Former President Trump didn’t hold back during a 46-minute interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, held to counterprogram against the first GOP presidential debate that he, as the 2024 GOP front-runner, chose to skip.

During the interview, Trump took aim at several of his customary targets. He criticized Fox News, the network responsible for broadcasting the debate, as well as rival candidate Chris Christie and his former Attorney General Bill Barr. The interview was pre-recorded at Trump’s property in Bedminster, New Jersey.

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Slams Fox News-

In the interview, the former president didn’t hold back his criticism, condemning Fox News for its decision to remove Tucker Carlson from the air in April. He regarded this move as a mistake by the network, emphasizing that Carlson was the top-rated host at the time.

Trump in an interview said, “I think it was a terrible move getting rid of you,” Trump told the former host. “You’re No. 1 on television and all of a sudden we’re doing this interview, but we’ll get bigger ratings doing this crazy forum that you’re using than probably the debate.”

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Criticizes Chris Christie-

He also openly criticized Chris Christie, and claimed his campaign majorly focused on criticizing him. He said, “He runs solely on the basis of ‘Let’s get Trump,’” the former president said. “He’s like a savage maniac. He’s like a lunatic. And that’s all he talks about. His poll numbers are very, very low.”

Comment on January 6 and political violence-

During the interview, Tucker Carlson asked Trump about his perception of the country moving toward a potential “civil war.” In response, the former president invoked the events of January 6, referring to the day when rioters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election results.

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Trump claimed, “There’s tremendous passion and there’s tremendous love. You know, Jan. 6 was a very interesting day because they don’t report it properly. I believe it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken before.”