U.S. conservative media company funded by Russian interests, alleges DOJ

Tennessee-based Tenet Media, a platform for conservative political commentators, was named in an indictment Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly being involved in a scheme led by Russian interests to spread divisive propaganda.
According to Fox News, RT, a Russian state media outlet, funneled nearly $10 million into an unidentified entity referred to as Company-1.
Two RT employees, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, are accused of orchestrating the operation. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
“Many of the videos published by U.S. Company-1 contain commentary on events and issues in the United States, such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy,” the indictment states.
“While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, the subject matter and content of the videos are often consistent with the Government of Russia’s interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition to core Government of Russia interests, such as its ongoing war in Ukraine,” it added.
Tenet Media was later identified as Company-1. On its website, the company describes itself as “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues. Our goal is to support creators who question institutions that believe themselves to be above questioning.”
Liam Donovan, is the president of Tenet Media, which he founded along with his wife Lauren Chen, a social media influencer with more than 500,000 followers on YouTube, according to CNN. Her YouTube channel has been taken down.
BlazeTV, a conservative media platform, also removed Chen’s show “Pseudo-Intellectual” following the indictment. BlazeTV is part of Blaze Media, founded by radio host Glenn Beck.
“Following an indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice and after careful review, we are terminating the Tenet Media channel and four channels operated by its owner Lauren Chen as part of our ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations,” Tyler Cardon, the chief executive of Blaze Media, said in a statement to CNN.
The list of political commentators associated with Tenet Media includes well-known figures such as Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson. None have been accused of wrongdoing, per Fox News.
All three have issued statements on social media since the indictment.
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.”
“These allegations clearly show that I and other commentators were the victims of this scheme,” Rubin stated.
Johnson added: “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.”
When contacted by Fox News Digital for comment, RT said in response: “Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT’s interference in the U.S. elections,” as well as, “We gotta earn our Kremlin paycheck somehow.”