2023
Tucker Carlson’s lawyer, Harmeet Dhillon, it seems https://t.co/vqMBFZlY9F
Yet Dhillon may have her own conflict-of-interest issues. The Guardian published a report Monday alleging that Dhillon had transferred $1.3 million from a non profit she leads to her own law firm, the Dhillon Law Group. Per the Guardian, Dhillon also draws a “$120,000 salary” from that nonprofit for working a “two-hour week.”
Next Episode of Tucker on Twitter coming Tuesday: Tucker’s response to the indictment of President Donald Trump
— Justin Wells (@justinbwells) June 11, 2023
But on the Tucker Carlson side of things, his also-fired executive producer Justin Wells tweeted Sunday that Carlson’s latest Twitter show was “coming Tuesday.” And sure enough, Carlson did just post Episode Three of his Twitter show at 3:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday. Click at your own risk.
Related: Tucker Carlson Debuts Painfully Low-Budget ‘Tucker On Twitter’ Show [SFist]
Screenshot: @TuckerCarlson via Twitter
