Fox News' Tucker Carlson is on the warpath against House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

 

Fox News' Tucker Carlson is on the warpath against House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

May 4, 2021

Fox News host Tucker Carlson just went after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) "for the second consecutive show," Politico noted on Tuesday.

This time, Carlson devoted an entire segment of his Fox show on Monday to McCarthy's apparent relationship with Republican pollster and consultant Frank Luntz, whom Carlson claimed is "effectively a Democrat" and a Fox chyron declared "has a strange power over GOP leaders." After previously saying on his show that Luntz is "particularly close" with McCarthy, the Fox host on Monday said he received a "call from a source" telling him that they're "not simply friends, they're roommates," as McCarthy apparently "lives in Frank Luntz' apartment" in Washington, D.C.

"The top Republican in the House lives with a Google lobbyist?" Carlson said. "Come on. Come on! Even by the sleazy and corrupt standards of politics in Washington, that did not seem possible. In fact, it sounded like a joke."

Carlson reported, though, that a spokesperson for McCarthy confirmed to him that "because of the pandemic," McCarthy has "rented a room in Washington at a fair market price from Frank" — at which point Carlson put up a cartoonish graphic on screen of the two sharing a bunk bed. From there, Carlson openly questioned whether McCarthy is, in fact, paying "fair market price" for the room or if he could be "violating House ethics rules on taking gifts" if he's not.

"To summarize: The star of Republicans' network of choice is being fed oppo about and is denouncing the man who wants to be speaker of the House," Politico wrote. "Not good for McCarthy." Brendan Morrow

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy apparently pays $1,500 to live in a 12-bedroom, 16-bath penthouse

Peter Weber

Thu, May 6, 2021, 8:42 AM EDT

Tucker Carlson was right: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is living in the Washington, D.C., penthouse of Republican pollster and messaging maven Frank Luntz, and it does sound like a pretty sweet deal. Carlson was tipped off to the roommate arrangement, and McCarthy confirmed it Tuesday, telling Fox & Friends he has "rented a room from Frank for a couple of months, but don't worry, I'm back to — going back to where I normally am, on my couch in my office. But, yes, we pay fair market rate"

Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler looked into Luntz's apartment, and it's actually a 7,000-square-foot, 12-bedroom, 16-bathroom amalgamation of 4 three-story penthouses Luntz purchased for nearly $4.3 million in August and September 2018 and merged in November 2019. The homeowner's association fees on the four units is $4,976 a month, Kessler calculates, citing Redfin.

Neither McCarthy nor Luntz responded to the Post's request for comment, but a McCarthy spokesman told the Daily Wire the minority leader "calculated the fair market value amount at $1,500/month" to rent an "approximately" 400-square-foot room in Luntz's penthouse. Kessler's Apartments.com search found that a comparable studio or one-bedroom would run about $5,000 a month. Regardless, he writes, "besides the 'room' he rented, McCarthy would have had access to a 24/7 concierge, a rooftop pool, a fitness center, a media room, a business center, and a party room with a bar and pool table."

"This is quite a deal, especially considering that Luntz has talked about how he's on the road all the time," Politico muses. "Imagine paying $1,500 a month for what is essentially a mansion carved into a high-rise? It's good to be the minority leader!"

Peter Weber

Thu, May 6, 2021, 8:42 AM EDT

Tucker Carlson was right: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is living in the Washington, D.C., penthouse of Republican pollster and messaging maven Frank Luntz, and it does sound like a pretty sweet deal. Carlson was tipped off to the roommate arrangement, and McCarthy confirmed it Tuesday, telling Fox & Friends he has "rented a room from Frank for a couple of months, but don't worry, I'm back to — going back to where I normally am, on my couch in my office. But, yes, we pay fair market rate"

Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler looked into Luntz's apartment, and it's actually a 7,000-square-foot, 12-bedroom, 16-bathroom amalgamation of 4 three-story penthouses Luntz purchased for nearly $4.3 million in August and September 2018 and merged in November 2019. The homeowner's association fees on the four units is $4,976 a month, Kessler calculates, citing Redfin.

Neither McCarthy nor Luntz responded to the Post's request for comment, but a McCarthy spokesman told the Daily Wire the minority leader "calculated the fair market value amount at $1,500/month" to rent an "approximately" 400-square-foot room in Luntz's penthouse. Kessler's Apartments.com search found that a comparable studio or one-bedroom would run about $5,000 a month. Regardless, he writes, "besides the 'room' he rented, McCarthy would have had access to a 24/7 concierge, a rooftop pool, a fitness center, a media room, a business center, and a party room with a bar and pool table."

"This is quite a deal, especially considering that Luntz has talked about how he's on the road all the time," Politico muses. "Imagine paying $1,500 a month for what is essentially a mansion carved into a high-rise? It's good to be the minority leader!" 

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