David Edwards
September 8, 2024
Fox News/screen grab
Alina Habba, an adviser and attorney for Donald Trump, downplayed allegations that Russia had paid right-wing influencers by trying to link Vladimir Putin to Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
During a Sunday interview with Habba on Fox News, host Jason Chaffetz said he doubted the Department of Justice's claims that Russia paid conservative podcasters.
"It's not just that the Department of Justice is saying, oh, Russia, Russia, Russia again," Chaffetz opined. "I don't know that I trust them because they've spun this in such a way to push the voters in the past that these people are all for Donald Trump."
"And it's just, I don't know that I trust them," he told Habba. "What about you?"
"You're asking me if I trust the Department of Justice?" Habba replied. "I represent Donald Trump. There's nobody who's been more persecuted in the last three and a half years in an attempt to interfere in the election, I assure you, Jason."
She asserted that the media and DOJ had wrongly pushed a "Russia, Russia, Russia hoax" regarding the 2016 election.
"A $10 million payment to some podcasters who had no idea, from some ties allegedly to Russia, is now going to try and make a spin on Russia backing Trump," she complained. "Well, the last I heard, Putin announced that he was backing Kamala Harris and her, quote, infectious laugh."
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"I think Americans really need to be wary about where they get their news," Habba added. "That's why, frankly, I trust you and others that I know will get the right news out there."
The Associated Press noted that Putin was joking when claimed to endorse Harris last week.
Watch the video below from Fox News or at the link.
GOP's Cotton put on the spot by CNN's Bash over interview with Russian-backed influencer
Tom Boggioni
September 8, 2024
Dana Bash, Tom Cotton (CNN screenshots)
During his appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," host Dana Bash put Sen. Tom Cotton (R) on the spot for having taken part in an interview with a far-right influencer who has been accused of taking Russian money to push Kremlin talking points.
Moments after the far-right Cotton dismissed former vice president Dick Cheney crossing the aisle to endorse Democrat Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, Cotton also claimed a Justice Department allegation that Russia has been paying off right-wing pundits was much ado about nothing.
That was when Bash reminded Cotton that he granted an interview in February with Dave Rubin who, among others, has been accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars to toe the Kremlin line.
After Cotton told the CNN host, "I haven't seen any intelligence about this matter, I'll have seen the allegations.,' Bash countered, "It sounds to me like you're downplaying the fact that Vladimir Putin is using people like Dave Rubin, whose show you went on in February, as a tool for his propaganda."
"So I'm not downplaying Vladimir Putin's designs or Xi Jinping's designs, the ayatollah's designs to try to influence our election," Cotton pushed back. "But using money to try to promote memes or videos on the internet is not exactly going to make a huge difference."
"Again, you shouldn't knowingly do that," he quickly added. "And I don't know if any of these people..."
"Do you know young people?" Bash interrupted. "You know some people only get their information from those memes and videos."
"But Dana, what we're really would be catastrophic is if a foreign government say hacked into the voter registration system during voting, or hacked into election machines and erased votes or turned off the electricity in a big city on election day — those are things that are serious threats," he protested.
Watch below or at the link.
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