Kremlin-backed RT network believed to be key player in Russian campaign
The Biden administration is expected to accuse Russia of orchestrating a sustained effort to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election by spreading misinformation targeting American voters through state-run media and other online platforms.
Fox News confirmed that Russia-linked entities will be targeted by the Justice Department. A CNN report stated that Kremlin-backed RT TV network is expected to be named by the Justice Department as one of the key players in the covert campaign.
When asked by Fox News Digital for its reaction to the allegations, RT said, "We certainly have a reaction. Actually, we had several, but we couldn't decide on one (we even thought of running an office poll), so here they are."
"2016 called and it wants its clichés back," was among them, as were: "Three things are certain in life: death, taxes and RT's interference in the U.S. elections," "We gotta earn our Kremlin paycheck somehow," and "Somewhere Secretary Clinton is sad that it's not because of her."
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during Russian-Mongolian talks on Sept. 3 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The White House is accusing the Kremlin of orchestrating a misinformation campaign targeting American voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election. ((Photo by Contributor/Getty Images))
The move comes after the Justice Department made RT register as a "foreign agent" in 2017.
The agency said at the time that "T&R Productions, LLC (T&R), a Washington, D.C., corporation, registered... with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as an agent for ANO TV-Novosti, the Russian government entity responsible for the worldwide broadcasts of the RT Network (RT).
"Since August 2014, T&R has operated studios for RT, hired and paid all U.S.-based RT employees, and produced English-language programming for RT, which is both shown on cable networks across the United States and available on RT’s website," it also said.
Former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Rebekah Koffler previously told Fox News Digital that RT and other propaganda abroad were part of the permanent cyber warfare Russia wages on the West.
"They don't just wage propaganda in a time of war, during a conflict," she said in 2022. "They wage it during peacetime. They constantly malign the United States and misrepresent foreign policy objectives … I'm just saying that tilts the level playing field towards Russia when we allow their propaganda channels to broadcast in an unfettered [way]."
"RT is 100% a Russia government-controlled channel and its sole intent is to predispose the American population and wherever they are broadcasting towards the Russian point of view and to present the events on the ground as the Russians want the rest of the world to see them, so if the United States did not want that to happen then it would be appropriate to shut down the channel," Koffler added.
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.
