(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A Ukrainian publication sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds non-governmental organizations around the world, has published a report smearing 391 American lawmakers, journalists, researchers and others for not supporting Joe Biden’s proxy war against Russia.
USAID, currently headed by former Obama official Samantha Power, has been described as the biggest funder of journalism in the world. The publication to smear anti-Biden Americans is the USAID-backed Ukrainian “Data Journalism Agency,” also known as TEXTY, which was reportedly co-founded by Anatoly Bondarenko—a former State Department instructor who trained foreign journalists and activists.
State Department-Linked Group Smears Antiwar. com in ‘Anti-Ukrainian’ List
The founder of the NGO https://t.co/WDfOuOdaWD has worked for the State Department
by Dave DeCamp@DecampDave #Ukraine #TechCamp https://t.co/CnxVKQXPkn pic.twitter.com/jQYC0sDZre— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) June 9, 2024
TEXTY’s June 6 report, which was about Americans who spread “Russian propaganda,” named Sen. JD Vance, Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Jim Jordan, among others.
There were also 76 organizations named by the USAID-backed outlet, including The American Conservative, antiwar.com, the Ron Paul Institute and the Libertarian Institute—the latter for which this reporter contributes.
TEXTY accused the named Americans of spreading disinformation, but the outlet made numerous errors in the process, as noted by Ron Paul Institute’s Daniel McAdams, who is also on the list.
“Even long-debunked myths continue to surface, such as claims of Nazi dominance and American Biolabs in Ukraine and the portrayal of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity as a coup,” McAdams said in a rebuttal to the report.
McAdams further noted the bitter irony of the U.S. government funding a media outlet that smears American citizens.
“One wonders how, for example, former US President Donald Trump and dozens of members of the US Congress will react when they hear that US tax dollars are being sent to Ukraine for US-backed Ukrainian organizations to make “hate lists” and “kill lists” of patriotic Americans like themselves,” he said.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
