What happened between Shawn Ryan and Dan Crenshaw? Congressman accuses podcaster of canceling their interview after he called him a "bully"

Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw recently claimed that podcaster Shawn Ryan allegedly canceled their interview after Ryan accused the politician of being a "bully" who didn't "have the courage" to show up for their scheduled interview.

For the uninitiated, Crenshaw and Ryan, both former Navy SEALs, have been going back and forth online for months after Ryan criticized the congressman on his podcast, The Shawn Ryan Show. On December 11, 2025, Ryan claimed that the politician threatened to sue him for defamation after he questioned his lavish Christmas parties and increased wealth since becoming a congressman.

On December 12, 2025, Crenshaw took to X to challenge Ryan for a one-on-one interview on the latter's show, and the podcast was reportedly scheduled for January 2, 2026.

However, on New Year's Day, Shawn Ryan posted a five-minute video on social media accusing Dan Crenshaw of canceling their previously scheduled interview. The podcaster alleged that Crenshaw wanted “special concessions” for the interview, and accused the politician of “hiding behind the paperwork” by refusing to sign a waiver form.

That same day, Dan Crenshaw took to his X account to post a series of emails exchanged between his and Ryan's attorneys detailing the specifics of the waiver form and the interview. The congressman included screenshots of his flight ticket to Nashville, where Shawn Ryan lives, on January 1, 2026, alleging that the podcaster was the one who canceled the interview.

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Exploring Dan Crenshaw's X posts about the Shawn Ryan podcast appearance

Dan Crenshaw took to X to post receipts of his willingness to appear on Shawn Ryan's podcast, which included an email that his attorney sent to Ryan's attorney on December 22, asking for a "standard written agreement — the same thing any serious production uses — including confirmation the appearance wouldn’t be edited."

The politician noted that his team received the first draft at a later date and followed it up with their edits on redlines, which were immediately denied, with Ryan's attorney emailing, "We are not considering any redlines."

One screenshot included an email from Dan Crenshaw's attorney to Ryan's, clarifying whether the politician was required to "defend and indemnify" the podcaster's show if their potential interview resulted in any issues for third-party claims. Ryan's lawyer's supposed response read:

"If Mr. Crenshaw comes in and decides to lie and defame a third party, who then files a lawsuit, then yes, we expect him to defend and indemnify the company. This is the same for every guest, but particularly important for someone like Crenshaw who we know going in is not an honest person."

Dan Crenshaw further alleged that Ryan's legal team decided to amend their standard agreement to include a clause about "Speech and Debate," but never sent them the updated form. The politician added that he agreed to the change, and someone from his team contacted Ryan's team to discuss logistics.

However, the podcaster's team allegedly never responded till he posted his video on New Year's Day, claiming Crenshaw canceled his appearance.

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Shawn Ryan's lawyer claimed Dan Crenshaw "quibbled" about the "interpretation of the waiver"

In one of his X posts, Dan Crenshaw alleged that his lawyer attempted to proceed with the interview despite Shawn Ryan's New Year's Day video and emailed Ryan's lawyer on January 1 to ask for the updated waiver form. However, an email from Ryan's legal counsel claimed that Crenshaw and his team "quibbled about the interpretation of the waiver" instead of signing it.

In his final post of the thread, Crenshaw suggested that Ryan canceled the podcast because he knew the politician "was coming with evidence to refute every attack against me and that would embarrass Shawn and their narrative."

Crenshaw also referenced an Instagram message he sent to Ryan in 2025 after the podcaster's initial comments about him, claiming that the dispute between the two arose after Ryan interpreted the "innocuous private" message as a threat.

"And let’s not forget what got us here: @ShawnRyan762 reading an innocuous private message as a threat, factually claiming it was a threat, when in fact the message was not even close to what he claimed (and we all saw it). And just like then, I have now provided the receipts that disprove his claims."

For those uninformed, in his December video where he claimed Crenshaw threatened to sue him for defamation, Ryan said that he interpreted Crenshaw's message as threatening because the politician had previously said he would “f**king kill” Tucker Carlson if he ever met him. Crenshaw's message to Ryan read:

“Hey Shawn, you have the ability to contact your fellow Team Guy if you’ve got a problem with me or have questions about how I’m getting ‘rich.’ Some of my boys at [SEAL Team] 6 told me about your indirect swipe at me. From the comment you made, it sounds like you have some beliefs that are based on trendy narratives instead of facts.”

Dan Crenshaw dismissed the message at the time, claiming that it was "not believable that a fellow SEAL actually read this message and believed I was threatening to ‘whoop his a**.'"

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Shawn Ryan has yet to respond to Dan Crenshaw's recent X thread as of this article.

Edited by Juhi Marzia