June 6 (Reuters) – Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson released the first episode of his new show on Twitter on Tuesday, weeks after being taken off the air by the network following a damaging defamation lawsuit over false claims of election fraud.

In a roughly 10-minute video captioned “Ep.1” he claimed without evidence that Ukraine was to blame for the destruction of a massive dam in Russian-occupied territory that caused widespread flooding.

The one-time top-rating talk show host on U.S. cable television said he hoped Twitter would be the “short-wave radio under the blankets” with “no gatekeepers”.

“If th