Several prominent conservative online commentators are at the center of allegations surrounding Tenet Media, a company the Department of Justice is accusing of receiving millions of dollars from Russia illegally, but there is a glaring and disturbing double standard – and it all leads back to Beijing.

A DOJ indictment released on Wednesday lays out charges against two Russian nationals, allegedly employees of Russia’s state-run broadcaster Russia Today (RT), claiming they funneled money from Russia into overseas shell companies and then to Tenet Media.

So far, the DOJ has indicted the two Russians with FARA violations and money laundering. The DOJ claims that they were using the platform to have well-known right-wing influencers push a pro-Russian or anti-Ukraine narrative.

The indictment claims most influencers were tricked into thinking the millions of dollars came from a European investor named Eduard Grigoriann. It later claimed that this was a fictional persona used by the Russians.

Tenet was founded by commentator Lauren Chen and her husband, Liam Donovan. While the indictment does not name the pair, it claims “Founder-1” and “Founder-2” knew the money was coming from Russia. It adds that both concealed this information from other commentators.

Chen has already faced consequences for her alleged role. On Thursday, she was fired from Blaze Media, and all of her pages on Turning Point USA have also been deleted.

Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and Dave Rubin have taken to social media, specifically X, and denied knowing anything about Tenet’s funding source, stating that they are victims.

Pool reiterated this on Thursday, writing, “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.”

So far, no indictments have been levied against Chen and her husband, but the indictment notes that the FBI is still investigating the case.

VOICE OF EUROPE.

The case is similar to that of the Voice of Europe, a much smaller populist online outlet accused of pushing Russian talking points. Czech authorities announced the investigation just before the European elections earlier this year.

Several members of the European Parliament were investigated for allegedly taking bribes from the outlet, but so far, no charges have been filed. Two Ukrainian businessmen, Viktor Medvedchuk and Artem Marchevskyi, were, however, sanctioned by the European Union.

In both cases, authorities announced the alleged wrongdoing only months before significant elections. Both of these have seen anti-establishment politicians, many of which are skeptical of the Ukraine war, surging in the polls.

However, mainstream media journalists and commentators who court certain other nations’ favor, influence, or money have been entirely left alone.

FINE CHINA?

Over the last several years, many mainstream journalists have participated in outright propaganda events from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

This included MSM links to the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) and ‘BLJ Worldwide,’ which were exposed in 2020.

Journalists were given sponsored travel by CUSEF, private dinners, and other amenities in what were called “familiarization trips” to China.

That same year, CNN and the New York Times cooperated with the Tsinghua University journalism school, which claims to produce “Marxist journalism.” They gave the school access to internships and equipment.

China’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs has funded subsidized trips for mainstream media journalists for over 25 years as part of the China-United States Journalism Exchange, linked to the CUSEF.

Since the 1990s, outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Public Radio (NPR), CNN, Reuters, POLITICO, and others have participated in the trips.

Universities had divested from CUSEF by late 2020, but FARA filings indicated that mainstream media outlets had not.

Despite this, there has been little to no pushback against the various outlets for maintaining such close cooperation with China, and laundering their propaganda – via major corporations and their thousands of “reporters” – into the United States. Strange, isn’t it?