Donald Trump Responds To Tucker Carlson's Departure From Fox News

Former President Donald Trump had nothing but kind words about Tucker Carlson following the prime-time star’s departure from Fox News on Monday.

“Well, I’m shocked, I’m surprised,” Trump told Newsmax’s Greg Kelly during an interview at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

“He’s a very good person and a very good man and very talented, and as you know he had very high ratings,” Trump said of Carlson, who frequently pushed racist, misogynistic and xenophobic talking points on his show.

Trump described Carlson as “terrific” and gushed: “He’s been, especially over the last year or so, he’s been terrific to me.”

On air, Carlson pushed Trump’s 2020 election lies and minimized  the U.S. Capitol riot.

In private messages made public in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox, though, Carlson expressed his contempt for the former president.

“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,” Carlson wrote in a January 2021 text, adding: “I hate him passionately.”

Carlson interviewed Trump earlier this month as one of his final sit-downs.