MILWAUKEE — At a Tuesday morning interview hosted by Axios, Donald Trump Jr. said something at once shocking and obvious to anyone who had been paying attention to the cable news appearances of the former president’s son: He had been blacklisted by Fox News.
The disclosure didn’t sit well with at least one Fox News host, however, and this host — Sean Hannity — looked to rectify the situation almost immediately.
Hannity invited Don Jr. on his show Tuesday night for Fox News’ coverage of the Republican National Convention. And Don Jr. obliged. The former president’s son spent about 15 minutes talking about his father’s support in the party, the convention, the assassination attempt and the upcoming election.
But behind the scenes, Don Jr. didn’t just let the grudge go.
The former president’s eldest son decided to bring a guest along with him to the greenroom Tuesday night, a guest that he knew would ruffle some Fox News feathers: Tucker Carlson.
Carlson was fired from the network in 2023, and he’s since taken his act to X, where his influence has remained relatively steady in the GOP, even if he doesn’t have a nightly cable news program on the most watched channel for Republicans.
This account was provided to NOTUS by three sources familiar with the matter.
Don Jr. and Carlson were planning to have dinner on Tuesday, so upon receiving the invite to Fox News, Don Jr. asked Carlson if he would come along with him to the Fox News booth in the Fiserv Forum, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Carlson apparently stuck out to a number of Fox News employees — a number of staffers were clearly uncomfortable, according to one of the sources — but Carlson was warmly greeted by many of his former colleagues, including Hannity.
A separate source with knowledge of the matter pushed back on the assertion that people were uncomfortable. “There was no ill will,” this person said. “Tucker was in the greenroom and then in the studio. A handful of people that were in there were walking up and talking to him.”
Trump Jr. did not respond to a request for comment. Carlson declined to comment. A Fox News spokesperson told NOTUS that Don Jr. was just on Fox News Channel on Monday with Aishah Hasnie.
“Prior to the Axios event, Fox & Friends asked him to appear on the show on Wednesday and he has since accepted that booking. He is and always has been welcome on all Fox News Media platforms,” the spokesperson said.
The once-cordial and mutually beneficial relationship between Trumpworld and Fox News has become strained in recent years. Fox News and Rupert Murdoch’s other news entities forcefully backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP primary this year — something Trump and his allies haven’t forgotten.
The former president himself routinely slams Fox News despite appearing on air occasionally.
“Nobody can ever trust Fox News, and I am one of them,” Trump posted on Truth Social on June 19.
The relationship between Trump and Fox grew even more sour when Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of both Fox Corporation and News Corp., lobbied Trump to choose anybody but Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.
As NOTUS previously reported, the media mogul called Trump multiple times a day, and even sent executives to meet with Trump in person, to lobby him to choose North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as his running mate — or, at the very least, not Vance.
Trump, however, listened to his two eldest sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump, over Murdoch and chose Vance.
“There was a time where, if you wanted to survive in the Republican Party, you had to bend the knee to him or to others,” Don Jr. said of Murdoch at the Axios event. “I don’t think that’s the case anymore.”
Before this week, the last time Don Jr. had been on Fox during a weekday was in May of 2022, according to Matthew Gertz of Media Matters.