Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was willing to threaten lower-level company employees he felt were hurting the Fox brand by running critical stories about Donald Trump, newly-revealed text messages obtained by The Daily Beast show.

On Nov. 19, 2020, Carlson exchanged texts with his producer Justin Wells, who like Carlson, was terminated by Fox last month. The two were upset about what they felt was unfavorable coverage of Trump at Fox. Less than two weeks before, the presidential election had been called for Joe Biden. However, Trump falsely claimed the election was rigged, and several Fox hosts promoted the falsehood.

This included Carlson, who repeatedly suggested on air the election was bogus – right up until he departed the network. However, the host was irked by coverage suggesting the contest wasn’t rigged, as well as commentary that portrayed Trump in a less-than-flattering light.

In the texts obtained by The Daily Beast, Wells flagged a FoxNews.com story about how Trump – by then a lame-duck president – would proceed with the annual presidential turkey pardon ahead of Thanksgiving.

“Despite the angst surrounding the growing number of coronavirus cases nationwide and the ongoing upheaval over President Trump’s refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden, there will still be a turkey pardon at the White House next week,” the story began.

It added, “Trump has kept a low profile, ducking reporters and sticking to Twitter tirades about the election, but is scheduled to host the event on Tuesday.”

Wells regarded the article as an affront to Fox readers and viewers.

“Literally 4-5 separate swipes at Trump for doing the Turkey pardon,’” Wells wrote to Carlson. “’It’s actually unbelievable. We’re trying to piss people off for no reason.’”

“We’re not going to succeed if this continues,” Carlson replied. “The brand will be too damaged. We should jump on a couple of examples just to send a clear message. Let’s start with this one. Can we find out who did this?”

For good measure, the top-rated cable news host made it clear he was willing to intimidate low-level Fox employees.

“I’m happy to start threatening people individually,” he added. “It’s too much. And again, it will hurt us badly if we let it continue.”

It’s no secret Carlson loathed coverage that portrayed Trump in a negative light, especially in the aftermath of the election. Millions of Fox News consumers were angry because they believed Trump’s lies about the election. And that’s what they expected Fox to give them.

In February, it was revealed in a court filing that Carlson wanted Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich fired after she tweeted a fact-check of Fox host Lou Dobbs’s claims about the election being rigged. He also appeared to want the network to show host Neil Cavuto the door as well.

“Please get her fired. Seriously,” he texted Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham in the days after the 2020 election. “What the fuck? I’m actually shocked. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company The stock price is down. Not a joke.”

He added, “Did I mention Cavuto?”

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