Tucker Carlson Says AI Money Is 'Drowning' Congress and the White House

Tucker Carlson said the artificial intelligence industry has pulled off one of the most successful lobbying campaigns he has seen in four decades in Washington, and that its money has reached both Congress and Donald Trump's White House.

The conservative host made the remarks on an episode of The Tucker Carlson Show, in an interview with tech investor Ali Partovi, who runs the startup mentorship firm Neo. Partovi was arguing that AI companies should be legally liable when their systems break the law. Carlson said he thought AI executives would spend heavily to keep themselves off the hook.

"These same people have undertaken one of the most successful lobbying efforts I've ever seen in 40 years of watching lobbying efforts in Washington," Carlson said. He added: "They're just drowning our Congress and White House in money, obviously."

Tucker Carlson Says AI Executives Would Spend to Avoid Liability

Partovi summed up his proposal in a single sentence: "When an AI decides to do something illegal, the law should hold the AI companies responsible and automatically treat it as if they did it intentionally."

Carlson's objection was about who would end up paying. "The problem with your idea is that it puts human beings on the hook for their malpractice," he said.

"It does, I don't think that's a problem," Partovi replied.

"Well, it's a problem for those people," Carlson answered. "Nobody wants to be held accountable." It was then that he turned to the industry's lobbying, before asking: "I think they would spend a lot of money to keep themselves off the hook, don't you think?"

Partovi pushed back. "Maybe, I don't wanna characterize everybody," he said, adding, "I've had some major AI CEOs tell me they agree with what I proposed." He also took issue with Carlson's view of accountability, saying, "I think people appreciate having the playing ground be level."

Later in the conversation, Carlson said he thought "this idea is so smart and so necessary that it'll probably gain some traction, but there will be lots of pushback." He then predicted what that pushback would sound like from Republicans. He pictured Texas Senator Ted Cruz at a Capitol Hill press conference saying "this will constrain America's national security response. Carlson added, "you can kind of hear the lies that we're gonna get in response, can't you?"

What AI Campaign Filings Show

Carlson gave no figures, but federal campaign filings show the scale. Leading the Future, a pro-AI super PAC, reported $75,981,640 in receipts through October 14, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

The industry does not speak with one voice, however. Anthropic, whose own AI models came up in the episode, gave $20 million in February to a super PAC focused on AI safety and regulation.

The Fight Over State AI Laws

The policy record is the most direct test of Carlson's claim. In 2025, Cruz introduced a 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation in the budget bill. On July 1, 2025, the Senate voted 99-1 to strip it out, after Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn dropped a compromise she had reached with Cruz.

The White House then went around Congress. In December 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing the attorney general to set up an "AI Litigation Task Force" to challenge state AI laws. The order was championed by White House AI czar David Sacks and followed months of lobbying led by OpenAI, Google and Andreessen Horowitz, Bloomberg Law reported. The administration has argued that a patchwork of state rules would slow U.S. companies in their race against China.

What Happens Next

Partovi used the end of the interview to promote a voter guide for Tuesday's midterms on Sway, a platform he helped create and has invested in. Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot 49.8% to 41.2% in PolitiKool's polling average, so the makeup of the next Congress is in play. Carlson's remarks leave one question open: whether that Congress takes up AI liability, or keeps siding with the industry on preemption.