Tucker Carlson said congressmen are “terrified” that intelligence agencies will frame them with “kiddie porn” if they openly oppose “warrantless spying” on an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released Friday.

Carlson told podcast host Joe Rogan that U.S. lawmakers “told” him that they are “worried” about being punished by intelligence agencies if they oppose reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

“People don’t say that because they’re worried about being punished. They’re worried about someone putting kiddie porn on their computer. Members of Congress are terrified of the intel agencies. I’m not guessing at that. They’ve told me that — including people on the intel committee, including people who run the intel committee,” Carlson said.

“The people whose job it is to oversee and keep in line these enormous, secretive agencies whose budgets we can’t even know — their ‘black budgets,’” Carlson continued, raising his hands into air-quotes. “They’re the parents, the agencies are the children. They’re afraid of the agencies. That’s not compatible with democracy.”

Carlson told Rogan that it is “tyranny,” not democracy for “unelected people who are not accountable to anyone making the biggest decisions.” He said that congressmen support reauthorizing “warrantless spying” of American citizens because “they’re threatened.”

“It’s playing out in front of everyone, and no one cares and no one does anything about it,” Carlson said. “I think the reason is because they’re threatened. And if you look at the committee chairman who allowed this shit to happen year after year, they’re all — and I don’t know, people say, ‘Oh, they’re compromised or being blackmailed,’ whatever. I don’t have evidence of that. But I know them. And they have all the things to hide. I know that for a fact.”

“It’s not a stretch of imagination to imagine that, you know, some committee chairman who’s allowing warrantless spying on Americans to continue, or whatever abuse they’re allowing, knowing fully or hiding the truth about UAPs, ignoring the UAP Disclosure Act of 2023, like, why are they doing that? It’s not impossible to imagine that some guy with a drinking problem or a weird sex life — and that’s very common, very common up there — that’s why they’re doing it. Because they don’t want to be exposed,” Carlson added.

Thirty Republican senators voted in favor of reauthorizing Section 702 Saturday, passing the bill by a 60-34 vote following the defeat of six amendments.