Popular Conservatives Allegedly Tricked Into $10M Russian Influence Campaign: DOJ

It looks like we're doing September surprises now...

The DOJ has accused several conservative influencers of unwittingly working for a Kremlin-funded media outlet.

A federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday alleges that a Tennessee-based media company, later identified as Tenet Media, received nearly $10 million from employees of Russian state-backed media company, Russia Today (RT), as part of "a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging."

The DOJ claims that RT and two of its employees - Kostiantyn “Kostya” Kalashnikov and Elena “Lena” Afanasyeva - worked to funnel money to Tenet Media as part of a series of "covert projects" aimed at shaping narratives within Western audiences.

The indictment specifically notes that the influencers - including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin and Lauren Southern - had no idea they were taking Russian money, and were deceived. They were told by Tenet founder Lauren Chen - who allegedly knew the true source of the funds - that the money was from a wealthy private investor named "Eduard Grigoriann."

At least one of the influencers asked for a profile on Grigoriann before signing a contract - and was given a fabricated one-page profile.

This was apparently sufficient, as two of the commentators (believed to be Tim Pool and Benny Johnson) signed contracts which paid Pool $100,000 per podcast, while Johnson was paid $400,000 per month plus a $100,000 signing bonus for "four weekly videos."

While Pool and Johnson have issued statements (below), it's been pointed out that Lauren Chen has recently been trying to divide Donald Trump's base...

In a Wednesday statement on X, Pool says that should the allegations prove true, "I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims," and ends by telling haters to "eat my irish ass."

Johnson says "Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated," adding "We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme."

We're sure the timing of this, two months before the election, was a total coincidence. How long has the DOJ been sitting on this? Why did it drop a day after we learned that a Chinese spy was working for NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, or that Poole was going to sue Kamala Harris for defamation?

And of course, the NeverTrumpers like Rick Wilson are giddy with joy...