How MAGA media figures are 'scrambling' after DOJ’s bombshell Russia indictment

10 September 2024

In early September, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had been investigating the connection between a right-wing media company and pro-Kremlin operatives in Moscow. Employees of the Kremlin-funded, Moscow-based Russia Today (RT), Garland alleged in an indictment, were involved in a $10 million scheme "to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging."

The U.S. company, according to the Daily Beast, is Tennessee-based Tenet Media and is referred to as "U.S. Company 1" in an unsealed DOJ indictment.

Tenet was co-founded by far-right Lauren Chen, known for her work with radio host Glenn Beck's The Blaze.

In his September 9 column, MSNBC's Ja'han Jones details the ways in which pro-Donald Trump media figures and MAGA "influencers" and activists have been "scrambling" since the Tenet/DOJ story broke.

"An author page for Lauren Chen is no longer available on the webpage for far-right activist Charlie Kirk's organization, Turning Point USA," Jones observes. "Along with her husband, Chen co-founded a company, Tenet Media, that's at the heart of the DOJ indictment. YouTube took down several Tenet Media channels, and one field reporter said the outlet has 'ended' after the feds alleged Chen and her husband knowingly used it to funnel millions of dollars from Russian officials to right-wing content creators who were paid to push far-right and pro-Kremlin talking points."

Jones adds, "Chen and her husband weren't charged as part of the indictment, leading people such as MSNBC contributor Andrew Weissman to suggest she may be cooperating with the feds. Conservative news site The Blaze, which previously employed Chen, has fired her following the indictment."

The MSNBC columnist notes that Turning Point "seems to have determined one course of action at this point is to paper over its links to Chen in the wake of her appearance in the DOJ report."

"Other MAGA influencers seem a bit nervous about what else may be coming down the pipe," Jones observes. "One wonders if that has anything to do with an unsealed affidavit released last week alleging a Kremlin-backed agency had nearly 600 U.S.-based influencers in its sights as it waged an online-based election manipulation operation in the United States. One can only imagine what the group chats are looking like in MAGA World these days."

Ja'han Jones' full MSNBC column is available at this link.

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