Tucker Carlson calls Trump 'moderate, sensible and wise'

Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson called former President Donald Trump 'moderate, sensible and wise' after sitting down with the ex-president Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago - marking Trump's first interview since being arraigned last week.

Carlson also said that Trump's description of a Mar-a-Lago meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was 'remarkably nuanced and even affectionate' despite Trump's tough-on-China stance, telling Fox viewers they were in for a 'really interesting story.'

Carlson's comments come after his private messages were unsealed and made public in March as part of Dominion Voting Systems $1.6 billiion defamation lawsuit against Fox. 

'We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait,' Carlson allegedly said about Trump, according to the lawsuit. 'I hate him passionately,' the Fox host had texted his producer Alex Pfeiffer on January 4, 2021, the suit said.

At the time, Trump was contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election. 

Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson called former President Donald Trump 'moderate, sensible and wise' after sitting down with the ex-president Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago - marking Trump's first interview since being arraigned last week

Carlson (right) had messages made public as part of the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News. In them he allegedly said, 'I hate him passionately,' about Trump (left) and said he 'truly can't wait' to cover him less. Carlson interviewed Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday (pictured) 

When Carlson's messages were released a Fox spokeperson said: 'Thanks to today’s filings, Dominion has been caught red handed again using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press. 

'We already know they will say and do anything to try to win this case, but to twist and even misattribute quotes to the highest levels of our company is truly beyond the pale.'

Fox is being sued by Dominion, with the voting machine company arguing that the conservative media company defamed them by questioning their technology and methods as alllies of Trump spread election fraud conspiracy theories on Fox's airwaves.

Fox is contesting the allegations and the case is heading to trial in Wilmington, Delaware. 

And while Trump has been critical of the Rupert Murdoch-owned cable network, he didn't make that viewpoint known during the nearly hour-long interview with Carlson that aired Tuesday night. 

Nor did he bring up Carlson's texts. 

Before each interview segment aired, Carlson addressed Fox viewers from an outdoor liveshot location in Palm Beach, Florida, near the Mar-a-Lago property. 

'For a man who was caricatured as an extremist, we think you'll find what he has to say moderate, sensible and wise,' Carlson said before a foreign policy-heavy portion of the interview. 

'For a man who was caricatured as an extremist, we think you'll find what he has to say moderate, sensible and wise,' Carlson said before a foreign policy-heavy portion of the interview

Trump briefly spoke about last week's arraignment in Manhattan, but then segued to foreign policy topics for most of his nearly hour-long interview that was broadcast on Carlson's show Tuesday night on Fox News 

Trump briefly spoke about last week's arraignment in Manhattan, but quickly segued to hitting President Joe Biden's administration on the withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

The White House put out a report last week as Biden was leaving for Easter break that put a lot of the blame on Trump for what happened. 

'These fools, these stupid people - and think about the way they left Afghanistan and nobody was fired,' Trump scoffed. 

'They they left in the dark of night. They left the lights on. They left the dogs, by the way, you know, the people, they left out the dogs. They left the dogs. Everyone you know, the dog lovers. And you got a lot of them. I love dogs. You love dogs, but they left their things,' Trump continued.  

He also claimed that he told Russian President Vladimir Putin not to touch Ukraine. 

'I could see that he loved it,' Trump told Carlson. 'He considers it to be a part of Russia.' 

'I said, not when I'm president,' Trump continued. 'I said I was going to do something really nasty if he goes into Ukraine and he said, "no, no, you're not going to do that." I said, I will. And he didn't believe me either, but he believed me 10 percent. And the 10% you never heard talk about going into Ukraine.' 

Throughout the course of the interview, Trump also shared his fears about 'nuclear warming' and criticized Biden for not holding a press conference while the president is in Ireland.  

Trump was aghast that French President Emmanuel Macron went to China to meet with Xi and condemned Biden for giving a fistbump last summer to Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - not because it was too friendly, but because it wasn't friendly enough. 

'You've got this crazy world that's blowing up and the United States has absolutely no say and Macron, who's a friend of mine, is over with China kissing his ass. In China. I said France is now going to China?' Trump said. 

'You take a look at Saudi Arabia. Look at what happened. They're great people. They wanted to help us. He goes and gives a fist bump. Do you know what a fist bump means? It means don't shake my hand because your hand is dirty, that's what a fist bump is. They were so insulted. You understand that, yes?' the former president continue. 

In talking to Carlson about how he hosted Xi at Mar-a-Lago in April 2017 he recalled how the Chinese president has a 'beautiful female interpreter.' 

'He had an incredible - I'm not allowed to say it because it's very impolite and very politically incorrect - a beautiful female interpreter,' Trump recalled. 'If you say it, they'll say, "this is terrible, you're not allowed to say that." But she was very professional. She spoke every word for him, very professional.' 

At the end of the interview, Trump hinted he thought it was the U.S. that blew up the Nord Stream pipeline that connected Russia with Germany. 

'I don't want to get our country in trouble, so I won't answer it. But I can tell you who it wasn’t was Russia. But when they blamed Russia, you know, they said Russia blew up their own pipeline. You got a kick out of that one, too. It wasn't Russia,' Trump said.