The life and freedom of US journalist Tucker Carlson might be in danger, CIA whistleblower and host of the RT program Deep State John Kiriakou has said.

Carlson claimed on Saturday that the CIA is preparing a criminal referral against him to the US Justice Department. “What’s that crime? Well, talking to people in Iran before the war. They read my texts,” he said in a video published on X.

The former Fox News star said that he will “apparently” be charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. However, he added that he does not “expect this to go anywhere” because he has “never taken money” from another country.

On a new episode of Deep State, which aired the same day and was dedicated to Carlson, Kiriakou said: “I have to tell you, I’m genuinely worried for his safety.”

“Tucker is one of those rare truth tellers. He speaks whatever happens to be on his mind, but it’s always very well thought out. He’s not afraid to call important people on the carpet for things that they’ve said or done,” he said.

When asked if he believed that Carlson is in danger, Kiriakou’s guest Clayton Morris – the co-host of Redacted, a program on RT – replied by saying: “I think he wouldn’t admit that. He never likes to have the focus be on him at all.”

“There are some realities here. You have these nut job MAGA influencers, these sort of pro-Israel Zionists, who are basically actively calling for him to be arrested, attacked. And they have platforms. I mean, they’re literally not thrown off of X,” he said.

Morris, who used to work at Fox News together with Carlson, suggested that the journalist is “doing what he needs to do to protect himself.”

“I’m sure he’s got a wife… and he’s got people around him who are saying, ‘Hey, Tucker, I know you don’t like this to be about yourself, but we’re going to protect you,’” he said.