Fox News is stepping up its legal fight with its former star Tucker Carlson, according to news reports.
The network sent a “cease and desist” letter to Carlson claiming his new show on Twitter violates his Fox employment contract, which reportedly expires in early 2025.
The letter was first reported Monday by Axios.
Harmeet K. Dhillon, a lawyer for Carlson, called the decision to remove Carlson from the network “the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry,” adding that her client won’t be silenced.
“Fox News continues to ignore the interests of its viewers, not to mention its shareholder obligations,” Dhillon said in a statement to Axios.
Fox News did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment.
Carlson, who is still being paid by the conservative network, was pushed out following the network’s $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the network said at the time, without citing a reason for his departure.
Dominion sued Fox News for $1.6 billion over its broadcast of false claims that the company used its equipment to favor Joe Biden at the expense of Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Carlson has reportedly claimed his departure came as part of the settlement with Dominion, Axios and Variety have reported.
Soon after his exit, Carlson announced his new show on Elon Musk’s Twitter.
Carlson’s lawyers reportedly told Fox News prior to the show’s announcement that the noncompete clause in his contract is no longer valid, accusing the network’s leadership of fraud and of violating the contract.
Carlson’s executive producer, Justin Wells, on Sunday said Carlson’s next Twitter episode, scheduled for Tuesday, will cover Trump’s federal indictment over his handling of classified documents.
Trump is set to be arraigned on Tuesday in Miami.