Tucker Carlson claimed on a recent video podcast that Ukraine’s military has been selling U.S.-provided weaponry to buyers on the black market, emphasizing repeatedly that he knew this “for a fact.” Some of these U.S.-provided arms, Carlson asserted, have ended up in the hands of drug cartels operating near the U.S.-Mexican border. 

“Fact—not guess, fact—is the Ukrainian military is selling a huge percentage, up to half, of the arms we send them,” Carlson said on The Tucker Carlson Show February 10 while interviewing retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis. “Half. And I’m not guessing this, I know that for a fact. A fact, okay, not speculation.” Carlson continued, claiming, “they’re selling it and a lot of it is winding up with the drug cartels on our border.” He added that U.S. intelligence has been complicit in the alleged activity. “Our intel agencies are fully aware of this, you tell me they’re not profiting from this, of course. You think CIA is not profiting from this, yes, they are. Can’t prove that, but I believe that,” he said. “We’re sending these arms to Ukraine, billions—hundreds of billions of dollars—and it’s being stolen and sold to our actual enemies.”