Republican lawmakers are fighting back after a nongovernmental organization with ties to Ukraine and the US State Department created a watchlist of American individuals and media companies, including Blaze Media, for allegedly spreading “Russian disinformation” or making “anti-Ukrainian comments.”
Last week, an NGO best known as Texty.org, but sometimes referred to as a data journalism agency, compiled a list of around 380 politicians and activists from the left and right, as well as more than 75 organisations that it accuses of being “opponents of Ukraine”.
According to a Texty.org article on the watch list, these people and organizations have positioned themselves as opponents of Ukraine by taking steps such as delaying further funding to Ukraine for several months and calling for a “stricter audit” of how such funds were allocated, as previously reported by Blaze News.
The Texty.org article even accused a group of Democratic lawmakers known as “The Squad” of daring to give “anti-war speeches.”
“All Americans can agree that our tax dollars should not support direct attacks on Americans based on reasonable political disagreements, especially direct attacks on U.S. lawmakers based solely on their votes.”
According to an email from Inna Gadzinska, deputy editor at Texty.org, Blaze Media managed to get on the list by sharing “false and manipulative” information about the origins of the Ukraine-Russia war and spreading a “generic Russian propaganda narrative.”
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) was on the list, along with 115 other Republicans in the House of Representatives. Rep. Banks sent a letter to Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday urging them to defund Texty.org.
Later, during full committee consideration of the Fiscal Year 2025 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill, Republican lawmakers banded together to include a provision that would have prohibited Texty.org from receiving federal funding.
“The Russian regime has sanctioned me and designated me an ‘opponent of Ukraine,'” Banks said in a statement. “I don’t care what a foreign country thinks of me, but it is shameful that our agency would use Indiana taxpayer money to collaborate with a foreign entity that seeks to intimidate American citizens and lawmakers. I want to thank Republicans on the Appropriations Committee for defunding the Data Journalism Agency’s activities.”
Banks is not the only Republican on the watch list to take decisive action against Texty.org. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio have also contacted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to request more information about the State Department’s ties to Texty.org co-founder Anatoly Bondarenko, who attended Tech Camp, a “public diplomacy program” established by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
“Needless to say, whatever you think about U.S. foreign aid or support for Ukraine, I think all Americans can agree that our tax dollars should not support direct attacks on Americans based on reasonable political disagreements, especially direct attacks on U.S. lawmakers based solely on their votes.” letter Blinken said.
Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck has suggested Bondarenko may also be involved in fomenting a color revolution in the United States.[Bondarenko] This is someone who has deep ties to the State Department and color revolutions and is running a tech camp in one of those countries,” he recently told Peter Gietl, editor-in-chief of Blaze Media’s technology division, Return.
Beck believes that figures like Bondarenko and George Soros have “perfectly” carried out color revolutions elsewhere and are now trying to carry it out here.”[They want] We will overthrow her and turn it into a democracy, not a republic,” he explained.
Guilletl agrees. “Unfortunately, these color revolutionary organizations that have been used to attack foreign enemies are now being directed to target American citizens,” he said in a statement to The Blaze News. “These groups and the State Department that funds them are not loyal to the Constitution or the American people. They are loyal to the oligarchic bureaucracy that rules us.”
Gietl also praised Republican lawmakers for taking a stand against this globalist invasion, calling it an “important first step.”
“All Americans should be outraged that our tax dollars are being used by a foreign NGO that attacks lawmakers and journalists who question America’s involvement in this war. This has become a smear tactic to smear anyone on the right or against the war as a shill for Russian disinformation. We will not tolerate it.”
“Blaze Media intends to keep up the pressure until they take every penny of American taxpayer money.”
Texty.org denies creating “enemies lists” or “kill lists.” “The editorial team at Texty.org.ua does not intend to deny, condemn, or contest the rights of American citizens, media, or institutions to express their opinions or hold political beliefs. We value and respect freedom of speech, which is essential to a democratic society,” a statement from Texty.org reads in part.
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