Tucker Carlson apologizes for falsely saying President Herzog visited Epstein’s island

Conservative US commentator Tucker Carlson publicly apologizes to President Isaac Herzog for falsely suggesting that he had visited sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s island.

Carlson says he made the claim in his interview that aired Friday with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee because Epstein apparently claimed in a 2014 email recently released by the US Justice Department that Herzog and former prime minister Ehud Barak would be among the guests at a party on his island.

In a two-minute video uploaded to X, Carlson says he received a long letter from Herzog’s office vehemently denying that the Israeli president has ever been in contact with Epstein, let alone attended one of his parties, which trafficked underage women were known to frequent.

“They didn’t know each other, they never emailed with each other, never been in the same room. They had no relationship of any kind,” Carlson says the letter from Herzog’s camp stated.

Huckabee had earlier posted similar remarks from Herzog’s office.

“And so for that reason, we are taking it seriously. There is nothing worse than impugning the reputation of an innocent man,” Carlson says.

“So I just want to say clearly I’m sorry to imply that I knew something I didn’t know — of course I didn’t know that Isaac Herzog was on that island. I was referring to that email and the protest against him. But I don’t know that, and I didn’t mean to suggest that I do know that.”

Earlier this year, a British reporter posted what she said was a photo of Herzog alongside Epstein, which turned out to be an AI-generated fake, leading the reporter to delete it and apologize.

Statement on Israeli President Isaac Herzog pic.twitter.com/z2hIAO9ptY

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 21, 2026