Fox News host Tucker Carlson is scheduled to speak at an event in Iowa this summer that has historically been used by Republicans with presidential ambitions as an opportunity to raise their public profile and win over social conservatives.
Carlson will speak at the July 2022 FAMiLY Leadership Summit, an annual event that has been attended by top conservatives such as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, himself a possible presidential candidate in 2024, and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R).
During a number of interviews in recent months, Carlson, the top-rated cable news host in the country, has dismissed rumors that he has considered running for president.
“I mean, I guess if like I was the last person on earth I could do it, but I mean, it seems pretty unlikely that I would be that guy,” he said last year. “If I were running for president — which obviously I would never do, I would be insane to run for president, I would never do that.”
The host has, however, criticized Republican leadership in Congress since launching his show in 2016, this week blasting House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for comments he has made about the GOP’s more conservative members, dissing him as someone who “in private sounds like an MSNBC contributor” after McCarthy was caught on an audio recording complaining about the social media postings of some of his members.
Carlson has made a number of public speaking appearances in recent months, drawing protests in Southern California outside a church service in San Diego he recently attended and spoke during.