Tucker Carlson turned down White House press secretary role, book claims

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson was reportedly offered to serve as the White House press secretary. According to an excerpt published by GQ magazine from author Michael Wolff’s upcoming book, ‘Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,’ the offer was made during the transition.

Donald Trump is said to have been searching for a “star” to fill the post, and, before turning to Carlson, considered conservative commentator Ann Coulter, radio host Laura Ingraham, and Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business.

“When none of those ideas panned out, the job was offered to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who turned it down,” Wolff writes.

Carlson’s career has taken him through a number of networks and points of view.

The Atlantic notes that in the mid-2000s, when he was on CNN’s Crossfire, he “generally played the part of a mainline partisan.”

He switched to libertarianism during his brief stint at MSNBC, and since earning his regular nightly time slot on Fox has adopted a populist stance.

Congruent politics or not, well-known figures like Carlson were eventually removed from Trump’s pool of spokesperson candidates, according to the excerpt.

“There was a counterview: the press secretary ought to be the opposite of a star. In fact, the entire press operation ought to be downgraded,” Wolff states. “If the press was the enemy, why pander to it, why give it more ¬visibility?”

Sean Spicer eventually got the job and ended up becoming one of the most high-profile members of the Trump administration. In July, he was replaced by Sarah Huckabee Sanders.