Tucker Carlson has issued a legal threat against a political action committee (PAC) that was launched to push the former Fox News star into running for president in 2024.
The Draft Tucker PAC was shut down by Carlson’s lawyers, who argued that spreading false rumors about Tucker running in 2024 is “defrauding his supporters.”
The PAC was launched after Fox News took Carlson off the air and canceled his primetime show.
Carlson is still under contract with Fox News and likely bound by a non-compete clause from relaunching another show.
However, launching a new show is something he has promised to do after announcing plans to continue on Twitter.
He is reportedly locked in legal negotiations regarding his departure from the network and the remainder of his contract.
The Draft Tucker PAC was launched amid speculation that Carlson might enter the presidential race.
Harmeet Dhillon, Carlson’s attorney, shut down that speculation on Monday in a cease-and-desist letter to the PAC, which was obtained by The Hill.
“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,” Dhillon wrote in the letter.
“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.”
“You are using Mr. Carlson’s name and image for the value associated with it, trading on his good name to raise money for an organization Mr. Carlson does not support and for a goal he expressly and unreservedly stated he will never pursue,” the attorney continued, according to The Daily Beast.
“You appear to be using Mr. Carlson’s name, image, and likeness for your own benefit, including by raising money using Mr. Carlson’s name that you are using to pay yourselves and collecting a valuable list of donor’s contact information that you can then sell or lease for more profit.”
Dhillon asked the PAC to preserve documents, adding, “Mr. Carlson may be forced to pursue litigation.”
The PAC’sexecutive director Charlie Kolean told The Washington Times that Carlson’s attorney had asked Draft Tucker to “cease all activities on his behalf.
“We are going to honor that request,” he noted.
Before it shut down, the PAC raised just $212 online, PAC chairman Chris Ekstrom told The Hill.
Ekstrom put in $35,000 of his own money.
He said the $212 raised online would be donated to charity or returned to donors.
Draft Tucker had been running ads on Newsmax calling for Carlson to run.
It asked the conservative news outlet to pull the ads following Dhillon’s letter.
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