Tucker Carlson just hates it when citizens try to “extort” the White House – except when he does it.

The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple has the deets, via Maggie Haberman’s new book, “Confidence Man,” on Carlson’s pressure campaign to get the White House to pardon his old buddy, Roger Stone. Since I’ll probably neither purchase nor read Haberman’s book, I’ll rely on Wemple.

As Wemple notes, Carlson was up in arms when Stone was indicted and convicted for witness tampering and lying to Congress in connection with the Russia investigation. Not surprisingly, that greatly upset Putinista Carlson. “The whole affair short-circuited Carlson, who just couldn’t stand by and allow the justice system to do its thing,” Wemple writes. So, we can add the U.S. justice system as yet another part of America that the malicious, vicious, and seditious white supremacist Carlson can’t tolerate.

More from Wemple:

Following Stone’s conviction, Carlson revealed some inside reporting on a possible pardon, citing Kushner as one gatekeeper. “We’re hearing that certain people around the president — possibly his son-in-law, maybe not — are telling him no, you can’t pardon Roger Stone, even though the president has come out and said publicly, I think that this was a travesty.”

That little clue perhaps explains why, in Haberman’s book, Carlson seeks an audience with Kushner. In the meeting, Carlson told Kushner that if Trump didn’t act, he’d “press the issue publicly,” according to “Confidence Man.” As noted above, Carlson had already been doing just that, but in mid-February 2020, in the days leading up to Stone’s sentencing, Carlson did multiple segments on the topic. “You know what the average rapist does in this country? We checked today — four years. You know what the average armed robber gets? Three years. The average thug who violently assaults somebody? Less than a year and a half,” riffed Carlson on Feb. 11. “But the left, CNN as well, demanding that Roger Stone die in prison. This man needs a pardon.”

In other words, Carlson followed through on his threat to “press the issue publicly.” Stone was pardoned in December, 2020.

Oh, and one more thing. Wemple reminds that Carlson is quite the hypocrite when it comes to public pressure. He accused former Playboy model Karen McDougal of extorting Trump because she received hush money not to talk about her affair with the married Trump. In fact, McDougal did not extort Trump; she sought money from and was paid by the National Enquirer for her story, which was never published. In any event, she was not a prime time cable news host using her platform to undermine the U.S. justice system in service to a pal. But Carlson was and is.

McDougal sued Carlson for defamation and lost the case when the judge sided with Fox and ruled that no reasonable person would consider Carlson a trustworthy source of truth.

(Carlson image via screen grab) (Carlson for 080122)