Ukraine’s controversial American transgender sometimes-“spokesperson” Sarah Ashton-Cirillo has accused Tucker Carlson of being the “Kremlin’s favourite court eunuch” and an “enemy of humanity,” apparently placing a target on the head of Carlson not long after the death of American citizen journalist Gonzalo Lira.
Sarah Ashton-Cirillo — born Michael John Cirillo — who has had an on-and-off relationship as an information propagation “spokesperson” for the Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) and currently serves as a sergeant in Kyiv’s armed forces, lashed out at Tucker Carlson after he travelled to Russia with the rumoured intent to interview Vladimir Putin.
Carlson has now confirmed he is interviewing the Russian dictator.
Why I'm interviewing Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/hqvXUZqvHX
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 6, 2024
Responding to his trip to Moscow, Ashton-Cirillo said in comments to Newsweek: “Despite trying to project an alpha male attitude, Tucker Carlson has shown time and again he is simply the Kremlin’s favourite court eunuch.
“Tucker’s inability to decipher fact from fiction makes him better suited to host a reboot of The Twilight Zone than be given the opportunity to engage in the rambling theories favoured by war criminals such as Vlad Putin.”
“Carlson isn’t just an enemy of democracy, he is an enemy of humanity itself,” Asthon-Cirillo declared.
Following the publication of the Newsweek interview, Ashton-Cirillo reposted a comment on X stating: “Tucker isn’t a journalist he’s a propagandist and 100% for Russia.”
The often bombastic rhetoric spouted by Ashton-Cirillo, including public threats to “hunt down” people allegedly spreading Russian propaganda, has previously sparked concern among American lawmakers.
.@jdvance1: “If the Ukrainians want to hire weirdos to threaten Americans and others for speaking their mind, I guess that’s their right. They shouldn’t use our tax dollars to do it.” https://t.co/BmTBNObpO5
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 18, 2023
Breitbart News exclusively reported in September that Ohio Republican Senator J.D. Vance wrote a letter to the Biden White House questioning whether Ashton-Cirillo had any ties to the U.S. government or intelligence agencies and whether the president would demand free speech is respected in Ukraine.
Following the report, Ashton-Cirillo accused Sen. Vance of engaging in “gender chaos”, while claiming that free speech protections should not be afforded to those who spread so-called Russian propaganda and that they should be sent to prison as “war criminals”.
The comments came amid the imprisonment of late citizen journalist YouTuber Gonzalo Lira, an American-Chilean dual citizen, who faced a lengthy prison sentence in Ukraine over comments on his YouTube channel critical of the Zelensky and Biden governments.
Lira was also accused of allegedly having “criminal intent aimed at the manufacture, distribution materials containing justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine…as well as justification, recognition as legitimate of the temporary occupation of part of Ukraine territory.”
Exclusive: American Citizen Journalist Sitting in Ukraine Prison, State Dept. Confirms, as Biden Begs for Billions More to Protect Ukrainian ‘Freedom’https://t.co/8Qymo4ffmX
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 19, 2023
For his part, Lira claimed that he was being imprisoned for his “opinion” and predicted that he would “die in prison” in Ukraine.
Lira was also accused of publishing the faces of Ukrainian soldiers on his YouTube channel, despite numerous legacy media outlets doing the same. The American citizen did not have the chance to clear his name, because despite the U.S. State Department telling Breitbart News that it was “providing all appropriate assistance”, he died last month in a Ukrainian prison.
Lira’s death was first announced by Tucker Carlson, who had interviewed his father shortly before his son’s death. Lira’s father accused the White House of ignoring the plight of his son over negative comments made about President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, saying that he believed the U.S. government was “complicit” in his son’s imprisonment.
Ashton-Cirillo previously admitted to being involved with Lira’s criminal trial, claiming to have provided evidence to the court on the fellow American while declaring before any decision could have been made as to his supposed guilt that Lira was a “war criminal“.
In the comments made to Newsweek on Tuesday, Ashton-Cirillo criticised Carlson for dedicating “space on his show to topics such as the dead Russian chaos agent Gonzalo Lira.”
American political commentator @JackPosobiec has been included on a Ukrainian-run list of supposed enemies of Ukraine. https://t.co/EGCVhpigqH
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 19, 2023
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Editor’s note: this story was changed on 02/06/24 to reflect the fact Tucker Carlson had confirmed he was interviewing President Vladimir Putin.