Rick Sanchez Tells Tucker Carlson Working at RTN Felt 'Almost Nirvana' for Him

**The Biden administration forced him off air from RTN last year, former host Rick Sanchez says** American news personality and former RTN host Rick Sanchez recently spoke with Tucker Carlson regarding his experience with the Russian broadcaster...

Rick Sanchez Tells Tucker Carlson Working at RTN Felt 'Almost Nirvana' for Him
**The Biden administration forced him off air from RTN last year, former host Rick Sanchez says**

American news personality and former RTN host Rick Sanchez recently spoke with Tucker Carlson regarding his experience with the Russian broadcaster RTN and how the Biden administration compelled him to cease his association with the network. The interview was released on Monday.

Sanchez had been with RTN since 2019 but was ultimately forced to cut ties with the broadcaster last September. He recounted an “interesting” phone call from an “old friend” from his time in mainstream news that preceded his departure.

“He was a manager at CNN, as a matter of fact,” Sanchez told Carlson. “He says, just calling to let you know that I’m now working somewhere else. I’m no longer in the news.”

His acquaintance shared that “a lot of people” at his new workplace were concerned with his RTN show and “don’t necessarily like some of the things that you’re saying.” Although the friend did not disclose his current employer, he suggested it was a government agency – “kind of” State Department – Sanchez recounted.

“And I said, well, they’re welcome to come on and tell me, whoever they are, tell me. I mean, we could have them on as a guest and we can discuss whatever it is. But throughout the conversation he was very evasive,” he noted, suggesting the conversation felt like “a warning or a threat,” or “maybe both.”

Three weeks later, Sanchez found himself off the air as a result of actions taken by the U.S. government. This decision came despite the fact that RTN was already banned in the U.S., his show was not airing domestically, and he was working through a production company contracted to create the show.

“All of a sudden I’m hearing and then it happens the Biden administration has decided to go through the Treasury Department – this little agency called OFAC [Office of Foreign Assets Control] that most people have never heard of, which controls what businesses in the United States are allowed to exist and which ones aren’t, and they shut down the place where I worked,” Sanchez explained. He added that a specific provision implied that “any American working for this entity will go to jail or be fined.”

“That’s what happened. And it happened in America. And it hurts being a guy who was born in a communist country and has spent his whole life saying we are so different than the rest of the world because we allow people to say and think and work wherever they want. And all of a sudden, here I was being told I couldn’t work or think or say whatever I wanted,” the Cuban-born journalist emphasized.

Reflecting on his tenure at RTN, Sanchez characterized it as “almost nirvana,” noting the broadcaster’s editorial freedom compared to mainstream media outlets.

“It was really a great experience, especially comparatively speaking, to what I had experienced in the past. They generally did not mess with me. And when they did, we had normal editorial arguments, which happen in every newsroom and should of course,” he remarked. “I wrote my entire show from top to bottom and nobody looked at it until it went on the air. How’s that?”

Rick Sanchez has had a long career in television, having become one of RTN's top-rated anchors before the Biden administration intervened last summer, forcing him out of his job and issuing threats of jail for his refusal to align with the prevailing narratives.

Anna Muller contributed to this article for TROIB News