While Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, and other qualifying Republican candidates took part in a Fox News-moderated presidential debate in Milwaukee, the current GOP frontrunner — former president Donald Trump — did an interview with ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The interview was nothing if not predictable — claims of voter fraud, Jan. 6 revisionism, and even a mention of Jeffrey Epstein.

Tucker Carlson Wants to Know Who Killed Jeffrey Epstein

At the start of the 46-minute episode of the recently rebranded Tucker on X — whose name sounds far more fun than it actually is — Carlson accused former Attorney General Bill Barr of lying about the death of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell in 2019.

Epstein’s death has been the subject of conspiracy theories, with people alleging that the wealthy sexual predator did not die by suicide, but was actually murdered.

“Do you think Epstein killed himself? Sincerely?” Carlson asked.

“I don’t know. I will say that he was a fixture in Palm Beach. I don’t know what Barr said about it either. I have no idea what he said. What did he say? He killed himself, probably?” Trump said. Carlson said that Barr also promised an investigation and that no investigation took place.

A DOJ investigation actually found that errors and misconduct by Bureau of Prisons employees paved the way for Epstein’s suicide.

Carlson rephrased his question, this time asking Trump, “But why would Bill Barr be covering up the death of Jeffrey Epstein?”

Trump, for whatever reason, didn’t take the bait. Instead he launched into a diatribe about how Barr “didn’t do an investigation on the election fraud either.” “He said he did,” Trump complained, “and he pretended he did, but he didn’t.” Barr has publicly said that he informed Trump that his claims of election fraud were “bullshit.”

After being asked if it was “possible” that Epstein was “killed,” Trump said it was possible but that he believed Epstein “committed suicide.”

“He had a life with beautiful homes and beautiful everything, and all of the sudden he’s incarcerated and not doing very well,” Trump explained. “I would say that he did, but there are those people — there are many people, I think you’re one of ’em right? — but a lot of people think that he was killed. He knew a lot on a lot of people.”

Carlson flatly asserted that Epstein was certainly “killed” and that Barr “lied” about his death before finally moving on, asking Trump if “the Left” would turn to violence against him. “I mean the next stage [after indictment] is violence. Are you worried that they’re gonna try and kill you? Why wouldn’t they try to kill you? Honestly?” he asked.

Trump responded by calling left-wingers “savage animals” and “really sick,” but added that “you have great people in the Democrat [sic] Party” and that he’s “representing everybody.” However he also complained about the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia and the lack of charges that resulted from the Durham investigation.

Donald Trump Spreads False Claims of Voter Fraud

At one point during the interview Trump began to complain about a lack of voter ID, and said that Democratic support for mail-in voting is motivated by a desire to cheat. “Any time you have mail-in ballots you’re gonna have massive cheating on your elections,” he falsely claimed. “Any time. Not just the presidential election.” Carlson asked whether or not the “point of” mail-in ballots was that “so you can cheat.”

“Yeah. Oh yeah. Sure. That’s their whole point. That’s their whole point. They wanna cheat. Yeah,” he replied. “They have to cheat because their policies are so bad that if they didn’t cheat they couldn’t get elected. Who wants open borders? Who wants high taxes? Who wants high interest rates? Who wants to not be able to use a gas stove?”

Trump then began ranting about people being forced to drive electric cars which you can only drive “for ten minutes” before charging.

Donald Trump Asks Why Stacey Abrams and Hillary Clinton Haven’t Been Indicted

Carlson continued lobbing softballs like asking Trump “How do you do that? How do you get indicted every week and stay cheerful?” Trump says it’s “easier” because he’s “so high in the polls” right now.

“The people see it’s a fraud,” he claimed. “The people see it. Like this horrible district attorney from just a little while ago from essentially Atlanta — that’s Fulton County. She said basically I don’t have any right to challenge an election. Well, what about Stacey Abrams? What about Hillary Clinton? What about all of these Democrats that are still challenging my election?”

There is, of course, a vast difference between challenging an election’s results — or even falsely claiming you won an election — and participating in a fraudulent scheme to overturn a valid election. Trump, for example, called GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and told him to “find” enough votes to defeat Biden.

There is no comparison between Trump’s actions and those of Stacey Abrams or Hillary Clinton. But that didn’t stop Trump and Carlson from wondering aloud why they haven’t been indicted.

“So that would mean that [Hillary Clinton] should be indicted. But that would mean also that Stacey Abrams in Georgia should be indicted, ’cause she still thinks she won the election for governor. She still thinks that. She’s never recanted,” Trump said.

“Do you think Stacey Abrams will be indicted for that?” Carlson asked. Trump responded that “Democrats don’t get indicted for things like that.”

Donald Trump Downplays Violence on Jan. 6

Carlson ended the interview by asking Trump if America is “moving toward civil war.” Trump paused and said, “There’s tremendous passion and there’s tremendous love.” He then referenced the events of Jan. 6 without bringing up any of the violence that took place in his name. Trump referred to it as a “very interesting day” that “they don’t report [on] properly.”

“I believe it was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken before,” he bragged. “You know some of the crowds I’ve spoken before. Like July 4th on the mall. I think they had a million people there.” The only allusion to the violent insurrection was to say that a “very small group of people went down there,” presumably to the Capitol.

Over one thousand people have been charged in connection to the insurrection.

“But people in that crowd said it was the most beautiful day they’ve ever experienced,” he continued. “There was love in that crowd. There was love and unity. I have never seen such spirit and such passion and such love. And I’ve also never seen, simultaneously, and from the same people, such hatred of what they’ve done to our country.”