The facts
In 2012, confronted on camera by a 9/11 "truther," Tucker Carlson called such theorists "parasites" and "morons." "In order to imply that there's a conspiracy behind 9/11, you ought to have some evidence," he said. "And you have none. So you should stop." Spiked and Poynter both quote that tape this week.
In September 2025 he released a five-part YouTube series, "The 9/11 Files." Poynter, citing Social Blade, says the first episode is his channel's second-most-viewed video at 7.9 million views and the series added about 320,000 subscribers in five weeks. In episode two he said, "The 9/11 Commission Report was a cover-up from beginning to end. That is true." The trailer: "For nearly 25 years, the true story on 9/11 has been withheld from the American people." Spiked quotes him in the series: "The official story is a lie."
Al Jazeera quotes him in March 2026: "We'll declassify the 9/11 files. And then all those people on the internet were like, 'Oh, the dancing Israelis. They did it. Israel had foreknowledge of 9/11.' There were text messages sent to Israel, warning of 9/11. All true, by the way." The FBI still lists 19 al Qaeda hijackers. Fifteen were Saudi. NewsGuard this week flagged X posts with more than a million views claiming "there were never any planes" and "4,000 Jews" skipped work.
Today Carlson defended Michigan Senate Democrat Abdul El-Sayed's 2021 line that what America did after 9/11 "scarred millions of other people." Carlson wrote El-Sayed is "obviously right."
Our take
In 2012 Tucker had a spine and a camera in his face. The truthers had a theory and no plane. He told them to stop. Then he built a subscription business and discovered the official story was a lie, the commission was a cover-up, and Israel had the text messages. All true, by the way. That is the tell. "All true, by the way" is what you say when you are selling a feeling, not a document.
Nobody found a new hijacker. The FBI page did not change. What changed is the man who used to call this crowd parasites now needs their clicks. 7.9 million views is not evidence. It is a business model wearing a trench coat. The dancing-Israeli crap is the oldest antisemitic fanfic on the internet. Al Qaeda did it. Saudis flew most of the planes. If you cannot say that on the 25th anniversary without a YouTube series, you are not investigating. You are auditioning.
He can hate the Iraq war. Plenty of people do. That does not turn 19 jihadis into a Mossad op. The 2012 Tucker would have called 2026 Tucker a moron. He would have been right.
