Could Tucker Carlson Really Be Prosecuted for Serving as a Foreign Agent of Iran, and Could He Serve Prison Time?

The fired Fox News star Tucker Carlson’s remarkable claim over the weekend that the Central Intelligence Agency accessed his text messages and could be readying a criminal referral against him over alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act with respect to Iran puts the rarely used statute back in a spotlight it has not enjoyed since the days of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mr. Carlson, in a video released over the weekend, announced that the CIA is preparing “some kind of criminal referral against me” because he was communicating with some “people in Iran” before the launch of Operation Epic Fury against the Islamic Republic. He added that “I don’t expect this to go anywhere. I’m not too worried about an actual criminal case against me” because “I’m not an agent of a foreign power.”Mr. Carlson added that “the crime under consideration, apparently, would be the foreign agent act or something like that, acting as an agent of a foreign power” but asserted that he has “never taken money from anybody” and that “it’s my job to talk to everybody all the time and try and figure out what’s happening around the world. That’s literally what I do for a living.” Mr. Carlson, whose unrelenting vitriol toward Jews and Israel has given rise to accusations of antisemitism, is at the center of a debate within factions of the conservative movement over American support for Israel and American involvement in wars related to Israel. The Trump Administration’s current assault on Iran has brought those conflicts to a head. Mr. Carlson has been making an aggressive case against American intervention in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, and his arguments have been bolstered by support from antisemitic podcasters with isolationist intuitions and large, youthful followings such as Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens. Mr. Carlson added that “Unlike a lot of people commenting on U.S. politics and global affairs, I have only one loyalty and that’s the United States, and I have never acted against it.” He has said that Americans who support Israel “don’t have America’s interests at heart or even in mind,” and blames Jerusalem for coaxing Washington to war.President Trump announces the beginning of major military operations against Iran in a video on Truth Social on February 28, 2026. Via Truth SocialMr. Carlson told Piers Morgan on Friday that he refuses “to hand control of our foreign policy over to people like that” — by which he meant Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin — “who don’t know anything and who don’t have America’s interests at heart or even in mind.” Mr. Carlson has also blamed Chabad Lubavitch, a Hasidic sect, for pushing the war with an eye toward demolishing the al-Aqsa mosque and building the third Jewish Temple. The Department of Justice explains that FARA, which was passed in 1938 to counter Nazi propaganda, requires that “certain agents of foreign principals who are engaged in political activities or other activities specified under the statute to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal.” Any criminal case against Mr. Carlson would have to be prosecuted by Attorney General Pam Bondi’s DOJ.The worry about foreign influence reaches back to President Washington, who in 1796 worried about foreign nations attempting to influence America via “fools and dupes.” In 1852 a joint declaration of Congress warned “against the insidious wiles of foreign influence.” There is nothing per se illegal, though, about communicating with foreign officials or organizations. However, the law mandates that “any person who acts as an agent, representative, employee, or servant, or any person who acts in any other capacity at the order, request, or under the direction or control, of a foreign principal” register with the American government. That registration must be completed with the Department of Justice within 10 days of agreeing to act as an agent. Agents must file semiannual reports and inform the DOJ of the nature of their contract with foreign governments.A felony conviction for violating FARA can carry a five year prison term and fines up to $250,000. Prosecutions were historically rare. Between 1966 and 2017, there were only three indictments handed up, and no convictions, under the statute. In 2016, though, Foreign Affairs reckoned that “FARA is no longer a forgotten and oft ignored piece of New Deal–era reforms. Eight decades after being enacted, FARA is finally worth the paper it was written on.”The revival of FARA was largely a product of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Mr. Mueller used FARA prosecutions to come down hard on investigative targets he wanted to testify against President Trump. In 2017 he prosecuted President Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his deputy, Rick Gates, for FARA violations, as well as the crime of “conspiracy against the United States,” related to lucrative work they had done in Ukraine. Mr. Mueller also found that the former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, made materially false statements in his FARA filings about his work on behalf of Turkey. Messrs. Gates, Manafort, and Flynn were all convicted. Messrs. Manafort and Flynn were pardoned, but Mr. Gates — who had pleaded guilty and turned on his former colleagues — was not. He served some 45 days in jail, exclusively on weekends. Mr. Manafort, served almost two years in prison for various white collar crimes before he received his pardon.In the wake of Mr. Mueller’s probe — which ultimately did not recommend that Mr. Trump be charged with a crime — FARA registrations more than doubled, as lobbyists grew freshly fearful of prosecution.Earlier this month Mr. Trump, who has long been close with Mr. Carlson, lashed out at his friend on account of the latter’s opposition to the war against Iran. The president told ABC News that “Tucker has lost his way. He’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America First, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.” Mr. Carlson has said that the decision to attack Iran was “absolutely disgusting and evil.”One Republican congressman, Max Miller of Ohio, has called for Mr. Carlson to be prosecuted for treason. That, though, is a constitutionally demanding bar to clear to secure a conviction.

Could Tucker Carlson Really Be Prosecuted for Serving as a Foreign Agent of Iran, and Could He Serve Prison Time?

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