Unhinged commentator Tucker Carlson said in a video released tonight that he believes the Justice Department may be preparing to charge him as an unregistered foreign agent, a move he claims was recommended by the CIA after the agency reviewed his text messages from before the war with Iran.

Carlson outlined the allegation in a five-minute video posted on X, where he said he had learned that intelligence officials were preparing a criminal referral connected to his communications with individuals in Iran.

“The CIA is preparing some kind of criminal referral against me, a crime report to the Department of Justice, on the basis of a supposed crime I committed,” Carlson said. “What’s that crime? Well, talking to people in Iran before the war. They read my texts.”

Carlson said he believes the potential charges would fall under the “Foreign Agent Act,” apparently referring to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a law enacted in 1938 requiring individuals who are paid by foreign governments to lobby or advocate politically in the United States to register with the Justice Department.

The former Fox News host said he does not believe the case will ultimately move forward and offered several reasons why he expects it will not proceed.

“I’m not an agent of a foreign power,” Carlson said was the first reason. “Unlike a lot of people commenting on U.S. politics and global affairs, I have only one loyalty and that’s the United States and have never acted against it.”

Carlson also said he has never accepted money from any foreign government, which he argued would undermine any accusation that he acted as a foreign agent.

“Don’t need it, don’t want it,” he said.

He further argued that as an American citizen he is free to communicate with people anywhere in the world, and he said that speaking with individuals in Iran should not be considered criminal conduct.

“Legally, I think, the case is ludicrous, and I doubt it’ll even become a case,” Carlson said.

Carlson explained that he decided to publicly discuss the issue for several reasons.

One of those reasons, he said, is his belief that governments tend to become more restrictive during wartime. According to Carlson, when countries are engaged in conflict they typically show “much less tolerance for any kind of dissent,” including in the United States.

He also suggested that his criticism of Israel could have made him a target among certain officials within the intelligence community.

“[There are] some people who are mad at me for my views about Israel and they have some latitude,” Carlson said. “One of the reasons they pass on criminal complaints in effect to law enforcement is to justify warrants for spying. And so that is an absolutely real thing.”

Carlson has strongly criticized the recent joint U.S. and Israeli strikes that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He described the operation as “absolutely disgusting and evil,” and said Operation Epic Fury was being “waged” strictly on behalf of Israel.

President Donald Trump responded by distancing Carlson from the Make America Great Again movement.

“Tucker has lost his way,” Trump told ABC’s Jonathan Karl on March 5. “I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.”

Trump has also rejected claims that the United States entered the conflict with Iran because it was pressured by Israel. Earlier this month, the president told ABC’s Rachel Scott, “If anything, I might’ve forced Israel’s hand.”

Carlson said another reason he believes the report about potential charges surfaced is because intelligence agencies sometimes leak such stories in order to intimidate critics.

He said the intelligence community occasionally publicizes allegations as a tactic intended to “humiliate and terrify” those it considers adversaries.