Who is Tim Pool? MAGA influencer who allegedly received money from Russian influence operation attends WH press briefing

“They have millions of followers online. They have been major players in right-wing political discourse since Donald Trump was president. And they worked unknowingly for a company that was a front for a Russian influence operation,” stated US prosecutors in an indictment filed last year.

The indictment further said that the Russian state media employees covertly funded a media company associated with six conservative influencers, including well-known figures Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson, to produce English-language videos that were “often consistent” with the Kremlin’s “interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition” to Russian interests, such as its war in Ukraine.

Th indictment even suggested that Moscow may be trying to take advantage of the rapidly growing popularity of right-wing podcasters, live-streamers, and other content creators who have found lucrative careers on social media in the years since Trump was in office.

The influencers, some of whom the US Justice Department claims were misinformed about the firm’s funding source, are not accused of any wrongdoing. Rather, the department charges two workers of the Russian state media outlet RT with transferring about $10 million to a content production firm in Tennessee for Russia-friendly content.