FBI Reportedly Looking At Breitbart, InfoWars As Part Of Russia Probe

Radio host Alex Jones discusses Sen. Rand Paul's views on vaccination in a video uploaded to YouTube Feb. 3, 2015.
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The FBI’s Counterintelligence Division is looking into the role far-right news sites including Breitbart, InfoWars and the Kremlin-backed RT might have played in Russia’s influence campaign during the U.S. presidential election, McClatchy reported Monday.

Automated computer bots strategically deployed unabashedly pro-Trump articles, which often contained falsehoods, from those sites on social media at moments when Trump’s campaign was flagging, anonymous FBI sources told McClatchy. The probe reportedly is looking at whether those publications willingly coordinated with Russian operatives in promoting their stories.

The inquiry is part of the FBI’s comprehensive investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, which Director James Comey confirmed Monday is also looking into any potential ties between Trump’s campaign staffers and Russian officials.

The White House, Breitbart and the FBI declined McClatchy’s requests for comment.

There’ve been a number of investigations into how so-called “fake news” stories distorted the media narrative and fueled the spread of election-related conspiracy theories during the 2016 race, including in The Washington Post and BuzzFeed.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Alex Jones and Steve Bannon in leg irons! Waterboarded at Gitmo? I can live with that.

  2. Oh, that’s just spectacular. Lock 'em up, lock 'em up…

  3. Avatar for dnl dnl says:

    SeanHannity deserves a WaterBoarding, doncha think?

    Fox ‘Anal-ists’ need a good looking into as well… follow the $$$

  4. “Agent Austin Dave, your job is to study Alex Jones and Breitbart for the next few months. Watch them constantly with attention and vigilance.”

    “Sir, couldn’t you wire me up and send me to dicy mob meetings or mail me to Mexico hunt El Chapo with a grapefruit spoon?”

  5. Would explain all the articles on infowars yesterday about how ObaMa has been tapping infowars and trump and all America for years. Just went over and all of the stories have changed and it took forever for the page to load. Deep state did it I assume.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

174 more replies

Participants

Avatar for overreach_this Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for asanders91360 Avatar for imkmu3 Avatar for bluestatedon Avatar for mrcomments Avatar for carlosfiance Avatar for mantan Avatar for breakingdeadmen Avatar for dnl Avatar for darrtown Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for tena Avatar for johniwaniszek Avatar for spencersmom Avatar for chlarry Avatar for j.dave Avatar for caseyjr Avatar for natasbob Avatar for maximus Avatar for billyjoe Avatar for bobef

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: