Supporters of Tim Pool are spreading a laughable conspiracy theory that his recent threat to sue Vice President Kamala Harris prompted the Department of Justice (DOJ) to accuse him of unknowingly spreading Russian propaganda.
The claims began on Wednesday after the DOJ announced charges against two employees of the Kremlin-funded media outlet RT for participating in “a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.”
The employees did so, according to the DOJ, by funding a company known as Tenet Media that paid American media personalities known for spreading pro-Russia talking points.
Pool, as well as conservative commentators such as David Rubin, Benny Johnson, and Lauren Southern, received large sums of money from Tenet Media and unwittingly aided Russian efforts to spread anti-Western sentiments. The charges are only against the two Russians and the DOJ repeatedly said in the indictment that the internet personalities were deceived about the true source of funding.
Pool responded to the explosive news by falsely claiming that the DOJ charges had been “leaked,” despite being made public in a press release, before saying that “we still do not know what is true as these are only allegations.”
The post was later deleted, with Pool clarifying in a follow-up remark that he did so because he “didn’t know this was an official DOJ release.”
Yet Pool’s supporters responded to the news by conjuring up conspiracy theories. Days prior, Pool claimed that he intended to file a lawsuit against Harris for defamation after her campaign posted a video to X which showed the podcaster calling for the government to be filled with pro-Trump loyalists in order to carry out mass arrests against Democrats.
Pool argued during his legal threat that the Harris campaign’s characterization of him as a “Trump operative” was false and defamatory.
Pool only said that he’d engaged legal counsel—basically meaning called a lawyer—but fans of his immediately tried to link the two totally unrelated stories by suggesting that his legal threats somehow prompted the DOJ announcement.
“Timcast takes steps to sue Kamala Harris for defamation and winds up on an list within 72 hours,” a viral post from The Readheaded libertarian said.
Countless other right-wing users insisted the same.
“Interesting to see how after Tim Pool launched legal action against the Kamala Harris campaign, that the Department of Justice trots out Russia against TENET Media,” conservative commentator Malcom FleX added.
The DOJ’s announcement on X was similarly flooded with complaints from conspiracy theorists.
“Oh, just as Tim Pool announces he’s suing Kamala, what a massive coincidence, definitely not retaliation,” one user said.
In reality, the DOJ investigation had been ongoing for months, long before Pool made legal threats against Harris. Critics of Pool quickly noted the absurdity of the conspiracy theory.
“Yeah man, the DOJ saw Tim Pool threatening to sue Kamala Harris over someone’s tweet, a grand jury was convened, and two Russian operatives were indicted in a day. Yep,” the user Eyes on the Right mockingly wrote.
Although Pool appears to be taking the charges somewhat seriously, his fans continue to suggest that the entire DOJ investigation was based on a fabrication.
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