Trump is embracing a fringe American news outlet that has no problem pushing Russian propaganda: report

President Donald Trump has become a big fan of a fringe American news network which has no problem pushing Russian propaganda -- and that could have implications for the 2020 election, reports the Daily Beast.

According to the report, One America News Network (OANN) based in San Diego, has been "embracing some of Moscow’s most vile fake news," with reports on Syria -- among others -- that are favorable to President Vladimir Putin.

The report notes that the president has hyped up reports from OANN -- once the home of Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren and ex-Trump aide Corey Lewandowsky -- commending them on their coverage which is decidedly pro-Trump which makes them a valuable tool for the Russians as they attempt to influence the next election.

"Headquartered in San Diego, One America News Network was launched in 2013 by circuit-board magnate Robert Herring, who said he intended it as an alternative to Fox News" the report states. "Around the 2016 election the channel declared Donald Trump fans as its core audience, and for a time it employed former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski."

"The network has a history with fake news. Last year it reported that California lawmakers were considering a bill to outlaw the sale of Bibles in the state, and Sharp’s earlier work includes a segment pushing the noxious Seth Rich conspiracy. The networks recent hires include notorious Pizzagate pusher Jack Posobiec, who joined as a political correspondent," it continues.

According to former FBI agent Clint Watts, what OANN is also doing is spreading propaganda as a cut-out for the Kremlin.

“It’s source laundering,” Watts said in an interview. “Then they can recirculate the story as an organic American story, and that could travel further than if it’s only on RT and Sputnik… The more places it shows up the more it looks like it’s not a single source origin story.”

As the Beast notes, "the latest Nielsen report ranks OANN’s ratings somewhere below the Tennis Channel, there’s enormous value to Moscow," but the network gets a big boost from the president because of its conservative and pro-Trump bias.

“It's a great network,” Donald Trump once remarked during a news conference, with the Beast adding, " Last month he tweeted an old conspiracy claim, discredited in 2017, that the U.K.’s signals intelligence agency helped President Obama spy on his campaign, after seeing a segment about it on OANN."

“WOW! It is now just a question of time before the truth comes out, and when it does, it will be a beauty!” Trump tweeted.

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