Tucker Carlson Show Was 'Effectively a Senior Advisor' to Trump in His First Term, Book Claims — 'You Can't Work in This White House and Not Watch'
Tucker Carlson previously hosted 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' on Fox News.
Feb. 26 2026, Published 4:40 p.m. ET
Before Tucker Carlson was ousted from his high-profile gig at Fox News, his show played a key role in the Donald Trump administration, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
According to Jason Zengerle's bombshell tell-all, an ex-Fox News producer even claimed the program was “effectively a senior advisor to the president” at the time.
Alyssa Farrah Griffin's Slip-Up
Alyssa Farah Griffin once served as the White House communications director.
In Hated By All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind, Zengerle points out one incident in which former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin was told in no uncertain terms how the White House felt about Carlson.
During a 2020 meeting, Griffin confessed that she’d missed the show the night before
Zengerle writes that Jared Kushner, who served as a senior advisor at the time, swiftly retorted, “You can't work in this White House and not watch Tucker Carlson.”
Donald Trump's Fascination With Tucker Carlson
Donald Trump tried and failed to get a hold of Tucker Carlson during his first term as POTUS, according to the book.
While Carlson’s political commentary was seemingly highly esteemed throughout Trump’s first administration, the president was reportedly unable to snag a phone call with the television host.
A former White House official made a crude comparison while explaining the bizarre dynamic to Zengerle.
“Tucker was the hot girl that didn't want to f--- him,” the official said. “Trump was like what do you mean you don't want to? He was intrigued.”
Tucker Carlson's Fall From Grace at Fox News
Tucker Carlson left Fox News in 2023.
As Radar previously reported, Carlson's shocking departure from Fox News was announced via press release on April 24, 2023.
"Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways," the statement read. "We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor."
While it was initially unclear why he had been axed from his popular 8 p.m. time slot, his departure came on the heels of the network's nearly $800million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.
Several of Carlson's expletive-filled private text messages had been a part of the investigation.
Tucker Carlson Got 'Too Big for His Boots'
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Brian Stelter said Tucker Carlson was fired for many different reasons.
However, journalist Brian Stelter claimed it was Carlson's ego that eventually led to him being dropped from the network.
"He committed the cardinal Fox sin of acting like he was bigger than the network he was on," Stelter wrote in his 2023 book, Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy.
"His brand, weird as it was, revolved around the idea that he could call anyone the C-word, or anything else, at any time. He could say anything, do anything, and never be held accountable, so long as he commanded the attention and affection of millions," one excerpt from the book read. "In truth, Carlson had alienated so many people, instigated so many internal and external scandals, fanned so many flames of ugliness, that his firing was inevitable."
"It wasn’t one thing," Stelter added. "It was everything."
