The Justice Department filed an indictment this week accusing Russian nationals of funneling millions of dollars into a U.S.-based online media company linked to several prominent right-wing commenters who have millions of conservative fans and are supporters of former President Donald Trump.
The DOJ asserted Wednesday that the alleged $10 million funneling operation was an effort by two employees of RT, a Russian government-backed media company, to disseminate pro-Russia propaganda and disinformation on social media platforms. The 32-page indictment does not explicitly name the “Tennessee-based online content creation company” that was allegedly duped into taking the money.
However, the company matches the description of Tenet Media, which launched in November 2023 and was advertised as a network featuring primarily six prominent right-leaning commentators. Their subject matters focused on “Western political and cultural issues,” according to the indictment, which labels the content creators as “victims” unwittingly duped by Tenet Media’s founders about alleged Russian funds being funneled into the company.
Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a meeting of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, at the Department of Justice in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The alleged scheme came to light as Attorney General Merrick Garland announced during a Wednesday press conference that the DOJ had also seized 32 internet domains that were being used in Russian government-directed campaigns to spread propaganda and influence elections in the United States and abroad, known as the “Doppelgänger takedown.” The Treasury Department also sanctioned a Russian nonprofit organization and a state media outlet for allegedly conducting disinformation campaigns.
“The sites we are seizing today were filled with Russian government propaganda that had been created by the Kremlin to reduce international support for Ukraine, bolster pro-Russian policies and interests, and influence voters in the United States and other countries,” Garland said Wednesday.
Here is what to know as the DOJ cracks down on alleged Russian disinformation plots:
How were these influencers allegedly duped?
Tenet Media features six alternative media commentators focused on right-wing and culture war topics, including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, and two others. Together, they have a cumulative following of roughly 7.6 million on YouTube.
.@WatchTENETnow launches November 6! I’m excited to be a part of the project.
Subscribe and follow everywhere: pic.twitter.com/plGljizC2H
— Matt Christiansen (@MLChristiansen) October 24, 2023
According to the DOJ, two Russian state media employees, Kostiantyn “Kostya” Kalashnikov and Elena “Lena” Afanasyeva, allegedly funneled $10 million into “U.S. Company 1,” which matches the description of Tenet Media, to produce English-language content that aligned with Russia’s interests, particularly in “amplifying divisions within the United States.”
The indictment specifies that the six right-wing influencers, who are not specifically named in the indictment, were not accused of any wrongdoing.
Instead, the DOJ suggests these influencers were misled by the company’s “Founders I and 2” about the source of their funding.
Who are Tenet Media’s founders?
Tenet Media’s founders are Lauren Chen and her husband, Liam Donovan. The latter identifies himself on X as the president of the media company.
The influencers asked the founders about the source of the company’s funding, and they were falsely informed that it came from a private investor named “Eduard Grigoriann,” who does not exist, according to the indictment.
Chen, who is from Canada, has her own following online and boasts roughly 580,000 followers on X, with a similar number of subscribers on YouTube. She also allegedly gained contacts with the RT employees when she wrote for the Russian outlet between March 2021 and February 2022, according to the indictment.
The female co-founder and content creator has promoted controversial views. She uploaded a video in April in which she admits she is “no fan of the 19th Amendment” right for women to vote and that “I don’t believe in democracy.”
Notably, Chen also made posts to X suggesting Trump had gone too soft on his abortion policy when he said he would veto an abortion ban, which some prominent X users, such as Mike Cernovich, said could alienate anti-abortion activists from supporting the former president.
Lauren Chen years ago was a delightful person. Over the years she leaned into division grifting. “Don’t vote Trump,” and, “Repeal the 19th.” This didn’t make sense to me. Its poisonous. Why not register men to vote? I don’t trust DOJ, but her shift to was notified by many.
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) September 4, 2024
“But saying you would go OUT OF YOUR WAY to veto an abortion ban?” Chen posted on Aug. 26. “That you’d potentially use your executive power to overturn Congressional legislation & the will of the people?? No. I’m done.”
Donovan, who sports a more low-profile online presence compared to Chen but is somewhat active on X, is accused alongside his wife of working with Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva to “mask” Tenet Media’s “true source of funding,” according to the indictment.
It is unclear why the DOJ has declined to charge Chen or Donovan at this time despite the alleged deceptive techniques they engaged in to mask the source of the funding.
Both Tenet Media founders have avoided posting to social media since the indictment came down on Wednesday.
How much did the influencers gain from this operation?
The indictment shows that some of the influencers were paid large amounts of money for their work.
For example, one unidentified influencer’s contract involved a $400,000 monthly fee, a $100,000 signing bonus, and an additional performance bonus, according to the indictment.
What have the influencers said in response?
Some members of the Tenet Media talent roster have publicly stated that they were unaware of any Russian involvement and claimed they were victims of deception.
Pool, for example, noted Wednesday evening that his Culture War Podcast was merely licensed by Tenet Media for broadcast on its YouTube channel and that he did not produce content directly for the company. In his own post on X, Pool said in part, “Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims.”
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
Rubin also characterized himself as a victim, noting, “I knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity. Period.”
Johnson remarked about the situation on X, emphasizing that he and other influencers were victims of the alleged scheme.
How did their content satisfy ‘Russian government’ actors?
The indictment reveals that even some employees at Tenet Media felt the content they were producing was too blatant in its messaging, with one producer saying it felt like “shilling.”
On Feb. 15, Afanasyeva, under the alias Helena Shudra, posted a video in a company Discord channel featuring what the indictment describes as “a well-known U.S. political commentator visiting a grocery store in Russia.” Although the commentator is not directly named, the description matches Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News prime-time host-turned-internet commentator who visited a grocery store in Russia and expressed enthusiasm and amazement at its quality. Carlson is not affiliated with Tenet Media.
Tucker Carlson’s video in a Russian grocery store was apparently deemed not subtle enough for a Russian influence operation. pic.twitter.com/gcWukmMfOY
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) September 4, 2024
According to the indictment, “Later that day, Producer-I privately messaged Founder-2 on Discord: ‘They want me to post this’—referencing the video that Afanasyeva posted—but ‘it just feels like overt shilling.’ Founder-2 replied that Founder-I ‘thinks we should put it out there.’ Producer-I acquiesced, responding, ‘alright I’ll put it out tomorrow.’”
Criticism and fallout since the indictment
Much of the Tenet Media influencers’ content focused on conservative viewpoints that coincidentally overlapped with Russian interests. For example, numerous critics, such as the online streamer Destiny, have been circulating an out-of-context clip of Pool’s separate Timcast show on his main YouTube channel in which he says, “Ukraine is our enemy being funded by the Democrats.”
awwww @Timcast is such a good lil’ Russian puppet 🥺🥺🥺 good job, komrade pic.twitter.com/vjQ3fg2vBo
— Destiny (@TheOmniLiberal) August 24, 2024
“Now don’t get me wrong, I know, you’ve got criminal elements of the U.S. government pushing them and guiding them and telling them what to do,” Pool said in the clip in reference to Ukraine, which was highlighted by Destiny on Aug. 24.
Meanwhile, Pool’s social media comments both on YouTube and X have been filled with users accusing him of aligning with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while other users have accused the Biden-Harris administration of using the power of the DOJ to make conservative influencers look traitorous and bolster disproven links between Trump and the Kremlin that arose as part of the “Russiagate” scandal in 2016.
Pool, who made his claim to fame by touting himself as a “disaffected liberal” who became jaded to the two-party system following the Occupy Wall Street movement, has, in recent years, trended toward supporting Trump and his policies. However, he regularly criticizes politicians on the Left and the Right.
In response to the recent indictments, Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday by posting that the Biden-Harris administration is “resurrecting the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and trying to say that Russia is trying to help me, which is absolutely FALSE.”
Trump also attacked Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who was with Garland during his press conference on Wednesday, saying she is “at it again, leading A.G. Merrick Garland down an empty and Country destroying path…”
Could more Russia-fueled indictments come before the election?
The DOJ on Thursday announced two new indictments against a pair of Virginia-based homeowners who are also from Russia, accusing them of participating in a scheme to “violate U.S. sanctions for the benefit of sanctioned Russian broadcaster Channel One Russia and to launder funds obtained from that scheme.”
A press release notes the pair, who are in a relationship and are believed to be in Russia, were charged with conspiring to give services to receive and launder more than $1 million from a sanctioned Russian broadcaster. The second indictment alleges another sanctions violation involving sanctioned oligarch Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Udodov.
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Also on Thursday, the DOJ expanded its indictment against one civilian and five Russian Federation officers who were initially charged in June over an alleged conspiracy to destroy Ukrainian and NATO systems.
Garland said Wednesday that the DOJ is committed to preventing foreign powers from “manipulating the free exchange of ideas” in the U.S. to further their own propaganda efforts.
