hree prominent podcasters have insisted they had no knowledge a U.S. network hosting their content allegedly received nearly $10 million from Russian state media employees seeking to influence the 2024 presidential election.Tim Pool, Benny Johnson and Dave Rubin all strongly denied any wrongdoing and described themselves as “victims” of the purportedly Moscow-backed scheme.
According to a Department of Justice indictment, an unidentified Tennessee-based company received nearly $10 million from two employees of RT, a media network owned by the Russian state.
CNN said it had “independently confirmed” that the company was Tenet Media, a content creation platform that hosts shows for Pool, Johnson and Rubin.
The indictment claimed the scheme was created to “recruit unwitting American influencers” who would promote Kremlin sympathetic narratives ahead of November’s presidential election.
In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, The Culture War podcast host Pool wrote: “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.”
He added: “That being said, we still do not know what is true as these are only allegations. Putin is a scumbag, Russia sucks donkey b****.”
Johnson wrote: “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.” Rubin commented: “These allegations clearly show that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme. I knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity. Period.”
He added: “The DoJ has never contacted me regarding this matter and I have no intention to comment further.”
Newsweek contacted Tenet Media and RT for comment outside of regular working hours.
On Wednesday, the Justice Department charged Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, both Russia based employees of RT, with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The pair are accused of dispersing nearly $10 million to help promote online content they deem sympathetic to the Kremlin’s aims.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said: “We allege that as part of that effort, RT and its employees, including the defendants, implemented a nearly $10 million scheme to fund and direct a Tennessee-based company to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government.”
Referring to FARA, he later added: “That law, enacted nearly a century ago, was enacted to ensure the American people were informed when a foreign power engages with political activities or seeks to influence public discourse.”The American people are entitled to know when a foreign power is attempting to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to send around its own propaganda.”
Garland confirmed the political commentators were not informed they were being backed by Russian state linked funding, commenting: “The company never disclosed to the influencers—or to their millions of followers —its ties to RT and the Russian government.”
According to the indictment, at one point an RT employee asked the Tennessee company to create content linking the Crocus City Hall terror attack, which took place on March 22 in Moscow, to Ukraine and the United States. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the incident which killed 145 people. A founder of the company said one of their commentators was “happy to cover it” in reply.
In August, the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said they believed Iran was behind a hacking attack targeted at Trump’s presidential campaign.They said: “As each of us has indicated in prior public statements, Iran seeks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.”
