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Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Sunday he plans to purchase property in Qatar, directly addressing accusations that he has accepted money from the Gulf state while interviewing the country's prime minister at a diplomatic forum in Doha.
"I have been criticised as being a tool of Qatar... I've never taken anything from your country and don't plan to. I am, however, tomorrow, buying a place in Qatar," Carlson told Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani during an appearance at the annual Doha Forum.
The right-wing media personality framed the real estate acquisition as an assertion of independence, saying he was taking the step "to make the statement that I'm an American and a free man and I'll be wherever I want to be."
The gas-rich emirate has strengthened its relationship with Washington under President Donald Trump, whom Qatar gifted a luxury aircraft in May to serve as a replacement Air Force One amid production delays for new presidential planes. The arrangement sparked ethical concerns that officials in both capitals have dismissed.
Qatar hosts the largest US military air base in the Middle East and serves as the forward headquarters for Central Command, the Pentagon's regional authority. Washington designates the small nation as a major non-NATO ally.
Sheikh Mohammed said unnamed actors were exerting "a lot of effort to sabotage the relationship between Qatar and the United States and to try to demonise anyone who will come to this country." He confirmed Qatar's active diplomatic outreach to protect bilateral ties, stating the country pays substantial sums for lobbying "only to protect and to safeguard this relationship."
The prime minister characterized the partnership as mutually beneficial and acknowledged efforts to ensure its preservation.
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