Here come the Russians: It’s 2016 and déjà vu all over again

Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, September 5, 2024 Contract With Our Readers

So, now that the 2024 election is closing in, what else does the Left have up its sleeve?

It’s nothing new, just another sequel to The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.

The Department of Justice on Wednesday indicted Russian nationals Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva “with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.” The indictment was unsealed in the Southern District of New York and both RT employees are currently at large.

Attorney General Merrick Garland alleged in a statement that Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva were creators of a $10 million “scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.”

The charge is that RT, previously known as Russia Today, is accused of laundering $10 million to fund Tenet Media, a Nashville-based company founded and owned by influencer Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Davidson.

“Tenet funded content creators who already had their own properties and programming and backed their efforts. Tenet also created its own content on social media platforms. This content, Garland claims, was intended to sow division in the American public,” The Post Millennial noted in a Sept. 5 report.

It’s déjà vu all over again for the leftist media which dutifully gave blanket coverage to Garland’s latest Russia obsession.

Posted Jack Posobiec:

The craziest thing about Russia allegdly paying influencers is that 2 months ago a crazed leftist almost blew Donald Trump’s head off on live TV after Joe Biden declined security requests and the media totally stopped talking about it.

[Independent media and government watchdog group Judicial Watch haven’t stopped. Following up on reports that the Biden Secret Service denied Trump’s requests for additional Secret Service protection, Judicial Watch announced on Sept. 3 it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for all Secret Service and other records regarding potential increased protective services to former President Trump’s security detail prior to the attempt on his life at his July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.]

The DOJ’s indictment states: “RT is a Russian state-funded and state-directed media outlet. As RT’s editor-in-chief has publicly acknowledged, ‘since RT receives budget from the state, it must complete tasks given by the state.’ For nearly two decades, RT has promoted the objectives of the Government of Russia by publishing disinformation and propaganda, leveraging its international network to amplify the Government of Russia’s message to foreign audiences, and using its guise as a conventional media outlet to lend credibility to that message.”

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The charges against Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva are “conspiracy to violate FARA, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.”

Head of RT Margarita Simonyan posted on X, mocking the DOJ and the indictment: “There’s one thing I don’t understand: if they finally kick us out, how will they conduct the next elections? They have no other scenarios at all, except to sink the competitor, scaring the penguins with his connections with the almighty RT.”

Tim Pool, whose Culture War YouTube show has been sponsored by Tenet Media, released a statement on X: “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.

“The Culture War Podcast was licensed by Tenet Media, it existed well before any license agreement with Tenet and it will continue to exist after any such agreement expires. The only change with the agreement was that the location of the live broadcast moved to Tenet’s Youtube Channel. I and TCW never produced any content for Tenet Media. Never at any point did anyone other than I have full editorial control of the show and the contents of the show are often apolitical. Examples include discussing spirituality, dating, and videos games.

“The show is produced in its entirety by our local team without input from anyone external to the company TCW is separate company not associated with http://Timcast.com or other properties. It exists solely for the production of the Culture War Podcast. That being said, we still do not know what is true as these are only allegations. Putin is a scumbag, Russia sucks donkey balls. And to the journalists who wish to jump the gun, create their own narrative, or lie about what is currently going on, you can eat my irish ass.”

Benny Johnson, who also had content on Tenet, said in a statement on X: “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 indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme. My lawyers will handle anyone who states or suggests otherwise.”

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