Right-wing media group fires contributor after she allegedly took Russian cash

Right-wing media company Blaze Media has ended its relationship with contributor Lauren Chen one day after the United States Department of Justice alleged that she took cash from Russia to covertly push pro-Kremlin propaganda.

Semafor reports that Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardon said that Chen's contract "has been terminated" after she was implicated in a scheme to get conservative influencers such as Tim Pool and Dave Rubin to unwittingly parrot Russian talking points about the war in Ukraine and other topics.

Neither Chen nor her husband, Liam Donovan, were charged in the alleged scheme, which has led to speculation from some legal experts that they are cooperating with the government's case.

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As Semafor notes, the revelations about the right-wing influencers don't come in a vacuum, as they show once again how Russia is trying to influence American politics.

"In fact, Russia invests heavily in interfering with American and European elections, and the Wikileaks operation in 2016 played a major role in that election. But Russia’s investment in fake social media campaigns and, in this case, real right-wing influencers largely served to amplify — and it’s unclear how effectively — existing forces in American politics. Wednesday’s indictment was at the same time shocking and unsurprising, revealing a Russian media operation with, above all, a big budget for the 2024 contest.