Influencer accused of colluding with Russia refuses to answer

A Canadian influencer who was accused of colluding with Russia in a propaganda campaign refused to answer officials' questions as she's being facing potential charges in the US. 

Lauren Chen appeared before the Canadian House of Commons' Public Safety and National Security Committee on Tuesday after she was linked to allegations from the US Justice Department. 

To the fury of parliamentarians, Chen continuously uttered the same nine words after every question for 45 minutes: 'For the reasons already given, I have no comment,' according to CBC. 

The reason behind her silence was the US indictment of influencers and an unnamed company believed to be Tenet, which is owned by Chen and her husband, Liam Donovan. 

The DOJ accuses two Russian nationals of setting up a conservative media outlet to push pro-Kremlin propaganda in the States. 

'Both Canada and the United States strongly value the right to be free from self-incrimination,' Chen said in her opening statements, according to CBC. 

Chen gave the nine-word response even when asked to confirm her name and citizenship, leading to many politicians to become frustrated with her refusal to cooperate. 

'Ms. Chen, unfortunately I feel, is making a farce of this committee,' Raquel Dancho said during the meeting. 

Pam Damoff, a liberal MP, said she was 'deeply, deeply disturbed' by Chen's behavior. 

Due to her refusal to answer, the committee sent a vote to the House of Commons on a breach of privilege against Chen, who may be forced to appeal in front of them. 

If the House agrees, she could be ordered to appear 'before the bar,' according to CBC. 

The DOJ have alleged conservative influencers were 'duped' into working with Russian assets as they raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars for their videos under a sprawling $10 million 'covert project' by Kremlin-backed RT, federal officials said. 

The bombshell indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York in September accuses RT employees Konstantin Kalashnikov and Elena of Afanasyeva of implementing a plan to shell out nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based company to churn out videos 'consistent' with the Kremlin's 'interest in amplifying US domestic divisions.'

Though the indictment does not name the Tennessee-based media company, its details match up exactly with Tenet Media - which employs well-known conservative personalities like Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson.

The influencers were unaware of the scheme, and at least two of them were provided false information about the source of the company's funding.

'The company never disclosed to the influencers or to their millions of followers [its] ties to RT and the Russian government,' Attorney General Merrick Garland said as he announced the charges against the RT employees for conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

'Instead, the defendants and the company claimed that the company was sponsored by a private investor, but that private investor was a fictitious persona,' Garland said.

They were told that the company was sponsored by a private investor named 'Eduard Grigoriann,' whom the defendants described as an 'accomplished financial professional' who held positions at a multinational bank in both Brussels and France, according to NBC News.

In their own online communications, however, the founders of the company allegedly referred to their backers as 'the Russians.'

The indictment claims the conservative voices were raking in large sums of money from the Russian duo.

It said that a whopping $8.7 million was sent 'to the production companies of Commentator-1, Commentator-2 and Commentator-3 alone.'

Commentator-1 is now believed to be Dave Rubin, while Commentator-2 is likely Tim Pool. It is unclear from the description in the indictment who Commentator-3 may be.

An exchange cited in the indictment also claims Commentator-1 said the contract 'would need to be closer to $5 million a year for him to be interested,' while Commentator-2 said it 'would take $100,000 per weekly episode to make it worth his while.'

One of Tenet's founders allegedly said the $100,000 fee would be 'very hard' for the company to 'recoup the costs' based on ad revenue from web traffic or sponsors alone, but they decided to move forward with the agreement anyway, NBC reports.

Another unidentified influencer's contract, meanwhile, reportedly included a $400,000 monthly fee, a $100,000 signing bonus and an additional performance bonus.

Eventually, payments from the Russians allegedly made up 90 percent of the deposits made to the company's accounts.

As the money poured in, the indictment claims the Russian backers pushed Tenet's US commentators to share Russian-funded content with their larger audiences.

They even openly worried about how few of their 'raw videos' were being posted by certain of the company's talent, the indictment says.

Still, Tenet became a home for staunch pro-Trump voices, with many of its commentators interviewing the former president and his family while railing against US funding for Ukraine and downplaying the events of January 6, 2021.

Pool, who hosted Trump on his podcast earlier this year, posted on X last month that 'Ukraine is our enemy' in response to an allegation that a Ukrainian man was involved in the 2022 undersea explorations that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.

Rubin, a self-described libertarian who was previously part of the liberal news commentary show The Young Turks, has also been a vocal critic of Ukraine, arguing they 'can't win' the war against Russia.

But the conservative influencers have since insisted they had no knowledge of the Tenet's ties to Russia, as its six main conservative voices amassed more than 7million subscribers on YouTube and more than 7 million followers on X.