Meet the Russian Propagandist Who Joined White House Press Briefing
The White House has officially opened its doors to a website accused of spreading Russian propaganda.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt welcomed Zero Hedge's Liam Cosgrove to the new media seat Monday—who predictably proceeded to relay conspiracy theories when given an opportunity to ask the first question at the morning press briefing.
Zero Hedge is a financial blog started under a penname by Bulgarian-born former investment banker Daniel Ivandjiiski, and has been accused by U.S. intelligence officials of publishing articles crafted by Moscow-controlled media. The site has also spread conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, and circulated fake quotes from politicians. The site amassed a large alt-right (now mainstream) audience, including racists, anti-Semites, and conspiracy theorists. Now, it's being granted an even larger platform and preferential treatment from the White House.
Cosgrove asked two questions. The first was about whether Donald Trump planned to stop 'financing foreign wars' in Ukraine and Gaza, during which Cosgrove managed to laud Trump and take a shot at Joe Biden. The second was about an old conspiracy theory resurfaced by the president himself.
'So, over the weekend, President Trump posted Truth Social, a video highlighting what most people call the 'Clinton body count,'' Cosgrove said. 'Which is the strange number of suicides that seem to happen in Clinton circles—'
As Cosgrove spoke, Leavitt was visibly holding back a smile.
Cosgrove took issue with reporting from The Washington Post that Trump's Truth Social post had amplified 'false' conspiracy theories. Although it wasn't mentioned in the video shared by the president, Cosgrove raised the apparent suicide of Mark Middleton, a former aide to President Bill Clinton who had been a point of contact between the White House and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, as his own evidence of the 'Clinton body count.'
'That's just a lead-in to my question about the most famous Clinton-related suicide, which is that of Jeffrey Epstein. There's still a lot of questions about the Epstein files—' Cosgrove continued, asking whether the White House planned to release information that would connect Epstein's trafficking activities to intelligence agencies, 'even potentially as part of a blackmail ring with potential ties to the Israeli government.'
In a classic Leavitt non-answer, she said that more information about Epstein would be released soon because Attorney General Pam Bondi had said she would release more information soon.
The White House opened up its briefing room to 'new media' in January, and has made way for a revolving door of professional journalists, podcasters, and influencers. This crowd has inevitably included several MAGA talking heads, including content creators from Breitbart, the right-wing video platform Rumble, BreakingPoints, the Daily Wire, former Newsmax host Mark Halperin, and the right-wing substack Washington Reporter.
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