Pro-Trump Media Firm Abruptly Folds After Russia Scheme Exposed

Tenet Media is Gone.

The conservative media network collapsed Thursday night, just a day after the Justice Department unsealed an indictment accusing it of funding Russian state-controlled media outlets, according to Tenet Media field reporter Tyler Hansen.

The indictment accused Tenet and its founders of receiving nearly $10 million from Russia Today employees as part of a “scheme to create and distribute content to the American public with hidden messages from the Russian government,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.

The company’s founders, Canadian Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovon, have yet to publicly comment on the scandal. The fallout from the alleged propaganda scheme led to Chen losing her radio job at another far-right media group, Blaze Media, which has already removed episodes of its podcast from Spotify and deleted its contributions page from its website. Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardone told Semaphore that the conservative broadcaster had been “fired.”

Russian money has helped fund videos by prominent far-right figures, including podcast host Tim Poole and Lauren Southern. Paul has since described himself as a “victim” of the Tenet scandal.

“The FBI has contacted me as a potential victim of a crime. The FBI believes I have information relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation and have requested a voluntary interview. I will be offering my assistance in this matter,” Paul posted on X on Thursday.

YouTube also removed Tenet Media content from its platform “after careful consideration” following the indictment, telling NBC News that its decision to remove the channel and its affiliates was part of “ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations.”

Tenet is just the latest iteration of the Russian-backed disinformation campaign plaguing American politics, but it’s a sign of how important a foreign country’s budget in 2024 will be to influence the November election.