Russia hoax 2.0 incoming.
Earlier today the Biden-Harris Regime announced it was launching a “whole government action” to purge so-called ‘Russian propaganda’ and ‘disinformation’ ahead of the 2024 election.
Biden accused Russia of a sustained effort to influence the election, according to CNN and NBC News.
Then this afternoon the Department of Justice announced employees from Russia Today media outlet in a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.
Crooked AG Merrick Garland announced, “The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing.”
According to the indictment, “RT, formerly known as Russia Today, is a state-controlled media outlet funded and directed by the Government of Russia. Over at least the past year, RT and its employees, including Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva, deployed nearly $10 million to covertly finance and direct a Tennessee-based online content creation company (U.S. Company-1). In turn, U.S. Company-1 published English-language videos on multiple social media channels, including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube. Since publicly launching in or about November 2023, U.S. Company-1 has posted nearly 2,000 videos that have garnered more than 16 million views on YouTube alone. Many of the videos posted by U.S. Company-1 contain commentary on events and issues in the U.S., such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy. While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, most are directed to the publicly stated goals of the Government of Russia and RT — to amplify domestic divisions in the United States.”
According to the Biden DOJ, the RT employees paid Tenet Media, a media startup company linked to conservative heavyweights Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, and Taylor Hanson.
The reaction today by conservatives was swift.
Tim Pool released a statement denying the allegations.
My statement regarding allegations and the DOJ Indictment
Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims. I cannot speak for anyone else at the company as to what they do or to what they are instructed…
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) September 4, 2024
Benny Johnson also denied the accusations by the Biden DOJ.
A statement on the leaked DOJ indictment today:
A year ago, a media startup pitched my company to provide content as an independent contractor. Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated. We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s…
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 4, 2024
Tayler Hansen released a statement from a whistleblower proving he was a setup.
: … pic.twitter.com/Wn8T07pYWe
— Tayler Hansen (@TaylerUSA) December 29, 2023
We will be updating on this breaking story…
** Here is the copy of the indictment.
The Daily Dot reported:
A media start-up from reactionaries luminaries such as Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, and others secretly received funding from Russia, a new federal indictment alleges.
The Department of Justice charged two employees of Russia Today with violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), saying they participated in “a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.”
The press release from the DOJ says that “Russian state broadcaster RT orchestrated a massive scheme to influence the American public by secretly planting and financing a content creation company on U.S. soil.”
Was Tenet Media funded by Russia?
Although the company isn’t listed in the indictment, context clues reveal it is most likely Tenet Media.
“On its website, U.S. Company-I describes itself as a ‘network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues’ and identifies six commentators— including Commentator-I and Commentator-2—as its ‘talent,’” the indictment alleges.
On YouTube, Tenet Media describes itself as “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.”
Its homepage highlights six commentators: Rubin, Johnson, Pool, Southern, as well as Tayler Hansen and Matt Christiansen.
The indictment also highlights one of the founders of Tenet, Lauren Chen, claiming she worked to deceive the commentators about the funding of the group.
Chen is listed as a contributor on Russia Today’s site, which is mentioned in the indictment.
In the indictment, the incorporation dates line up with Tenet Media’s creation. The indictment also calls out two specific commentators whose followings on social media align with that of Pool and either Rubin or Johnson.
“Founder-I and Founder-2 also worked together to deceive two U.S. online commentators (“Commentator-I” and “Commentator-2″), who respectively have over 2.4 million and 1.3 million YouTube subscribers.”
On YouTube, Rubin has 2.44 million and Johnson has 2.39 million. Pool has 1.37 million followers.
On Oct. 23, 2023, Pool highlighted the launch of Tenet.
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