NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo has confronted former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on his interview with Vladimir Putin, following the death of political rival Alexei Navalny.
Carlson sat down with the Russian leader in a landmark interview earlier this year, before Navalny was confirmed to have died in prison in February.
Sitting down with Chris Cuomo, Carlson was grilled on his decision to fly to Moscow to interview Putin, amid the Ukraine war.
Carlson said he felt "no threat" from Putin or the Russian government, but felt it instead from "Biden and the administration".
Chris Cuomo confronted Tucker Carlson on his interview with Vladimir Putin
Tucker Carlson Network on X
In their discussion about the interview, which went viral with over 200 million views, Cuomo highlighted the "choices" that Carlson made during their sit down, and agreed with him that it was best he didn't "get into a shouting match" with Putin.
However, Cuomo pressed Carlson on his decision not to ask Putin about Navalny, quoting his remark to the Russian leader that "all leaders kill".
Cuomo asked Carlson: "Don't you feel that if you are going to go and sit with someone like that, you have to hold them to account for things that matter? The fact that he may have murdered somebody or a lot of people?"
Carlson quickly defended himself, stating: "I did. The Ukrainians say that he didn't kill Navalny."
Tucker Carlson sat down with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a landmark interview
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Cuomo furiously hit back: "Well who killed him then? Guy looks good one minute, next minute he's dead. Zelensky says he killed him?"
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Carlson shut down Cuomo's claim, responding: "No, he doesn't. The Ukrainian government said he died of natural causes.
"Navalny died in the middle of the Munich Security Conference, also in the middle of the debate over Ukraine funding in the United States. And his death was within hours used by the President of the United States to justify another $60billion. Putin put him in prison, so there's that."
Cuomo fumed: "He poisoned him!"
Tucker then claimed that having been to Russia for the interview with Putin, he has learnt that it is an "an extremely complicated political environment", adding that he had planned questions about Navalny to put to the Russian leader, but decided "on the fly" not to ask them.
Tucker Carlson says he 'had Navalny questioned prepared' but decided not to ask them
Tucker Carlson Network on X
Tucker told Cuomo: "I had a bunch of Navalny questions in my 4700 questions that I'd written out. And I decided on the fly not to ask it because I felt like whatever he's going to say, I'm not going to move the ball at all.
"There's a war going on that is resetting the world. I'm not for throwing your political opponents in prison. I hate it. I'm mad that the Biden administration is now doing it. I'm worried about it happening to me. I mean, honestly, I want to get that on the record.
"I'm not a Putin supporter, but there's a war going on and it's crushing the United States economy and most Americans don't understand that. I want to talk about that. And so I made that decision."
