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Is Dan Bailey a CIA operative? Conspiracy theory about man who shamed Tucker Carlson gains ground

The video involving Dan Bailey and Tucker Carlson appears to have something to do with the Covid-19 vaccine

Fox News host Tucker Carlson was confronted by a local fly fishing guide, Dan Bailey in a store in Livingston, Montana. “Dude, you are the worst human being known to mankind,” Bailey was heard saying in the confrontation, captured on video. “I want you to know that.” Carlson reportedly kept his voice down and only replied “I appreciate that.”

The 22-second video that has since gone viral does not capture the whole altercation. But it appears to have something to do with the Covid-19 vaccine. Fox News has come under fire after propagating anti-vaccine talking points. Carlson, reportedly, at one point asks him to keep in mind he is with his child. “I don’t care, man,” Bailey can be seen saying. “What you have done to this state, to the United States, to everyone else in this world. What you have done to families, what you have done to everybody else in this world... I don’t care that your daughter is here. What you’ve done to people’s families.” 

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Carlson said, “Settle down, son,” to which Bailey asked Carlson to not call him "son". The Fox News host walked away after that. Bailey posted the video to his Instagram account, writing, “It’s not every day you get to tell someone they are the worst person in the world and really mean it! What an asshole! This man has killed more people with vaccine misinformation, he has supported extreme racism, he is a fascist and does more to rip this country apart than anyone that calls themselves an American.”

After the incident, a Fox News spokesperson came out with a statement: "Ambushing Tucker Carlson while he is in a store with his family is totally inexcusable — no public figure should be accosted regardless of their political persuasion or beliefs simply due to the intolerance of another point of view.”

The confrontation took place at Dan Bailey’s Outdoor Company — nothing to do with Dan Bailey the person who confronted Tucker Carlson. The store in a statement said, “On July 23rd, a well-known television personality, Tucker Carlson, was affronted while shopping at Dan Bailey’s Outdoor Company. Coincidentally, the person engaging Mr. Carlson was a local resident named Dan Bailey. This person has no affiliation with our business, other than share the same name as our founder, who passed away in 1982. To be clear, we treat every customer equally and respectfully. Our staff was professional and cordial to Mr. Carlson, as we are with all of our customers.”

Following this altercation, a conspiracy theory has been gaining currency on social media — that Baily works for the CIA. “While in Mongolia in 2007, Dan Bailey worked for the Asia Foundation, which has ties to the CIA. He’s the guy who just happened to be in a fly fishing store in Montana to confront Tucker Carlson,” wrote a Twitter user. “Mr Dan Bailey the Montana man who heckled Tucker Carlson is connected to the Asia Foundation that was founded by the CIA. Glow harder,” said another Twitter user. One person wrote on Twitter, “Tucker handled the ambush well, Dan Bailey can go back working with the CIA now.”

A 2017 report on MuckRock, a non-profit, collaborative news site that believes in “making politics more transparent and democracies more informed”, notes The Asia Foundation was conceived by the CIA as a propaganda machine and a front for covert activities including psychological warfare. Declassified documents, as per the report, revealed that “TAF provided information to the State Department that was incorrect and misleading; this information was subsequently given to Congress. These misrepresentations were then cited in the findings of Congress’ ‘Asia Foundation Act’, which provides funding for the Foundation”.

The Taimen Fund, which was originally established in 2009 as a program within the Tributary Fund, a Montana-based 501c3 that was performing a variety of successful conservation projects throughout the Eg Watershed, lists Dan Bailey as a Board Member. His bio on the website says, “Dan began his work in Mongolia during the summer of 2007 as a river ecologist working on the Asia Foundation’s ‘Securing Our Future’ project. During his first field season, Dan performed numerous river assessments across Mongolia with a team of Mongolian and American scientists.”