US accuses Russia's RT news outlet of election interference
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00:00The Russian state media channel RT was dropped by its American distributors shortly after
00:07Moscow launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022.
00:12But the Justice Department says despite that, the outlet has continued to spread misinformation
00:17to American voters.
00:19We allege that as part of that effort, RT and its employees, including the defendants,
00:25implemented a nearly $10 million scheme to fund and direct a Tennessee-based company
00:30to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government.
00:35U.S. officials say the scheme involves social media influencers who publish nearly 2,000
00:41videos containing Russian propaganda, some of which have garnered millions of views on
00:46YouTube.
00:47American spy agencies say the Kremlin's goal is to promote Donald Trump over Kamala Harris
00:53because of Trump's skepticism of U.S. support for Ukraine.
00:57The Justice Department also said it seized 32 Internet domains used by the Kremlin to
01:02spread misinformation.
01:05These websites were designed to appear to American readers as if they were major U.S.
01:10news sites like the Washington Post or Fox News.
01:15But in fact, they were fake sites.
01:17In addition to the indicted RT employees, the Treasury Department has sanctioned the
01:21editor-in-chief of the channel, Margarita Simonyan.
01:25The Kremlin's objective is not new.
01:27In 2016, the Justice Department charged Russians with hacking computers and releasing information
01:33to damage the campaign of Hillary Clinton and to help elect Donald Trump.
01:38The Kremlin launched a similar effort to help Trump in the run-up to the 2020 election.