In episode 47 of his newest production, “Tucker on X,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed Gonzalo Lira Sr., the father of Gonzalo Lira who is a U.S. citizen currently imprisoned in Ukraine.
Ep. 47 Gonzalo Lira is an American citizen who’s been tortured in a Ukrainian prison since July, for the crime of criticizing Zelensky. Biden officials approve of this, because they’d like to apply the same standard here. The media agree. Here’s a statement from Gonzalo Lira’s… pic.twitter.com/4H2otHhYHi
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 9, 2023
Lira, who has been living in Ukraine “for quite some time,” according to Carlson, would regularly post social media videos about what life in Ukraine was like and his “view of how the war was going” before his imprisonment.
In one video, Lira called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “bloodthirsty murderer” and “killer” despite his perception in the West as a “hero” and “Winston Churchill figure.” He also pointed out that Russia is winning its war with Ukraine and the Russian economy has not crumbled since the beginning of the war as the European economy has.
Lira also made a video in which he called Vice President Kamala Harris “so stupid”
Noting how Lira was denounced as a “Russian puppet,” a “liar,” and a “propagandist,” Carlson said Lira turned out to be “factually true.”
“So what happened to Gonzalo Lira? Well for posting that video and others like it, he was arrested by the government of Ukraine – the one that we pay for, the supposed “democracy” we support for moral reasons against the autocracy of Russia,” Carlson added.
Lira was released after his initial arrest, however, was arrested again after attempting to cross the border into Hungary and seek political asylum.
Carlson, noting how the Biden State Department is “not interested” in the fate of Lira, said he remains a “political prisoner in a country that we were told was free.”
Lira Sr., interviewed via video call from Chile, told Carlson that his son is still awaiting trial after seven full months of being arrested in Ukraine.
“He was appointed a court attorney that doesn’t speak English,” Lira Sr. explained. “He’s a Ukrainian attorney. Insofar as the U.S. Embassy, they haven’t done a thing. Neither I nor his sister living in the USA have been able to communicate with Gonzalo. The U.S. Embassy has not answered our inquiries. The embassy in Kiev never offered a defense attorney, never visited him except for the first time at his court appointment last November 8.”
“An American-born citizen is in jail because he was exercising his right of freedom of speech…The USA government, with its silence in the face of this scandalous incident, suggests the degree of complicity – or at least tacit approval of Gonzalo’s arrest – since nothing else convincingly explains the conspicuous lack of response,” Lira Sr. added.
Lira Sr. went on to call Zelenskyy a “well-known dictator”
“If we’re going to “protect democracy” in the world, let’s start by taking out that puppet called Zelenskyy and let Congress in the USA once and for all impeach [Biden] – he cannot continue,” Lira Sr. added.
As of press time, the latest installment of Carlson’s video podcast, posted at 2:16 p.m. Central Standard Time on Saturday by @TuckerCarlson, had over 2 million views.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Tucker Carlson and Gonzalo Lira Sr.” by Tucker Carlson.
