Fox News host Tucker Carlson has said he felt he had 'no choice' but to go public with his explosive allegation that the National Security Agency tried to leak his private emails to the press.
Carlson first went public with his claim on June 28, saying a government insider warned him that the NSA had intercepted his emails and 'unmasked' his identity, which by law should have been kept secret.
In an interview with his colleague Lisa Boothe for her upcoming podcast, an advance clip of which obtained by Mediaite, Carlson explained that he was reluctant to go public with the allegation, but felt he had no other option.
'So, like, getting on TV and saying the government spying on me was, you know, I did not want to do that at all, but they were spying on me and I felt like I had no choice,' Carlson explained.
'I mean, I did it defensively, you know?' he added. 'I don’t have any other — I don’t have subpoena power. I can’t arrest anybody. I can’t make them answer questions.'
'All I can do is talk about stuff, um, with the megaphone of the show in the hope that that will, you know, protect us, but I really felt threatened by it,' said Carlson.
Tucker Carlson spoke out in an interview with his colleague Lisa Boothe (right) for her upcoming podcast, saying he felt he had 'no choice' but to go public with his NSA claim
Carlson has demanded answers from National Security Agency Director Gen. Paul Nakasone (above) after revealing that a government source warned him his emails were intercepted
Carlson's full interview with Boothe is due to air on Monday's episode of her podcast, The Truth With Lisa Boothe.
After Carlson first went public, the NSA took the highly unusual step of denying that he had been an 'intelligence target', without actually denying that his emails were intercepted.
Carlson refused to back down from his claims, going on to explain that he had been in contact with press agents for Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to secure an interview, and alleging that the NSA had leaked the contents of those emails to media rivals in an attempt to discredit him.
On his show on Thursday, Carlson spoke with legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University.
'If reporters were given that information, it would be even more serious because even if your email itself was not classified, the intercept is,' said Turley.
'NSA... material is heavily classified. I do national security work and it takes years for me to get access to a FISA warrant, I should say, or an NSA surveillance document,' he added
'So the mere fact that they engaged in surveillance is classified. So it would be a serious federal crime,' said Turley.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviews legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University on Thursday
Carlson has said a whistleblower told him that the NSA intercepted his emails attempting to secure an interview with Putin, then spread the information in a smear campaign
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The NSA is generally barred from spying on American citizens, unless the agency obtains a warrant from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
However, it is possible for the agency to collect the communications of Americans if they are in contact with a foreign surveillance target.
Turley said that there were a number of scenarios in which the NSA could have legally intercepted Carlson's emails, but added: 'that doesn't explain the more troubling questions.'
'How that information was circulated and also how your name was not masked,' he said. Masking refers to the practice of redacting the name of U.S. citizens from intercepts, which the
