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Updated

The U.S. Justice Department took a series of actions this week aimed to expose Russian influence operations. Here’s a look at what happened: 

EMPIRE OF COVERT PROJECTS: RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, the propaganda queen who runs the Russian state-controlled media outlet, has bragged that she created an “entire empire of covert projects” designed to shape opinion in the West.

Moscow Mule: RT’s tough talking boss Margarita Simonyan is a Putin favorite. (Yelena Razina / Roscongress Photobank)

According to an indictment unsealed Wednesday, one of those covert projects was an online content creation company based in Tennessee that was funded over the past year with nearly $10 million in the Kremlin’s money, laundered through a network of foreign shell companies. 

The company wasn’t named in the indictment, but reporters quickly found it matched the description of Tenet Media, which hosts videos by well-known conservative commentators Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and others. 

In the uproar, both Pool and Johnson claimed they were unwitting victims. Very well-paid victims, we might point out. According to the indictment, “Commentator-1”—whose 2.4 million YouTube subscriber numbers matched Johnson’s—was paid $400,000 a month for four weekly videos, plus a $100,000 signing bonus. “Someone please victimize me with $400k a month,” cracked lawyer Damin Toell on X.  

The truth is that Russia probably didn’t need to pay these right-wing, pro-Trump shouters. They would have dumped on Ukraine and pushed Russia’s interests regardless of who paid them.