Donald Trump Tucker Carlson interview: 5 most bizarre claims former president made on sit down streamed on X

As eight Republican Party contenders for the nomination to run for President in the 2024 election, Trump avoided the Fox News broadcast debate, instead favouring a one on one with fired Fox anchor Tucker Carlson.

Carlson found a new home for himself on X, formerly Twitter, since being dropped by Fox News after the network was settled for $787.5 million with Dominion over claims the broadcaster had reported lies about 2020 election interference.

Over the course of the 45 minute interview, which was streamed live on X at the same time as the Fox debate, Carlson covered a variety of weird and wonderful topics.

Trump shared his thoughts on Jeffrey Epstein’s death, the indictments he faces, and the threat of a new Civil War. For those who can’t face watching Carlson and Trump speak for the better part of an hour, there are the ‘highlights’ from the interview.

It's possible Jeffrey Epstein was killed

It’s a strange thing to discuss in a sit down with a presidential contender, but Tucker Carlson, who himself claimed ‘he was killed… I think’, asked Trump how he thought convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein met his end.

Trump for once came off as the more thoughtful of the two in the exchange - he claimed ‘he knew a lot on a lot of people.’ and added ‘it’s possible.’ He later said, 'a case could be made'.

In the end though this seemed to be one conspiracy theory Trump doesn’t have much truck with, he “I don’t really believe… I think he probably committed suicide.”

Donald Trump prevented nuclear war

Speaking of his relationship with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, Trump claimed that he got on well with the dictator.

He added: “I did a great job with North Korea, I kept us out of a nuclear war. We would have 40,000 dead soldiers right now, they’d drop a nuke right on top of the military base.”

A quick fact check finds there haven’t been that many US soldiers stationed in South Korea since 2004, and there’s no evidence that the rocketman was planning to start a nuclear war with the world’s biggest nuclear power.

Indictments against Trump are all ‘bullsh**t’

Trump dismissed the indictments he is involved in, claiming: “I got indicted four times, all trivia. Nonsense, bullsh**t, it’s all bullsh**t. It’s horrible when you look at what they’re doing. The boxes hoax, I’m covered by the Presidential Records Act, I’m allowed to do exactly that.”

This is, unsurprisingly, false - the Presidential Records Act states that as soon as a president leaves office, the National Archives and Records Administration should have custody of all presidential records from his administration. 

Additionally, Trump also faces state and federal indictments related to his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost. These are serious charges and could carry a penalty of up to decades in prison if he is found guilty. 

January 6th was a ‘very interesting day’

Trump once again spoke about January 6, the infamous day which saw crowds of his supporters storm the United States Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of the 2020 election. 

The attack saw one protester shot dead on the day and four police officer deaths by suicide within seven months. At least 138 police officers were injured in the attack.

Speaking of the day with Carlson, Trump said: “January 6th was a very interesting day because they don’t report it properly. 

“People in that crowd said it was the most beautiful day they ever experienced… There was love in that crowd. There was love and unity. I have never seen such spirit and such passion and such love, and I’ve never seen simultaneously such hatred for what they’ve done to our country.”

A new Civil War is not ruled out

At the end of Trump’s interview, Carlson asked the former president if he thought there would be another Civil War.

Trump didn’t answer the question head on, instead, after a diversion in which he spoke of the virtues of the January 6 rioters, he replied: “I can say this, there’s a level of passion that I’ve never seen, there’s a level of hatred that I’ve never seen, and that’s probably a bad combination.”

So Trump didn’t exactly offer words of comfort there. The American Civil War in the 19th century saw southern and northern US forces face each other in battle - the conflict remains America’s bloodiest war, with around 620,000 deaths.