Tim Pool and other Tenet Media hosts say they are ‘victims’ after DOJ indictment alleges Russian influence operation

An indictment issued by the Justice Department on Wednesday accused Russia of leveraging American right-wing commentators and podcast hosts to churn out propaganda ahead of the November presidential election.

Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, two employees of Russian state media broadcaster RT, were charged in the indictment with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Their scheme, according to the indictment, was to covertly fund and help produce pro-Russian social media videos featuring the American hosts associated with the conservative, Nashville, Tenn.-based media company Tenet Media.

In response to the indictment, the popular right-wing hosts claimed Friday that they were not aware of any reported Russian ties and were “victims” of the alleged scheme.

On Thursday, Tenet Media abruptly shut down, and YouTube pulled its popular channel from the platform.

“Following an indictment from the US Department of Justice and after careful review, we are terminating the Tenet Media channel and four channels operated by its owner Lauren Chen as part of our ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations,” YouTube said in a statement.

As Tenet Media’s U.S. fan base grapples with the shutdown of the brand, which had hundreds of thousands of followers, here’s what we know about the indictment.

What does the indictment against Tenet Media allege?

Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva, both of whom are based in Moscow, are alleged to have funneled almost $10 million to Tenet Media for the creation of pro-Russian videos.

While Tenet Media was not specifically named in the indictment, readers and internet sleuths connected the descriptions in its pages to the conservative brand the indictment stated had been founded in 2022. Tennessee business records show Tenet was incorporated on Jan. 19, 2022.

“While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, the subject matter and content of the videos are often consistent with the Government of Russia’s interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition to core Government of Russia interests, such as its ongoing war in Ukraine,” the indictment states.

In one example, the Justice Department claims that Afanasyeva — under the name “Helena Shudra” — messaged one of the Tenet founders in March to ask that a creator “record something about [the] Moscow terror attack,” referring to the ISIS attack on a music venue in Moscow that killed over 130 people.

Tenet personalities claim they are 'victims'

In response to the indictment, several of the conservative personalities seen across Tenet channels and social media accounts have spoken out alleging they were not aware of any Russian connections during their time working with the media brand, and the indictment also paints them as unwitting accomplices.

Commentators associated with Tenet Media include Benny Johnson, a former BuzzFeed politics writer who got caught plagiarizing in 2015; Dave Rubin, creator and host of his own YouTube talk show with over 2.5 million subscribers; Tim Pool, host of The Culture War with Tim Pool podcast, and conservative hosts Tayler Hansen and Matt Christiansen.

Combined, those hosts have more than 7 million YouTube subscribers and more than 7 million followers on X. Before the indictment, Tenet Media’s since-deleted YouTube channel had over 315,000 subscribers.

Tenet Media founders, Chen and her husband Liam Donovan, are accused of knowingly receiving funds from the Russian government. They have not publicly addressed the allegations.

On Thursday night, Hansen shared on X that Tenet Media “has ended” following the indictment.

Pool, who interviewed former President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his Tenet Media-licensed podcast in May, has said he was being “deceived” and was a “victim” of Tenet’s arrangement with Russia.

“Never at any point did anyone other than I have full editorial control of the show and the contents of the show are often apolitical,” he wrote.

Johnson also responded to the indictment, writing, “We are disturbed by the allegations” and “myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme.”