US accuses Russia of using state news outlet to spread disinformation ahead of election

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00:00The Russian state media channel RT was dropped by its American distributors shortly after

00:06Moscow launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022.

00:11But the Justice Department says despite that, the outlet has continued to spread misinformation

00:16to American voters.

00:18On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the indictments of two former RT

00:23employees.

00:24We allege that as part of that effort, RT and its employees, including the defendants,

00:30implemented a nearly $10 million scheme to fund and direct a Tennessee-based company

00:36to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government.

00:41U.S. officials say the scheme involves social media influencers who publish nearly 2,000

00:46videos containing Russian propaganda, some of which have garnered millions of views on

00:52YouTube.

00:53American spy agencies say the Kremlin's goal is to promote Donald Trump over Kamala Harris

00:58because of Trump's skepticism of U.S. support for Ukraine.

01:02The Justice Department also said it seized 32 Internet domains used by the Kremlin to

01:08spread misinformation.

01:10These websites were designed to appear to American readers as if they were major U.S.

01:16news sites like the Washington Post or Fox News.

01:20But in fact, they were fake sites.

01:23In addition to the indicted RT employees, the Treasury Department has sanctioned the

01:27editor-in-chief of the channel, Margarita Simonyan.

01:31The Kremlin's objective is not new.

01:33In 2016, the Justice Department charged Russians with hacking computers and releasing information

01:39to damage the campaign of Hillary Clinton and to help elect Donald Trump.

01:43The Kremlin launched a similar effort to help Trump in the run-up to the 2020 election.

01:50She's rolling out a

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