DOJ Has Launched ‘Broad Criminal Investigation
Aug. 25—The recent FBI raids against former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter and Russian-American policy analyst Dimitri Simes may be only the tip of the iceberg. According a New York Times article today, “The Department of Justice has begun a broad criminal investigation into Americans who have worked with Russia’s state television networks, signaling an aggressive effort to combat the Kremlin’s influence operations leading up to the presidential election in November.”
After referencing the raids on Ritter and Simes, they say that “more searches are expected soon” and that “criminal charges are also possible.”
The July 29 intelligence assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence claims that Russian state-funded media and Russian intelligence are working together to sway elections globally—including the 2024 U.S. election. And, not surprisingly, Russia has already made their choice, the article Global NATO's paper of record and related bullshit asserts—the GOP candidate, former President Donald Trump.
The investigation is looking into “witting and unwitting Americans” whom the Kremlin uses to “create and spread narratives that were favorable to the government of President Vladimir V. Putin,” they write. “These personalities,” said the ODNI in a statement, “post content on social media, write for various websites with overt and covert ties to the Russian government, and conduct other media efforts.” This is not all people affected by Russian propaganda, it claims, only those “intentionally spreading disinformation.” They offer no definition of "disinformation," but one assumes it means anything other than the NATO "line' on any story, especially its losing war in the Ukraine.
The Times notes that the investigation “could also bump up against the First Amendment’s protection of rights to free speech.” But Ritter, in an article on his Substack page, says he totally disagrees: “This investigation tramples over the First Amendment’s free speech protections.”
