Lara Trump tells Benny Johnson the indictment over Russian media funding may have been politically motivated

Lara Trump to Benny Johnson: "You know we're in election season, Benny, whenever they're bringing Russia back up and trying to make some sort of a connection between Republicans and Russia.”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From a September 11, 2024, video posted to Benny Johnson's YouTube page

BENNY JOHNSON (HOST): Look at this. And in closing, the Justice Department, "Undocumented Individual Charged in Connection with Voter Fraud." Goodness. Lara, this mixed with the Arizona news, that sounds like foreign interference in our elections.

LARA TRUMP (GUEST): Mhmm.

JOHNSON: And we stand against that. Goodness gracious.

TRUMP: Yeah. We sure do stand against that.

JOHNSON: Yes.

TRUMP: And by the way, you know we're in election season, Benny, whenever they're bringing Russia back up and trying to make some sort of a connection between Republicans and Russia.

Let's be very clear. American citizens are the only ones who should be deciding American elections, period. We can all agree on that, and I would love to see more prosecutions of people who are interfering, who are not American citizens in whatever form that takes.

We love to see that sort of thing.

JOHNSON: Yeah. Let me know where I can help. I would love that. True foreign interference in our elections.

TRUMP: Yeah.

As Matt Gertz recently wrote for MSNBC.com:

Prominent right-wing influencers Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson and Tim Pool have huge followings on YouTube and a fondness for the Trumpist talking point that allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election on the former president’s behalf are a “hoax.” That’s not all they have in common: They also reportedly enjoyed lucrative deals with a content creation company that was a front for Russian propagandists.

The Justice Department indicted two employees of the Russian propaganda outlet RT on Wednesday, charging them with laundering almost $10 million through foreign shell companies and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The DOJ alleges this was done “to covertly fund and direct” a media company that produced videos whose content and subject matter were “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.”

...

The indictment states two of the commentators were deceived about the source of the funding; the trio all described themselves as unwitting “victims” of the operation in separate statements on social media. But the Tenet Media saga demonstrates once again that Russian election interference is not, as these commentators and their allies have insisted, a “hoax.” It is a fact, a deliberate and ongoing operation by the Kremlin to sway U.S. politics. And the Trumpist right’s yearslong quest to rebut that reality have ended up ensuring that their entire information ecosystem is honeycombed with Russian propaganda.