Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson credited former Trump aide Sam Nunberg, widely panned by many for his media appearances a day earlier, with brilliantly playing the media.

According to Carlson, Nunberg’s appearances were a preemptive strike to an insanity defense for a potential perjury indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller and those interviewing him did not realize it.

“Who is Sam Nunberg exactly?” Carlson said. “Until just yesterday, he was a pretty obscure part-time political consultant from New York City who has been struggling with a substance abuse problem. He is actually a pretty nice guy, but you have probably never heard of him. Almost nobody had heard of him. Now people are telling you that he could be key to this scandal — the John Dean of this Watergate, except that unlike John Dean, Nunberg was nowhere near the decisions when they were made. He worked at the low level of the Trump campaign before it was an actual campaign. He left almost a year-and-a-half before the election. If there was indeed a Russian conspiracy, Sam Nunberg wouldn’t know anything about it.”

“More likely what was going on yesterday, Nunberg brilliantly played the press because it turns out this Friday he’s talking to Robert Mueller’s investigators, which is yet another measure of how absurd this independent counsel investigation is, if you’re talking to Sam Nunberg,” he continued. “Others have been charged with perjury after doing interviews with Mueller’s investigators. Nunberg will not be. Why? Because he just admitted in public to being an alcoholic and then acted like a lunatic on television for hours. It’s the perfect preemptive insanity defense. Mueller can’t indict him. After yesterday, no jury would convict Sam Nunberg.

“Was that Nunberg’s plan?” Carlson added. “We don’t know really. If it was, none of the people interviewing him yesterday would have figured out because there is nobody dumber than most cable news hosts at CNN and MSNBC. How dumb? Well, dumb enough to see Russian saboteurs under every bed. Russia, the actual place, is grim and hopeless. It’s got a lower-than-replacement birthrate. It’s got waning power on the world stage. It’s got one military base outside its borders. It’s not a major player anymore. But the imaginary Russia, the one you see on television every night, has never been more powerful. To DNC and NBC News, Vladimir Putin is diabolical and omnipotent. Putin put Trump in office. He gave the Senate nomination in Alabama to Roy Moore somehow. He empowered the NRA. He likely hand-picked seasoned masters of espionage like Sam Nunberg and Carter Page to undermine our democracy. It’s delusional, but they fervently believe it.”

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