Fake Tucker Carlson: for publishing an interview with Putin in the United States, they could arrest him

“Vesti” in the material under the heading “For the sake of an interview with Putin, journalist Carlson was ready to risk his freedom” reports :

“Tucker Carlson was intimidated by arrest for an interview with the Russian president. This was told by the journalist himself in an interview with YouTube blogger Lex Friedman.

Lawyers warned Carlson about such a development of events due to sanctions if he still decides to talk with Vladimir Putin.

“And I replied that I did not recognize the legality of this decision, because I am an American, and I should be able to talk with whom ... I was told that if I was too sweet in a conversation with him, they can arrest me upon return. And I replied that they were describing a fascist country”.

Carlson really stated in the interview of Lex Friedman:

“My lawyers <...> are people working in a large law firm. This is not some small shop. One of the largest law firms in the world said: "You will be arrested if you do this, from the US government for violation of sanctions." And I said: “Well, in fact, I do not recognize the legality of this, because I am an American and lived here all my life. And it is so outrageous that I am glad to take such a risk because I reject this premise. Well, I am an American. I should be able to talk with who I want, and I plan to use the freedom with which, it seems to me, I was born.” And I gave them this long lecture. They answered something like “we are just lawyers”. But that was ...

I will say so, I don’t know how many lawyers you dealt with, but getting such a conclusion costs a lot of thousand dollars. <...> They asked this question to many people, checked a lot of precedents, and they sent me a 10-page memo on this occasion, and their sincere conclusion was: "Do not do this." And, of course, it angered me. So, I gave them this lecture on the phone, and the chief lawyer called me once again, and he said: “Well, listen, much will depend on the questions that you will ask Putin. If you are too friendly with him, you can arrest you when you return.” And I said: “You describe the fascist country. Good. You say that the US government will arrest me if I ask the not the questions that they want, do you mean this?” “Well, we, based on what happened, just think that it is possible.”

But it is completely impossible to understand what violation of sanctions he talks about. Vladimir Putin in the USA is included in the list of specially designated citizens and blocked persons (SDN List). The assets of the defendants in the list are blocked, their names are added to banking automated verification systems, which does not allow them to open accounts, transfer money, and make transactions. Physical and legal entities are forbidden to conduct business with the defendants in the list. But no court will consider the interview taken from the defendant as a joint business with him, unless one of the interlocutors pay to the other.

Carlson recently accused Boris Johnson of demanding an interview with a million dollars, and immediately added that Putin did not ask for an interview. The reverse option - Putin pays Carlson - was not publicly discussed.

It remains a secret that the lawyers really advised Carlson if there was such a conversation at all. The first amendment to the US Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, and it is obvious that it is impossible to arrest the interview itself. It is illegal only to call for violent actions, threaten, slander. But lawyers could warn the interviewer against conducting any monetary affairs with the person involved in the SDN list. Of course, Carlson does not disclose which company consulted with, and it is unrealistic to get clarifications from lawyers.

As expected, after the publication of the interview with Putin, no official bodies made any complaints against Carlson.

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