The Department of Justice has handed an indictment to Tenet Media and Lauren Chen. Three other conservative podcasters, Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and Dave Rubin, were unwittingly involved in a Russian propaganda scheme.
do you know where you get your news and
information from are you sure is this
Russia gate 2.0 as the new official
spokesman for go and do travel I want to
tell you all about this company and what
they have to offer latterday Saint
themed trips all over the world they've
got trips in me meico they've got trips
in the Caribbean here domestically with
church history trips in Europe you can
go to Turkey and Greece for New
Testament tours gospel on the Nile see
the temples of Rome Paris and London go
and do does an excellent job on these
tours and everyone always makes so many
new friends go to go andot
travel.com see what they have to offer
and put in the promo code quick CWI now
back to that information that you get in
a surprise ing twist three well-known
podcasters Tim P Benny Johnson and Dave
Rubin recently found themselves at the
center of a political controversy
involving Russian
money accusations of propaganda a US
Department of Justice
indictment but before we jump to
conclusions let's break down what's
actually happening the doj has accused a
Tennessee based company later identified
as tenant media this is from Lauren Chen
an influencer a conservative
influencer accused the company of
receiving nearly $1 million from
employees of
RT this is Russia's state-owned media
Network I've seen this in the US several
times in different areas that I've been
in if I if you travel overseas you may
see it as well according to the
indictment the goal was to promote
Kremlin friendly narratives ahead of the
2024 US presidential election
this is this keeps coming back over and
over again but this time it appears to
be real here's the kicker tenant media
host the content of P Tim P Benny
Johnson and Dave Rubin none of whom by
their own accounts had any clue about
the Russian funds they were getting paid
but they thought it was from some rich
guy in Paris they've all been quick to
deny any involvement painting themselves
as the unwitting victims of a MOS scow
backed scheme that appears to be what
has happened Tim P host of the culture
War podcast took to X formerly known as
Twitter to clear his name stating that
if these allegations turn out to be true
both he and the other commentators were
deceived in his post P emphasized that
his podcast existed long before tenant
media became involved and will continue
long after explaining that tenant's role
was merely to host the live broadcast on
its YouTube channel in other words Tim
P's podcast was simply duplicated and
broadcast on RT the Russian State Media
company and in true Tim pool fashion he
added a colorful remark about Russian
President Vladimir Putin
being well less than Charming Benny
Johnson another podcaster caught in this
mess shared a similar sentiment Johnson
explained that his company entered into
a typical business deal with tenant
media to provide content as an
independent contractor again these
podcasters were being paid millions of
dollars a year this was a deal that was
later
terminated disturbed by the disturbed by
the indictment he assured his followers
that he had no knowledge of any Shady
Financial backing and that his lawyers
were ready to deal with any suggestions
otherwise meanwhile Dave Rubin kept it
short and simple and said I knew
absolutely nothing about any of this
fraudulent activity period Ruben pointed
out that the doj has yet to contact him
about the matter and he has no further
plans to comment all of these channels
as of this recording are all still
operating on their podcast platforms and
on their YouTube channels those of
Lauren Chan and her husband and tenant
media have all been removed but again
this goes back to where are you getting
your information from from think about
how money could be given to your
favorite influencer we've seen kamla
Harris tried to do this in her campaign
and that's bad enough but getting money
from Russia or what about China Iran any
of our enemies pulling money to
individuals that have a large broad
audience this just muddies the waters
more we are going to have to continue to
work harder and harder to try and find
the signal among the noise who do you
trust this is a major black eye for
these conservative podcasters who were
apparently duped or at least adjacently
involved with this Russian money let's
get back to the doj here according to
the indictment tenet media received
substantial funds from costantine
Kalashnikov and Elena
afanaseva boy that was pretty good both
employees of RT who now face charges of
violating
the foreign agents registration act and
conspir conspiracy to commit money
laundering the doj alleges that RT
funneled this money to promote content
sympathetic to Russia's interests
especially concerning its ongoing war in
Ukraine and broader GE geopolitical Aim
so you could have Russia giving money to
influencers and here and there they drop
in a persuasive argument that Russia
should be supported or for undermining
Ukraine regardless of what you think of
the war it's propaganda attorney general
Merrick Garland explained that these
funds were part of a scheme to influence
public discourse in the US ahead of the
2024 election and here's the next
problem do you believe the Department of
Justice I mean this appears to be true
at first glance but it's not like the
doj hasn't been weaponized before
attorney general Garland stated that the
American people have the right to know
when foreign powers attempt to meddle in
the free exchange of ideas absolutely we
need to know that would they have
covered it up if it was money going to
the left who knows the indictment also
revealed that the podcasters and their
millions of followers were unaware of
tenant media's Russian
ties so they seem to absolve everybody
else outside of Lauren Chen now one
particularly alarming Revelation from
the indictment is that at one point RT
the Russian Media Station asked tenant
media to produce content linking a
terror attack in Moscow to Ukraine and
to the United States according to doj
documents tenants founder responded that
one of their commentators was happy to
cover it those are in quotation marks
happy to cover it it's this kind of
shadowy it's this kind of shadowy
manipulation that the doj is cracking
down on now where does this leave the
podcasters while the doj presses charges
against the RT employees P Johnson and
Ruben are Keen to distance themselves
from any wrongdoing they've been vocal
in asserting that they maintained full
editori editorial control over their
content and had no knowledge of any
Russian backing if anything the Scandal
underscores the complexity of modern
media operations again following the
source ing of information where does it
all come
from and even if it's not coming from
foreign influences or foreign
money where are
influencers getting their information
from and don't get me wrong I mean the
Legacy Media where are they getting
their information from it's almost
always from the talking points of Media
Matters it's propaganda it's no
different in a world where content
creators are according by networks and
platforms from all Corners the lines of
financial backing can sometimes blur
often with International implications
for now the podcasters in question
continue to deny any knowledge of
involvement Fram framing themselves as
unsuspecting players in a much larger
geopolitical game this case is just one
part of a larger story about foreign
influence in American politics as
Garland and the doj point pointed out
foreign powers particularly Russia have
been accused of meddling in US elections
before the 2024 election appears to be
no exception now again going back to
Russia gate branches of the doj being
involved with the steel dossier the
madeup problem from the Hillary Clinton
campaign and then the recent Revelation
from Mark Zuckerberg's letter talking
about how the Biden campaign and the FBI
had stated to them that it was Russia
and Russian Bots that were
influencing users of Instagram and
Facebook to support Donald Trump all
turned out to be a big fat lie not a
Russian lie a US political lie and here
we are again in an election year and
more problems more issues more garbage
to sort through the 2024 election
appears to be no exception and while the
podcasters tied to tenant media may have
been unknowingly swept up in this
Scandal it's clear that Russia's
playbook for influencing American
politics is
evolving according to the doj so what
happens next for now the spotlight is on
the doj as it continues its
investigation meanwhile P Johnson and
Ruben the podcasters will likely keep
doing what they do best creating content
making headlines and in this case trying
to clear their names in the age of
global media and political Intrigue this
story is a reminder that even your
favorite podcast hey could be might have
more going on behind the scenes than
meets the ear thanks for listening
