Tucker Carlson’s remaining contract at Fox News was paid in full to prevent him from venturing out on his own and providing a voice for the conservative populists ahead of 2024, claimed former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

“And, here’s what the Tucker drill is going to be. He’s got a long-term contract. The Wall Street Journal said yesterday that he was negotiating an extension to 2029. Right? And I think he still has got a couple of years, two or three years left on the contract. Just like Lou Dobbs and the other guys. They pay him out under the terms because they don’t want to set up their competitors. They pay him out the $20 million. He doesn’t have the option of going somewhere else,” Bannon said on his “War Room” broadcast on Tuesday.

Bannon explained Tucker’s firing is part of the establishment GOP and Fox News’ efforts to do whatever they can to ensure former President Donald Trump doesn’t reclaim the presidency in 2024.

“This is to take the voice of Populism and the voice of MAGA off of primetime,” he continued. “As I said in that speech, if DeSantis is not the guy to do it, they’ll find Glenn Youngkin or Tim Scott or Brian Kemp. They’ll find anybody to chop-block Trump in the primary. If that doesn’t work, they’ll get in back of Joe Biden. Right? And it’s all about stopping Trump and stopping MAGA.”

Bannon said that by paying out the remainder of Tucker’s contract, he’d be unable to start his own venture until the contract time expires.

“…I think what they’re going to do is try to pay him out on his contract. And just like they do with Lou Dobbs, other guys, and Megyn Kelly, it’s only when your contract expires can then you start your podcast,” he said.

“This play, I believe, and I could be wrong, this play is to make sure that the Trump movement MAGA, and even where Tucker maybe is not full MAGA, he covers the issues in a sophisticated way for the audience to be able to kind of say, okay, I understand this, and grapple onto it.”

“If you look at the punch list of what he covers, it’s amazing. They want that off primetime. They don’t want to give any support to Trump,” he added.

Infowars founder Alex Jones had made a similar statement when predicting Carlson’s firing last month.

Alex Jones Predicted Tucker Carlson Would Not Be At Fox News In The Near Future – 3/8/23#AlexJonesWasRight #TuckerCarlson #DoneWithFox pic.twitter.com/WCGyqcPU7v

— DOWNLOAD.NEWS – AlexJonesMinerV2 (@DOWNLOADdotNEWS) April 24, 2023