You may recall the story about allegedly “embarrassing” videos that were leaked about Tucker Carlson that turned out to be anything but. They just made Carlson sound more based than everyone had already thought.
But you may have wondered where the videos came from. Now there’s more to the story on that and the FBI is involved.
According to the Tampa Bay Times:
An FBI search earlier this month at the home of media consultant Tim Burke and his wife, Tampa City Council member Lynn Hurtak, stemmed from an investigation of alleged computer intrusions and intercepted communications at the Fox News Network, the Tampa Bay Times has learned.
The Times obtained a letter Thursday that a Tampa federal prosecutor sent to Fox News, which describes an ongoing criminal probe into computer hacks at the company, including unaired video from Tucker Carlson’s show.
The letter was from Assistant US Attorney Jay Trezevant.
Hurtak said that the search appeared related to her husband’s work as a journalist. Mark Raisch, said that they hadn’t seen the FBI’s affidavit to justify the search yet and he denied any wrongdoing on the part of his client. The FBI is also not commenting on the case. During the search, the FBI reportedly seized computers, a phone, and other equipment belonging to Burke.
The letter asked Fox to preserve records related to the investigation and termed them as “one of the potential victim-witnesses” of alleged criminal conduct.
The investigation, according to the letter, concerns allegations of unauthorized computer access; interception of wire, oral or electronic communication; conspiracy; and other federal crimes. Trezevant is assigned to the criminal probe and is listed on court filings related to the search at Burke and Hurtak’s home.
The material relates to a story that was run by Vice about Kanye West videos that Carlson did not air when he did his show with West, as well as the Media Matters series, “FOXLEAKS” featuring the Carlson clips that ended up making him look good (although that was not their intent). Fox sent Media Matters a cease and desist letter regarding running the materials. The letter from the federal prosecutor specifies that Vice or Media are not accused of any wrongdoing. It also says that illegal conduct by other subjects did not include Fox News employees or affiliates.
But the fact that the FBI is talking about “unauthorized computer access” means they think someone hacked Fox here and that’s how the videos got out into the firmament. So we’ll have to see how this continues to roll out. It does answer one question — that it looks like Fox didn’t leak the videos, as some may have thought. If someone went to the extent of hacking Fox, presumably, to try to take Tucker down, can we say how many ways that’s an incredibly dumb move? But if that was the aim, it failed spectacularly, as those videos only served to make Tucker Carlson more popular. Now, anyone who may have been involved could be facing some serious problems with the law as a result.