Lawyers for Tucker Carlson sent a cease-and-desist letter to a super PAC urging the former Fox News host to run for president.
“Mr. Carlson will not run for President in 2024 under any circumstances, and therefore your misrepresentations are damaging to Mr. Carlson and defrauding his supporters,” the letter, sent Monday and obtained by The Hill, reads.
“If you do not immediately cease and desist your efforts to solicit money to ‘draft’ Mr. Carlson, we will use every legal means at our disposal to vindicate his rights and protect his supporters from these misrepresentations.”
Last month, the Draft Tucker PAC was formed, and the group was planning a weeklong ad buy this week on Newsmax, with a video spot praising Mr Carlson.
“Republicans need a new leader, and Tucker Carlson is ready to lead,” the ad, which has since been taken down, said. “No one in America is more articulate and pins down leftists in both parties better than Tucker.”
However, “Tucker’s attorney has contacted us to let us know that Tucker is not a candidate for president nor has any intentions of running and asked us to cease all activities on his behalf. We are going to honor that request,” PAC spokesman Charlie Kolean told The Hill.
The group said it had only raised $212 so far.
In late April, Mr Carlson and Fox News suddenly parted ways amid the Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit, meaning the most-watched man in primetime cable news was a free agent.
Speculation about his next move was suddenly everywhere.
Even potential rivals in the 2024 election thought Mr Carlson would be a good candidate
“I think he’d be a good addition to the race,” GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told Politico. “I think someone should only do this if they feel called to do it, but I think it’d be good for the country if he got in, to be honest with you.”
Earlier this month, Mr Carlson announced he would be relaunching his show on Twitter.
The move could potentially put him at odds with his former employer, who reportedly spent $25m to buy out the rest of the anchor’s contract and prevent him from working for a rival network until 2024.
In a May letter from his attorneys, Mr Carlson accused Fox News of breaching this contract by allegedly damaging his reputation and leaking his communications to the public as part of the Dominion suit, and firing him as a condition of the settlement that ended the legal action, which the parties deny.
Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, said Mr Carlson moving to the social network is not a paid deal, and that the former Fox host will operate like any other independent creator on the site.
