Meghan McCain slammed former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for positive rhetoric during an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.
Her comments came the same day Putin’s chief rival Alexei Navalny, 47, was found dead at a Russian prison.
“Tucker made a bunch of Russian propaganda in Moscow,” McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Then he said publicly ‘leaders kill people’ and then Putin murdered Navalny — his most famous and powerful dissident.”
“Americans should not forget this,” she added.
Following the news of Navalny’s death, Carlson said that no “decent person would defend” what happened to him, telling The Daily Mail in a statement that “It’s horrifying.”
In Carlson’s recent interview with Putin, the Russian president spouted propaganda about his country’s current war with Ukraine and went after the U.S.. The former cable TV host, who painted Moscow as “so much nicer” than any city in America, was quickly criticized for giving Putin a platform.
McCain also shared an X post from former President Obama on Navalny’s death, in which he said that he “was a fearless advocate for his beliefs who died unbroken by the tyranny he opposed.”
“He fought corruption, inspired millions and never wavered in his insistence on free expression, the rule of law, and a Russia that is accountable to the people and not a dictator,” Obama said in his Friday post. “He died in unyielding defense of his vision of a better future for his country — a vision, and a courageous example, that will never die.”
McCain’s father was a frequent critic of Putin and Russia, referring to him in a book as “evil man” who is “intent on evil deeds.” He also called on former President Trump, who was president at the time, to consider the Russian president as more of a threat to the U.S. and democracy.
“President Trump seems to vary from refusing to believe what Putin is doing to just not caring about it,” McCain wrote in his book. “To his credit, he overturned the Obama policy and supplied lethal assistance to Ukraine. But he needs to comprehend the nature of the threat Putin poses. He needs to understand Putin’s nature, and ours.”
Navalny’s death was confirmed Saturday by his family, who claimed he was murdered.
The Russian opposition leader’s death marks the latest in a string of deaths involving anti-Putin critics, which has sparked international worry that the Kremlin was involved, including from U.S. officials.