chanel rion OANN

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NOW ON VOA KARI LAke

MERRI OK

gone for a while? faded // oann?

lost settled multiple defam suits

huge booster of rudy ukraine BS, russian disinfo big lie cyberninjas

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see below:

Following Trump’s press briefing on Wednesday, Hunter Walker tracked down another example of Russia’s attempt to get their propaganda in the news. He wrote about the question OAN reporter Chanel Rion asked the president.

Rion: In the last hour or so, if you googled antifa.com. it would take you straight to Joe Biden’s website, his official campaign website. Odd situation. We don’t know who’s behind that. But it raises an interesting leadership question. Should Joe Biden, the Democrat party, Kamala Harris– should they publicly denounce the Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization?

Trump: They should. I think they’re afraid to. It’s– in my book it’s virtually a part of their campaign, Antifa. The Democrats act like, gee, I don’t know exactly what that is.

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some neutrality on talk page conspiracy theorist got cut

Chanel Rion - Wikipedia

chanel Rion (born Chanel Dayn-Ryan;^[1] April 28, 1990) is an American broadcaster, political cartoonist, and children's book author. She was formerly the chief White House correspondent for One America News Network (OAN), a far-right^[19] American cable channel.^[3][20] She is known for promoting conspiracy theories.^[24]

Early life and education

Chanel Rion was born Chanel Dayn-Ryan. Her father is Danny Preboth, also known as Danford Dayn-Ryan and David Michael Ryan. Her grandmother was the Kansas-based psychic Allene Cunningham.^[3][25] Her mother was born in South Korea.^[26] Rion changed her surname in 2019, prior to applying for a White House press pass.^[1][3]

Rion attended Harvard Extension School, where she was a member of the Anscombe Society, a right-wing student group. At Harvard Extension School she met Courtland Sykes, who would become her husband.^[3][5]

Career

One America News White House correspondent

In 2019, Rion was hired by One America News Network (OAN). She was hired after OAN's former White House correspondent Neil McCabe invited Courtland Sykes, by this time Rion's fiancé, for a tour of OAN. McCabe told Sykes that OAN was hiring for a White House correspondent to work weekends and Sykes suggested they hire Rion. Rion did a screen test and was hired.^[3]

In October 2019, Rion reported without evidence that ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page had an affair.^[27] Rion's article lacked sourcing and was eventually discredited.^[21] OAN retracted the story.^[21]

:{:{Later that year, in December, Rion presented "Revealed: Ukrainian witnesses destroy Schiff's case exclusive with Rudy Giuliani". The two part series, presented on OAN, featured Rion interviewing Rudy Giuliani and various Ukrainian supporters of his, including Yuriy Lutsenko,^[28] all of whom support various conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal.^[21][29]}:

During the report, Rion stated without evidence that the liberal philanthropist George Soros had shown up at the Kyiv airport with "human Dobermans in little black Mercedes" to find them—a claim that was ridiculed in Ukrainian and American media.^[30][31][32] Soros was not known to have visited Ukraine since 2016.^[31]}:

In January 2020, OAN named Rion its chief White House correspondent after Emerald Robinson left the company.^[3]

In July 2020, the media watchdog Media Matters reported that Rion had appeared on a streaming program that promotes the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, where she asserted Q's existence and said, "Q is anonymous for a reason, for a very good reason, and I think that people need to respect that."^[33]

In October 2020, the Borat Twitter account posted footage of Rion and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm star Maria Bakalova, playing the role of the character Tutar, touring the White House press briefing room together and outside of the West Wing. Bakalova asks Rion "Why is all the fake journalist for the left and none on the right?" with the clip ending before Rion can answer.^[34][35]

In November, during the 2020 United States presidential election, Rion supported Donald Trump's claims of voter fraud, specifically mail-in voting. She also has promoted QAnon conspiracy theories on the air.^[3] On November 12, 2020, Trump cited a report by Rion when baselessly accusing an election software maker as having "rigged" the election vote,^[36] despite the cybersecurity agency in his administration saying the election was secure.^[^37][38]

In December 2020, OAN and Rion were included as defendants in a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer, alongside other outlets such as Newsmax and The Gateway Pundit.^[39][40] Coomer asserted that the defendants had characterized him as a "traitor" and that as a result he was subjected to "multiple credible death threats".^[41][39][42] OAN and Rion reached a settlement with Coomer in August 2023.^[40]

In August 2021, Rion was named in a $1.6bn defamation lawsuit by Dominion against OAN for its coverage of the 2020 United States presidential election.^[43][44][45]

In December 2021, Rion was named in a defamation lawsuit by former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea "Shaye" Moss against OAN.^[46] A settlement was reached in April 2022.^[47]

Rion is the chief operating officer of Voices and Votes, a nonprofit co-operated by fellow OAN personality Christina Bobb. The organization donated $605,000 to support the 2021 Maricopa County presidential ballot audit. The organization also provided volunteers for the audit effort.^[48]

In July of 2023, as first reported by Politico,^[49] Chanel Rion shifted into a new role for One America News Network as chief national investigator, leaving her role as chief White House correspondent.

COVID-19 pandemic coverage

:{:{In March 2020, Rion hosted Exposing China's Coronavirus: The Fears, the Lies and the Unknown on OAN. During the special, Rion called the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which caused the COVID-19 pandemic, the "Chinese virus". She said that President Donald Trump's response to the pandemic has been "strong" and questioned if the virus came from Wuhan, China, suggesting that there are "clues" that the virus was created in a laboratory in North Carolina.}:^[50][51][52]

For the latter claim, Rion cited information from a "citizen investigator and a monitored source amongst a certain set of the DC intelligence community"^[53] who was actually a Twitter conspiracy theorist.^[50]

As she described this individual during a televised report from the White House grounds, an image was displayed of actor Keir Dullea in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Rion also asserted that Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading expert on infectious diseases, had funded the creation of COVID-19.^[50][54]}:

:{:{During a White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing on March 19, Rion asked Donald Trump if he thought the term "Chinese food is racist because it is food that originated from China."^[54][29] Trump responded "I don't think that's racist at all."}:

Rion followed up suggesting "major left-wing media" had partnered with China to promote "communist party narratives" regarding the coronavirus.^{[55][56][57][58}] Criticism from across the political spectrum was leveled at Rion for the question,^[59] which was derided as a "softball" question.^[55] During the March 30 Task Force briefing Rion compared "children who are killed by their mothers through elective abortions each day" to the increasing number of Americans dying from the coronavirus.^[60]}:

:{:{On April 1, 2020, the White House Correspondents' Association removed OAN and Rion from the White House briefing room press briefings due to violating the Association's COVID-19 attendance policy. The policy, set forth by the Association and based on the Center for Disease Control COVID-19 guidelines, allows only 14 reporters in the briefing room daily and that all reporters occupy a seat.}:

Correspondents are rotated to ensure all gain access to the briefing while maintaining safe social distancing guidelines. On March 31 and April 1, Rion attended both press briefings when OAN was not on the rotation list. OAN president Charles Herring stated that Rion was invited to participate in the press briefings outside of the White House Correspondent's Association rotation list.^{[27][58][61][62}] Rion stated that she was a guest of White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.^[61][62] The next day, on April 2, Rion returned to the White House briefing room, again, citing Grisham's invitation.^[63]}:

Rion's August 2020 reporting featured unfounded QAnon claims that pandemic-related shutdowns were increasing human trafficking.^[3]

Publishing career

Rion self-publishes political cartoons under the label "The Left Edge".^[21] She began drawing political cartoons in 2017.^[3] The illustrations often promote right-wing political conspiracy theories, including Pizzagate and that Hillary Clinton killed Seth Rich.^[21][29][64] Her work also criticizes public figures, including Harry Reid and James Comey.^[21][61]

As of 2014, she worked as managing editor at a small publishing press owned by her sister Channing that published works by the Ryan family.^[3] She has written young adult fiction novels for young women.^[3][65]

Personal life

Rion and Sykes traveled across the United States following Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, attending rallies and other campaign events.^[3]

In 2017–2018, Sykes unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for a Senate seat in Missouri on a pro-Trump, America First platform.^[21][66][67]

References...

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mma

Kari Lake says Voice of America will push OAN content abroad. This is how network personalities discussed foreign policy since Trump took office.

Written by Jane Lee, Helena Hind & Isabella Corrao

Published 05/16/25

Trump adviser Kari Lake has announced that international broadcasting network Voice of America will include content from One America News Network, a pro-Trump propaganda network.

Since Donald Trump's inauguration, OAN personalities have pushed bizarre and inflammatory foreign policy commentary, including referring to Canada as “our vassal state,” calling Greenland ”the new Africa,” and pushing for a revival of “manifest destiny.” They’ve also run cover for Trump over his planned acceptance of a luxury jet from Qatar.

The Trump administration wants to feed content from OAN to Voice of America — after canceling contracts with existing wire services

- Kari Lake, senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, announced that the government-funded broadcaster would be fed content from One America News, a notoriously pro-Trump network.Lake announced that the agency will provide “newsfeed services” to Voice of America, and to the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and Radio Martí, which distribute news into Cuba. NPR, [4/22/25, 5/7/25; Washington Post, 5/7/25]

- Voice of America, an international broadcasting network, is funded by the federal government but required by law to maintain editorial independence. NPR writes: “The … networks deliver information to countries around the world that lack a robust or free press. The networks are intended to promote American democratic values by broadcasting news that models independent journalism, incorporates political debate and dissent even inside the U.S.” NPR, [4/22/25; Society of Professional Journalists, 3/17/25]

- The government agency that runs the Voice of America moved to terminate contracts with The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. The AP reported that VOA staffers were told to stop using wire service material for their reports. Associated Press, [3/14/25]

- After the 2020 election, OAN promoted false claims that the election had been stolen from Trump and was repeatedly sued for those claims, ultimately settling the suits.The network repeatedly accused Smartmatic, Dominion Voting Systems, and two Georgia election workers of helping rig the election, with Trump even recycling one of the election conspiracy theories it helped mainstream. The network was subsequently sued for defamation in separate lawsuits and has since reached settlements. Media Matters, [12/16/20, 12/22/20, 4/15/21; NPR, 5/7/25]

## What One America News personalities have said about foreign affairs in 2025 so far

- Discussing the challenges of next steps for the Gaza Strip, host Dan Ball said, “That’s why Trump says maybe we need to relocate everyone, Jordan or Egypt,” adding, “And then you rebuild it. … It’s going to look like a whole different world in the Gaza Strip and the Middle East after this is done.” One America News, *Real America with Dan Ball*, [2/17/25]

- Host Chanel Rion asked conservative commentator Josh Hammer, “Why the pushback to the idea that Gaza might get a little bit of an upgrade?” Rion and Hammer then praised an AI-generated video that Trump shared of Gaza redone with Trump resorts, calling it “absolutely hilarious” and “amazing.” Hammer finished his commentary by declaring, “Maybe America can actually finally make this right.” One America News, *Fine Point with Chanel Rion*, [2/27/25]

- OAN producer Cameron Malstrom said of the idea of the U.S. taking over the Panama Canal: “Trump also explained how we’ll be reclaiming what’s rightfully ours and hopefully expanding our borders.” One America News, *The Real Story with Riley Lewis*, [3/5/25]

- Rion praised Trump for telling Canadians their country can become the 51st state if they do not want to pay tariffs: “The magic of Trump is you’re not entirely sure if he’s pulling your leg or if he’s serious, and that’s where his negotiation power lies.” One America News, *Fine Point with Chanel Rion*, [3/21/25]

- Ball said “it wouldn’t be a bad idea” to “bring Greenland into the fold, …strategically for military reasons.” He questioned why “Denmark even wants to hold onto them,” adding: “It’s not like they care about it militarily like we do. … Is it more about their natural resources and that’s all they care about?” One America News, *Real America with Dan Ball*, [3/24/25]

- Ball argued that the annexation of Greenland would be “key for us moving forward” and criticized those who don’t “understand” Trump’s interest in taking over the country. “That's all I keep hearing is — it's just Trump wanting to be a king, wanting to be a dictator, take over somebody's land, steal some land like a good rich white guy from some native people in Greenland,” he said. One America News, *Real America with Dan Ball*, [3/28/25]

- Malstrom called for a revival of “manifest destiny” and praised Trump for “reinvigorating that expansionist spirit by renewing efforts to expand our borders once again and claim Greenland in the name of the United States." “Let's talk about why the United States acquiring Greenland is such a phenomenal idea,” Malstrom continued. “It wouldn't be just a land grab. It would be a masterstroke. … Just picture it as yet another beautiful U.S. state purchased, just like Alaska. Rugged individualism meets American might, with stunning fjords as a bonus." One America News, *The Real Story with Riley Lewis*, [3/29/25]

- Discussing Vice President JD Vance’s trip to Pituffik Space Base, a U.S. Space Force base located on the northwest coast of Greenland, host Chris Boyle remarked, “We don’t even need to invade. Our military is in the country already." One America News, *Nights with Chris Boyle*, [3/30/25]

- OAN guest Stacy Washington claimed that “the people of Canada, especially the conservatives, wouldn’t mind being a part of the United States as a territory.” She also called Canada “our vassal state,” saying it is “already heavily subsidized by American taxpayers.” One America News, *Fine Point with Chanel Rion*, [4/30/25]

- Ball said of Trump talking about making Canada the 51st state: “Probably never going to happen, but you know what President Trump likes to do. He likes to troll.” One America News, *Real America with Dan Ball*, [5/6/25]

- Guest host Garrett Ziegler: “Greenland, in a way, is going to be looked at like the new Africa. … There's a ton of potential there." One America News, *Fine Point with Chanel Rion*, [5/9/25]

## One America News personalities also ran cover for Trump for accepting a plane from Qatar

- In response to criticism of Trump for potentially accepting a plane from Qatar, Ball said, “How can they raise holy heck about this and lose their ever-loving minds when it hasn’t even happened yet? When for years, the media and Democrats ignored all the corruption allegations — forget allegations — the freaking proof of the Joe Biden crime family?” Guest Seamus Bruner argued that if Qatar ultimately did gift the plane, “it would be a gift to the American taxpayers to save us money, not to Donald Trump.” Ball then excused the gift because “Trump’s over there bringing billions.” One America News, *Real America with Dan Ball*, [5/14/25]

- Rion said of the plane gift: “The last time I heard the Democrats protesting over Democrat gifts given to the Biden family in secret, let's see, was never. I don't remember the last time they were criticizing the diamonds and the cars that the Chinese were giving to the Biden family under the table.”Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) admitted that the gift “does break traditional … precedents” and could be a security risk, but “the president seems to be happy with it.” One America News, *Fine Point with Chanel Rion*, [5/14/25]

- Rion framed Trump accepting a plane from Qatar as him “gaining and draining power” from the Qataris, claiming the plane is a “meaningless peace offering” given out of fear. Rion argued, “As the Qataris hand over the keys to the 747 or forklift or whatever meaningless peace offering it is, look closely at the Qatari hands. They will be trembling. And Trump will take those keys with a smile.” One America News, *Fine Point with Chanel Rion*, [5/13/25]

- OnFine Point with Chanel Rion, guest Daniel Turner downplayed Trump accepting the plane as a gift: “If Donald Trump wanted a $400 million plane, he could buy one, right? I mean, the guy is worth $5 billion. … When you're someone like Donald Trump, like, that's not really a bribable amount.”He added, “The president isn’t taking it in his capacity — in his personal capacity.” One America News, *Fine Point with Chanel Rion*, [5/13/25]

- :{:{Host Matt Gaetz said: “While Democrat lawmakers sob over President Trump's shiny new jet and spar with ICE officers, Trump is reestablishing the United States on the world stage and delivering peace and prosperity around the globe.”}: One America News, *The Matt Gaetz Show*, [5/14/25]

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LI 12 23

Chanel Rion

3rd degree connection3rd

President & Founder at National White House Correspondents Association

National White House Correspondents Association

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AboutAbout

:{:{Chanel is the Chief White House correspondent and Political Correspondent at One America News. Daily Broadcasts on OAN: shorturl.at/djsuK. She is producing and publishing an adventure book series for young girls in conjunction with an educational character camp designed to empower confidence and the spirit of élan for young women.}:

Chanel is also founder and curator of Wordebys.com : Collector of Fine Words.Chanel is the Chief White House correspondent and Political Correspondent at One America News. Daily Broadcasts on OAN: shorturl.at/djsuK. She is producing and publishing an adventure book series for young girls in conjunction with an educational character camp designed to empower confidence and the spirit of élan for young women. Chanel is also founder and curator of Wordebys.com : Collector of Fine Words.}:

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Chanel Rion, Creator and AuthorChanel Rion, Creator and Author

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Chanel Rion Official Site | THE LEFT EDGEChanel Rion Official Site | THE LEFT EDGE

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Official Website for Chanel Rion. Author, Illustrator, and Editorial Cartoonist in a world gone mad.Official Website for Chanel Rion. Author, Illustrator, and Editorial Cartoonist in a world gone mad.

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:{:{National White House Correspondents Association}:

Apr 2020 - Present · 3 yrs 10 mosApr 2020 - Present · 3 yrs 10 mos

Washington, District of Columbia, United StatesWashington, District of Columbia, United States

1455 Pennsylvania Ave Nw Ste 400

[### Reserve your virtual office address at The Willard

Davinci Virtual

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One America News NetworkOne America News Network

4 yrs 9 mos4 yrs 9 mos

Chief White House CorrespondentChief White House Correspondent

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Washington, DCWashington, DC

White House CorrespondentWhite House Correspondent

May 2019 - Present · 4 yrs 9 mosMay 2019 - Present · 4 yrs 9 mos

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Young Adult Author and IllustratorYoung Adult Author and Illustrator

Chanel RionChanel Rion

Apr 2007 - Present · 16 yrs 10 mosApr 2007 - Present · 16 yrs 10 mos

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Wordeby's Collector of Fine WordsWordeby's Collector of Fine Words

Feb 2019 - Present · 5 yrsFeb 2019 - Present · 5 yrs

Wordeby's: Collection of Fine Words by Chanel RionWordeby's: Collection of Fine Words by Chanel Rion

Wordeby's is the premier destination for lovers of fine words showcased against an anthology of fine art from around the world.Wordeby's is the premier destination for lovers of fine words showcased against an anthology of fine art from around the world.

PhotojournalistPhotojournalist

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2007 - Present · 17 yrs 1 mo2007 - Present · 17 yrs 1 mo

11 years of DSLR photography and videography.11 years of DSLR photography and videography.

Chanel Rion: New Hampshire Primaries 2008, 2012, 2016Chanel Rion: New Hampshire Primaries 2008, 2012, 2016

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:{:{ALB - GSAS, International Relations, DM - Religion, Literature}:

2010 - 20152010 - 2015

In short, while a Harvard Extension Degree is issued by Harvard University, it is not the same degree that is issued to graduates of other schools at Harvard such as a Harvard College AB degree, a Harvard Business School MBA degree, or a Harvard GSAS AM degree. The Harvard Extension School has a rigorous process that makes students prove they can do the work before they are admitted, but the others are among the most highly selective undergraduate and graduate programs in the United States. Students are in classrooms with other high-achievers, which raises the level of discourse and focus. Yes, HES gets some high achievers as well (including graduates of Ivies and other competitive programs, and HES graduates who move onto highly selective PhD programs) but the classrooms are also filled with casual class-takers.

The curricula and graduation requirements are also completely different. The most obvious is the Extension School’s use of distance education for course credit and for many of the professional programs, the fact that there is no requirement to take classes taught by faculty with actual teaching appointments at Harvard.

What this means is McKinsey or Bain won’t regard an HES ALB or ALM in Management grad the same way they will treat a recent Harvard College AB or HBS MBA recipient.

:{:{Activities and societies: Harvard Republican Club, Debate, Rowing,}:

PublishingActivities and societies: Harvard Republican Club, Debate, Rowing, Publishing}:

Harvard's G.E.M. Anscombe Society - DuJourHarvard's G.E.M. Anscombe Society - DuJour

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Korean Cultural-Religious Impact on the Korean Education SystemKorean Cultural-Religious Impact on the Korean Education System

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Presented and Proposed 2015, Harvard Divinity School - East Asian Studies

http://prezi.com/ygpp2tk97iws/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0sharePresented and Proposed 2015, Harvard Divinity School - East Asian Studies http://prezi.com/ygpp2tk97iws/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

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Research

OAN coverage relies on Russian state-owned outlet Ruptly

OAN has relied on reporting and footage from Russian state-owned network Ruptly on numerous occasions. Although Ruptly maintains that it is an independent organization and merely a sister agency of now-defunct Russia Today, or RT,Ruptly and its subsidiaries lack an independent news charter and have a history of publishing manipulated reports and sourcing from journalists backed by Russia’s state security agency. The U.K. recently sanctioned Ruptly’s founding station, Tv-Novosti, for pushing Russian state propaganda.

OAN cited Ruptly in at least 7 reports about the conflict in September, which it repeatedly re-aired for audiences.The network has also cited Ruptly in reports about European foreign policy tangentially related to the conflict, including an update on the ISIS Kabul terrorist attack and a report about Serbian President Vučić’s speech to the U.N., which “supports ‘territorial integrity’ of Ukraine but it did not respect territorial integrity of Serbia when NATO bombed Belgrade in 1999.” One America News, *One America News*, [9/5/22,9/22/22]
OAN played Ruptly footage while reporting that Putin “is not bluffing” about nuclear strikes after “top NATO officials said it would be acceptable to carry out nuclear strikes on Russia.”In doing so, OAN legitimized the Russian president’s vague allegation against top government officials in several unnamed NATO countries. One America News, *One America News*, [9/21/22] Ruptly, [9/21/2022]
OAN claimed that “the Biden administration is bolstering its anti-Russia position” by nominating Armenian Ambassador Lynne Tracy to be Russian ambassador. The report, which contained footage from Ruptly, claimed that the White House will do “whatever it takes to help Ukraine topple the larger Russia.” One America News, *One America News*, [9/21/22]

OAN defended Russia’s illegal referendums and subsequent annexation of Ukrainian regions as legitimate

Late last month, Russia organized sham referendums in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions in order to annex them and claim that the invaded regions are now legally Russian territory. OAN privileged the Kremlin narrative that these elections were free and legal over widespread reporting and from residents of the occupied territory revealing a hastily organized election devoid of ballot secrecy and marred by the threat of violence — including video of poll workers flanked by armed soldiers going door to door collecting votes.

Some of OAN’s so-called news reports pushed claims that countries that are refusing to recognize the illegal referendums and annexation of an anti-Russia bias. This narrative ignores international condemnation of Russia’s ongoing invasion and annexation of Ukraine and promotes Putin’s increasingly antagonistic framework that this invasion is part of Russia’s existential battle against the West.

One America News reported, “According to [a] local mayor, polls show residents of Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine are supporting the proposal to join Russia.” The report relied on Ruptly footage of civilians positively discussing the illegal annexation. The host repeated Russia’s warning that if these areas join Russia, “any attacks on them will mean an attack on Russia and its national security.” One America News, *One America News*, [9/24/22]
OAN claimed the Biden administration and Ukrainian president are “denying the election results” by not legitimizing the illegal referendum. OAN took the suspicious results of the referendum at face value, noting that “officials say residents overwhelmingly support annexation, with one territory garnering the lowest support at 87% and another collecting 99% support.” One America News, *Breaking News Live*, [9/28/22]
One America News reported, “The U.S. and its allies did not recognize the results of the vote, but Russian officials say that such statements are based off anti-Russian bias in the West." The report, which aired after the “majority of local residents voted to join Russia,” failed to mention the vote violated international and Ukrainian law, was overseen by armed guards, and lacked ballot secrecy. Instead, OAN reported that the speaker of the Russian parliament said annexation “is necessary to defend their Russian population from the Kyiv government.” One America News, *Breaking News Live*, [10/3/22]

OAN blamed the West for the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage and Kerch bridge explosion without evidence

Three separate ruptures in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines sparked an international blame game between Russia, Ukraine, and Ukrainian allies, including the United States. Online conspiracy theorists and right-wing outlets like OAN parroted the Russian narrative and pointed fingers at the United States and its allies with no evidence. Some programming even used the allegations to validate Putin’s threats of nuclear war.

OAN’s reaction to an explosion that damaged the Kerch bridge, a strategic connection between the Crimean Peninsula and Russia’s mainland, followed a similar pattern. The network advanced a Kremlin allegation that Ukraine was behind the explosion without evidence, which Putin used to justify airstrikes across Ukraine. OAN unquestioningly promoted Putin’s claim as fact.

OAN guest Douglas Macgregor said the U.S. “probably approved this or had a role in” the Nord Stream pipeline explosions. Asked by host Dan Ball about “this sabotage thing,” Macgregor added, without evidence, “Well, we know with absolute certainty that the Russians did not do it.” Macgregor, a retired U.S. Army colonel, has a history of pushing pro-Russian talking points in right-wing media. One America News, *Real America*, [9/28/22]
Tipping Pointguest Pedro Gonzalez reacted to the pipeline explosion: “It really does look like the West did this.”Gonzalez, a senior writer at far-right Chronicles magazine, also framed nuclear warfare as a legitimate response to “an escalation that involves NATO,” saying that “Russia really has no other alternative. … The only option it has is to escalate to nuclear warfare, right?” One America News, *Tipping Point*, [9/30/22]
Host Kara McKinney inferred that the U.S. might have sabotaged the pipeline because Biden once said he wanted to end the Nord Stream pipeline. The Tipping Point host also claimed it would have been too hard for Russia to attack the pipelines itself. One America News, *Tipping Point*, [9/29/22]
OAN’s Addison Smith said it “does not make sense to the rational mind” that Russia would sabotage Nord Stream pipelines: “What does make sense is that the United States might be responsible.” Smith also cited Biden’s comments about ending the pipeline, claiming, “We have evidence that the U.S. could be behind this Nord Stream sabotage — definitely more evidence than anyone has of Russia being responsible.” One America News, *In Focus*, [10/6/22]
After the Kerch bridge explosion, One America News reported that Russia “targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, a move Russian officials say was in retaliation against Ukraine's attack destroying the Crimean bridge over the weekend.”OAN moved on without clarifying there is no definitive evidence Ukraine was behind the explosion or mentioning that global leaders condemned Putin’s so-called retaliatory strikes, which killed at least 11 people. One America News, *One America News*, [10/11/22]

OAN absolved Russia of blame for the war, faulting “globalists” instead

OAN’s quest to absolve Russia and justify its invasion has in some cases devolved into antisemitic conspiracy theories. Network hosts pushed claims that “globalists” provoked Russia and plunged the world into Armageddon in order to seize power and targeted the right’s favorite Jewish boogeyman, Holocaust survivor and pro-democracy philanthropist George Soros.Putin has referenced the conspiracy theory in speeches meant to court right-wing populists, justify the invasion, and reduce support for Ukraine. OAN’s coverage follows suit. [oct 13 vid]

correspondent Pearson Sharp: “This war was manufactured from the beginning by the globalists and the tyrants in Washington and designed specifically to cripple our economy and plunge the world into a massive depression, which would help centralize the globalists’ power.”Sharp used out-of-context clips from the “globalist puppet master himself, George Soros,” to trying to prove that “they are trying to provoke Russia into starting Armageddon,” even though “none of this has anything to do with Russia invading Ukraine.” One America News, *One America News*, [10/13/22]

OAN host Chanel Rion: “The left needs a world war. It's the only thing that can save them at this point. Biden's approval numbers and in turn the entire leftist globalist agenda is in burn-in-hell territory.” Rion told viewers that “theglobalist lefthave been begging for this World War III showdown,” perhaps partly because they want to “divide and plunder Russia.” One America News, *Weekly Briefing*, [10/9/22]
OAN guest Dave Brat warned: “The big-money folks, right, who you don't know — the globalist forces — want to rule and they don't care at all about the American people.”He continued by saying that globalists want to get rid of Russia and the United States. Host Addison Smith responded by pointing his finger at Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), saying, “Of course people like Dan Crenshaw want a war in Ukraine to go on. They want us to get involved in the war. It all comes down to money.” One America News, *In Focus*, [10/11/22]

OAN promoted Russian allegations of Ukrainian aggression, justifying Russia’s violent invasion

OAN uncritically advanced Russian propaganda demonizing Ukrainian attempts to take backillegally seized territories while depicting Putin as defending Russian lands and their inhabitants against Ukraine. Though Putin has issued nuclear threats, escalated global tensions, and mythologized Russia’s own history of state-based repression, OAN falsely claimed Ukraine is a totalitarian state run by a dangerous warmonger, President Volodymyr Zelensky, dead-set on dragging the world into nuclear Armageddon.

This coverage serves no purpose aside from helping Putin turn his unpopular military incursion into a defensive war and poisoning support for Ukraine by muddying legitimate criticism about reckless military spending with Kremlin conspiracy theories.

A day after Ukrainian officials clarified that Zelensky’s comments about “preemptive strikes” against Russia were about sanctions, not nuclear strikes, OAN host Addison Smith said, “I don't think he misspoke, William. I think he meant what he said.”Smith’s guest then used the miscommunication to paint Zelensky as an “irresponsible” warmonger. One America News, *In Focus*, [10/7/22]
Relying on Ruptly footage, OAN news hosts reported that “authorities in Donetsk People's Republic said the Ukrainian government is targeting civilians with Western weapons” adding that they say this is “an attempt to convince local residents that Moscow cannot protect them.” Russian state propagandists have promoted false claims about Ukraine attacking its own civilians in order to rationalize the invasion. Four days after this report aired, United Nations investigators concluded that “war crimes have been committed in Ukraine,” including Russian attacks carried out “without distinguishing between civilians and combatants.” One America News, *Breaking News Live*, [9/19/22]
OAN legitimized Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s claims that Ukraine “has become a completely totalitarian, Nazi-like state” and “Western supporters of Ukraine are trying to extend the conflict for as long as possible in hopes to weaken Russia.”The report, which contained Ruptly footage, failed to mention that far-right neo-Nazis are not politically strong in Ukraine, rarely exceeding 3% of the popular vote. One America News, *One America News*, [9/22/22]

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an 521

Weak or stupid': Trump lashes out at Republican officials — even as they continue to defend him

Bob Brigham Raw Story May 21, 2021

Donald Trump lashed out at Republicans for not further embracing his debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

Trump was interviewed by Chanel Rion on OAN on Thursday.

"We don't have a free and fair press any more media anymore," Trump said on the far-right network. "This is not free and you know, you look at communist countries. That's what happens, nobody can talk, and when you can't talk, there's nothing to discuss."

He then pushed his conspiracy theories about the election, which he decisively lost to President Joe Biden.

"Republicans don't want to talk about it, the weak or stupid or RINOs or call them whatever you want," he complained. "And yet the voter, the Republican voter, that's what they want to hear. They want to hear about 2020."

"They want to find out what's going on. The Republican voter wants the story, the weak Republican politician doesn't want to talk about this story because they think it's bad politically. I think it's great politically, I think it's great politically," Trump said of continuing to push his "Big Lie"

He then complained that he can't veto legislation coming from Congress because Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell did not overturn the will of the voters and end democracy in America.

"If Mitch McConnell fought in the Senate for election integrity, you would have lots of vetoes coming out right now out of the White House because you'd have a different president," Trump said. "But other than fundraising, he's very weak."

Watch

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Rudy Giuliani Flew Into Ukraine On A Budget Flight. He Left On A Private Jet.

The private jet used by Giuliani is connected to some of Ukraine’s most controversial figures — and costs $3,300 per hour.

Christopher Miller

BuzzFeed Contributor

Posted on December 18, 2019

Rudy Giuliani flew to Kyiv on a budget airline when he visited earlier this month — but he left in style, on a private jet.

It was the afternoon of Dec. 4 when Giuliani flew to the Ukrainian capital from Hungary with low-cost commercial carrier WizzAir. He was there to film a three-part video series for the staunchly pro-Trump OAN channel, which framed the trip as a mission to “destroy” the Democrats’ impeachment narrative.

Flying WizzAir, which demands that customers pay for everything à la carte and forces them to fight for unassigned seats and overhead bin space, often feels like a particularly chaotic Black Friday at Best Buy.

After experiencing that, it’s no wonder Giuliani wanted to fly out of Kyiv on a private jet.

According to flight data, videos, and photographs analyzed by BuzzFeed News, and confirmed by a Giuliani associate who joined him, the former mayor of New York left on a flight from Kyiv to Vienna on the night of Dec. 6, aboard a Beechcraft Premier 1A light business aircraft withtail number T7-UTS.

That number ties the jet to ICS Aero, a company that’s registered in the tiny state of San Marino, famous for its corrupt business practices, but operates out of Kyiv. Ukrainian media have reported that the company’s owner is Alexander Rovt, a Ukrainian American. The logo of another Rovt company, IBE Trade Corp, which adorns the tails of the company’s jets, provides further evidence of Rovt’s ownership.

OAN / Via youtube.com

A screenshot from the OAN show about Ukraine.

Rovt has done business in the past with Dmytro Firtash,a Ukrainian oligarch with ties to organized crime and the Kremlin who is currently under house arrest in Vienna and is fighting extradition to the US, where he faces federal bribery charges. While those charges are unrelated to the House impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, Firtash has been at the nexus of Trump and Giuliani’s effort to undermine their enemies.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said in court that a lawyer for Firtash paid $1 million to one of Giuliani’s Ukraine campaign cohorts, Lev Parnas, and Parnas’s wife. In an interview with Reuters published on Wednesday, the Firtash lawyer, Ralph Isenegger, said he loaned the Parnases the money to purchase a home in Florida.

Parnas and another Giuliani associate, Igor Fruman, have been charged with funneling illegal contributions to a member of Congress, whose help they sought during their back-channel Ukraine campaign to remove former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch from her post in Kyiv.

Giuliani’s use of the private jet raises questions about how he is funding his back-channel Ukraine campaign to dig up dirt on Trump’s political rivals. And it is likely to come under scrutiny from congressional Democrats who back Trump’s impeachment and federal prosecutors in Manhattan who are reportedly investigating whether Giuliani broke lobbying laws in conducting his back-channel Ukraine campaign, including his efforts to undermine Yovanovitch, who was recalled in April.

Neither Giuliani nor his spokesperson responded to BuzzFeed News’ requests for comments. Rovt didn’t respond to an emailed request, nor did the communications offices of ICS Aero and OAN.

Rovt, a towering New York real estate investor with Ukrainian roots, made his billions in producing and trading fertilizer. In 2011, he sold his overseas fertilizer assets to Firtash in a deal that involved a Russian chemical conglomerate, according to Bloomberg.

But Rovt appears to have retained close ties to powerful elites in Ukraine. In 2016, then-president Petro Poroshenko awarded him the Order of Yaroslav the Wise for distinguished services to the state and the people of Ukraine, according to a decree published on the presidential website.

Rovt, a pro-Trumper, reportedly tried to donate $10,000 to the president’s campaign on Election Day but had all but the legal $2,700 maximum returned. He’s also connected to a $3.5 million mortgage loan to former Trump campaign chair and convicted financial fraudster Paul Manafort, through a real estate investment firm founded by a former Trump business partner.

Joining Giuliani was his spokesperson Allen,OAN host Chanel Rion, an OAN camera operator, and a former Ukrainian diplomat by the name of Andriy Telizhenko whom Trumpworld has held up as a “whistleblower” of its own.

In Kyiv, the group met with several controversial Ukrainian political figures, including former prosecutors general Viktor Shokin and Yuriy Lutsenko, both of whom have peddled disinformation to Giuliani for months.Giuliani’s visit sent Kyiv into a frenzy, with Zelensky’s office working hard to avoid and ignore the former New York mayor and journalists running around trying to find him.

Shortly after the visit, OAN released video footage of Giuliani’s trip. BuzzFeed News was able to identify the jet he flew out on by matching the one in the OAN video and a tweet from Allen when the group was on board with publicly available photographs that showed similar stripes, logos, and interior. Telizhenko then confirmed the plane information by phone from Kyiv.

Asked how the plane was booked for the group, Telizhenko said: “We had a company that we use book the flight and that’s it. The guy you’re talking about [Rovt], I didn’t even know who owned the plane. We got it through a third company. I heard about that guy before and he has a lot of planes all over Europe, so that’s why it’s convenient."

Telizhenko said that Vienna was the chosen destination because its airport offered more flight options to Washington than the alternative offered by the charter company, Warsaw.

“It wasn’t Vienna because it was Vienna,” Telizhenko said when asked if the destination had anything to do with possibly meeting Firtash in the Austrian capital. “It was a transfer. The next morning [Giuliani] flew out [to the US]. I can guarantee you that no meetings of that kind [with Firtash] happened.”

“Plus it’s not expensive because it was a group of people with bags and everything else," he added. "It was the same price to use a charter as to buy tickets for everybody [on a commercial flight only a few hours in advance].”

The Beechcraft appears to have been booked through VipSky, a Kyiv-based charter company. Its website lists the Beechcraft Premier 1A as costing $3,300 per hour.

While it’s not clear who paid for the flight, Telizhenko said he believed that “Mr. Giuliani paid for [the flight] himself.”

“If OAN reimbursed him or not, I don’t know. But I know he paid for himself and that’s it,” he added.

The jet departed from Kyiv at about 12 a.m. local time and landed in Vienna at 12:56 a.m. local time, according to publicly available flight trackers. That would mean the flight lasted around two hours, for a cost of at least $6,600.

City Of Kharkiv / Via city.kharkov.ua

Giuliani steps off a plane adorned with the IBE Trade logo in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in 2017.

This appears to be the second time Giuliani has used a jet owned by Rovt’s ICS Aero. Giuliani flew on another one adorned with the IBE Trade logo from London to the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in 2017, flight data and photographs published by the city of Kharkiv show. Giuliani visited Kharkiv to consult with the city on security issues, according to a press release at the time.

Flying the luxurious private skies is indicative of the way Ukraine’s elite travel to and from Western Europe. ICS Aero planes adorned with Rovt’s IBE Trade logo have been used by several prominent Ukrainian figures, including former president Poroshenko, his scandal-plagued business partner, and a former Ukrainian lawmaker who once boasted about having his own private militia to assassinate an unarmed pro-Russian separatist.

Christopher Miller is a Kyiv-based American journalist and editor.

Contact Christopher Miller at christopher.miller@buzzfeed.com.

uk tabloid d mail

Changed name, alleged fraudster dad: Meet Chanel Rion Donald Trump's favorite White House reporter | Daily Mail Online

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tablod many many pix no lnx

10 April 2020

eXCLUSIVE: A changed name, an alleged fraudster dad and a VERY questionable resume:

So how did Donald Trump's favorite White House correspondent pass security checks to become the social-distancing-defying briefing-crasher?

Chanel Rion is the pro-Trump journalist for conservative network OAN, which was removed from White House briefings for her refusal to socially distance

She was promptly re-invited by then press secretary Stephanie Grisham and Trump again invited her to ask a question - and has been back twice since

DailyMail.com reveals new questions over how the 29-year-old is allowed into the White House

She was born Chanel Dyan-Ryan and only changed her last name legally last year when she applied for a 'hard pass' for the White House

For years she had no obvious employment but posed in designer dresses and at expensive vacation venues

She describes herself as a Harvard graduate but actually enrolled in Harvard's Extension School where entry requirements are much lower

She claimed to be part of Trump's 2016 campaign but a senior Republican told DailyMail.com they had no memory of her

Rion appears to have visited New Hampshire with her brother and sister and was photographed in front of a Chris Christie sign

Her fiance, a combat veteran who servied in Iraq, ran for Senate in a Republican primary in Missouri as Courtland Sykes but his real first name is Bob

By JOSH BOSWELL FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 9 April 2020 |

She is Donald Trump's favorite White House reporter – invited back by his press secretary when other journalists had her network removed for refusing to socially distance at his coronavirus briefings.

But a DailyMail.com investigation has uncovered serious questions over One America News (OAN) White House Correspondent Chanel Rion's background, finances, and how she obtained security clearance to be in the White House.

In fact, DailyMail.com can disclose that Rion changed her last name before applying for White House security clearance last year and that until becoming a correspondent for the conservative network last May, she had no obvious source of income, despite a social media profile filled with designer dresses and vacations in upscale hotels.

The 29-year-old has now flouted the White House Correspondents' Association repeatedly after it had OAN removed from the rotation of reporters allowed in the briefing room for Rion's refusal to follow social distancing guidelines.

Her latest appearance was on Wednesday, when once again she turned up at the back of the briefing room, defying the WHCA guidelines, and once again was invited by Trump to ask a question.

It was her third day this week, starting with Monday night, when she boasted to DailyMail.com about a 'meeting' with his then-press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who was moved to another job the next day.

[No social distancing: The White House Correspondents' Association removed Chanel Rion's OAN from the rotation allowing her to be present in the briefing room, but she has repeatedly defied the group and turned up, at the invitation of ex-White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham +36

Here again: Chanel Rion has repeatedly turned up at the back of White House briefings and been invited by Donald Trump to ask questions

Briefing crasher: Chanel Rion has become notorious for a series of appearances at White House briefings in defiance of social-distancing guidelines

Defiance: Chanel 'Rion' has now appeared repeatedly at White House briefings after the White House Correspondents' Association had OAN removed from the rotation for the limited seats in the briefing room +36

Hands-on presence: Donald Trump has singled out Chanel 'Rion' repeatedly to ask questions and praised her network. But his White House declined to answer how she was issued with a pass as DailyMail.com uncovered significant questions about her background

Trump time: Chanel Rion posed with Ivanka Trump at the launch of pro-Trump figure Charlie Kirk's book in Ivanka's father's Washington D.C. hotel

Earliest Trump picture: Chanel 'Rion' posted this image of her with Don Jr. before becoming a correspondent for OAN, boasting about meeting him at his father's Washington D.C. hotel

Another Trump: Chanel Rion has twice interviewed the president's daughter-in-law Lara Trump for OAN and posed with her for pictures +36]]

But little else about Rion is so straightforward, starting with her name.

She was born, in April 1990, and named not Chanel Rion but Chanel Nmi Dayn-Ryan. The unusual name was courtesy of one of her father's multiple identities.

The 72-year-old property developer and lawyer was born Danny Preboth, the son of renowned Goddard, Kansas psychic Allene Cunningham.

But over the years he has used the names Christopher Preboth, Dan Ryan, Danford Nmi Dayn-Ryan, Michael David Ryan, David Michael Ryan, and most recently Dann O Ryan.

(WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS PLEAD WITH RION TO STOP

The White House Correspondents' Association, which put together a rotation system to keep the building's briefing room from breaking social distancing guidelines, issued a fresh plea to people defying their guidance on Wednesday.

'If you do not have an assigned seat, please do not attend briefings during this crisis and do not stand in the aisles, doing so defeats the purpose of the measures we have all taken comply with CDC guidelines and puts your colleagues at risk,' the association emailed its members.

The target could not be clearer: only Chanel Rion has attended briefings and stood in the aisles.

She however tweeted: 'I'm not "Breaking White House Distancing Guidelines," I’m the only journalist in the room personally invited by the White House.'

That suggests that her invitation has survived the demise of Stephanie Grisham's career as press secretary. )

Though she has posted about her South Korean mother's family history, Rion has never mentioned her psychic grandmother, who is said to have foreseen Oprah Winfrey's success and Patty Hearst's short imprisonment, and featured in countless TV and radio shows flaunting her supernatural skills.

Neither has Rion mentioned that her father has been accused in multiple lawsuits of making millions defrauding property investors in Texas under many of his different aliases.

Ryan was involved in at least 31 companies sued by dozens of plaintiffs in Harris County, Texas, in the 1990s all alleging that he fraudulently sold them apartments by lying about the extensive repairs required, then forced them into foreclosure and bought back the property at a reduced price to sell to another investor, again for fraudulently inflated prices.

A 1998 lawsuit claimed Ryan defrauded investors out of more than $2 million by selling the same set of dilapidated apartments three times, allegedly lying to the buyers then forcing them into foreclosure and buying it back at rock-bottom prices each time.

San Francisco doctor Paul Lynn paid Ryan $1,795,000 for the Capetown Apartments complex in Harris County, Texas in 1993, but found them in complete disrepair, the lawsuit said.

The legal documents said Ryan foreclosed the property in March the following year, forcing Dr Lynn into bankruptcy.

Ryan then sold it to Robert Moore and his brother Dr. Elwin Moore from Seattle, Washington in November 1994.

The lawsuit claimed the brothers did not know that some of the 164 apartment units had been 'completely destroyed by fire and were non-existent at the time of the sale', and repairs would cost $8,000 per apartment rather than the $300 Ryan had told them.

Family: Chanel Rion's father is Danford Dyan-Ryan or alternatively Dan Ryan, who was born Danny Preboth. Her mother is his second wife, Kim Soon Oak. Both attended her graduation ceremony after studying at Harvard Extension School

Father: Chanel Rion's father Danford Dyan-Ryan - seen in Hong Kong in the mid-1990s - has been sued repeatedly

Family: Chanel Rion (second left) is seen with (from left) Darlene Sykes, her fiance's mother; Bob Courtland Sykes, her fiance; Kim Soon Dyan-Ryan, her mother; Danford Dyan-Ryan, her father; a female relative; her fiance's father Richard Sykes; and her brother Baron Ryan

ily: Chanel Rion posted these images of her mother's parents, saying that they escaped Japanese oppression and Communism thanks to American interventions

Grandmother: Chanel Rion's father's mother was Allene Cunningham, a nationally-renowned radio psychic who died in 2016 aged 94. Rion told DailyMail.com that she never met her paternal grandmother, who was said to have predicted Oprah Winfrey's success]

Ryan told the Moores he could act as their attorney for the property sale, the lawsuit said. They discovered later he was not licensed to practice law in Texas, they claimed in court papers.

When the brothers found out the decrepit state of the apartments, they agreed to swap their ownership for another of Ryan's apartment complexes, which Ryan then foreclosed in July 1995, leaving the Moores empty-handed, according to the legal documents.

The alleged fraudster then sold Capetown Apartments to a third buyer, Barry Hardy, for $1,795,000 plus $119,000 property taxes – though the real value was only $308,000, the lawsuit said.

Ryan did not respond to requests for comment. In a 13-page statement, Rion told DailyMail.com that her father had been honest in his real estate business and that he had been wrongly accused by 'malicious lunatics'.

'Apartments were offered plainly visible and sold 'as is' with the express understanding they were 'renovation projects' only that would require large and expensive repairs of an indeterminate nature,' she said, adding that 'buyers inspected fully, every apartment unit and all parts of every building and signed off that they had.'

'The untruthful allegations—the ACCUSATIONS were the screamings of vulchers [sic] trying not to pay what they owed—and the consequence of several mortgagors 'ganging up' to collaborate and escape payment of their respective million dollar mortgages,' she said.

Rion stated that she filed to legally change her name from her father's Dayn-Ryan to Rion at a Massachusetts court last year – the same year she applied for security clearance for her White House press pass.

Rion added that she has used the alternative spelling of her last name since age six and it appeared on documents including her passport.

Though her father now reportedly owns three ranches in Texas, Colorado and Missouri, it is unclear where Ryan's family lived during his controversial real estate career.

Rion's fiancé has said in interviews that she 'did most of her growing up' in Missouri. But the TV reporter has written on her Facebook that she lived in Seoul, South Korea, in 1995, France in 1996, and Key West, Florida from 1997 age 7 to 2010 age 20.

She has also suggested she was in South Korea in 1996 or 1997.

Harvard time: Chanel Rion spent five years at the Harvard Extension School, 18 months of it distance learning, graduating with an ALB

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Harvard time: Chanel Rion spent five years at the Harvard Extension School, 18 months of it distance learning, graduating with an ALB

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Harvard time: Chanel Rion spent five years at the Harvard Extension School, 18 months of it distance learning, graduating with an ALB

Glamorous images: Despite no apparent source of income, Chanel Rion - she changed her last name legally from Dyan-Ryan last year - has posed around the country on a series of vacations

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Glamorous images: Despite no apparent source of income, Chanel Rion - she changed her last name legally from Dyan-Ryan last year - has posed around the country on a series of vacations

Fiance: Chanel Rion met her fiance of four years, Bob Courtland Sykes who also studied at the Harvard Extension School. She says they met at a CIA recruiting event

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Fiance: Chanel Rion met her fiance of four years, Bob Courtland Sykes who also studied at the Harvard Extension School. She says they met at a CIA recruiting event

Veteran: Bob Cortland Sykes spent eight years in the Navy, rising to petty officer first class

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Veteran: Bob Cortland Sykes spent eight years in the Navy, rising to petty officer first class

Carefully constructed image: Chanel Rion and Bob Courtland Sykes - a former Navy petty officer who uses his middle name - appear frequently on each other's social media, going back to when both were at Harvard Extension School

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Sisters: Chanel Rion says she worked as Art Director and Principal Illustrator for Cloverstone Publishing, founded by her sister Channing (left)

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Sisters: Chanel Rion says she worked as Art Director and Principal Illustrator for Cloverstone Publishing, founded by her sister Channing (left)

HARVARD OR HARVARD EXTENSION - HOW TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

Harvard University, established in 1636, is renowned as one of the most prestigious schools in the world, and is fiendishly hard to get into. Undergraduates who make the cut study at Harvard College.

The university also has a sister organization called the Harvard Extension School, founded in 1910, which offers courses taught on Harvard’s campus, often by Harvard professors. But places on an Extension School course are nowhere near as competitive, and the admissions process is far less rigorous.

While Harvard College has an acceptance rate of 4.6%, courses at the Extension School are 'open to the public, and most require no application' according to Harvard’s website. The fees, however, are charged at full cost with no waivers or reductions.

Courses at the Extension School can involve 'distance learning,' where students study online and do not have to be on campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Undergraduate students at the Extension School who complete their course receive a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies (ALB), while students at the more prestigious Harvard College receive a Bachelor of Arts (AB) degree.

The Extension School also offers one-year postgraduate programs, which earn students a Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) – not to be confused with the venerated Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Master of Arts (GSAS AM).

However in a statement to DailyMail.com, Rion said she moved to France with her family in 1997.

And in one 1990s lawsuit where her father was sued by the City of Houston, he claims he stayed in the Texan city apart from a trip abroad 'between the middle of April 1996 to the middle of August 1996.'

But Rion ended up a far cry from any burnt-out Houston apartments, among the red brick and stone of Harvard University, where she began an International Relations course in 2010.

The bachelors course was with the University's Extension School, a separate organization to the main college, which offers non-degree programs with far less rigorous or competitive entry requirements.

According to Harvard's website, students at the Extension School must pay full fees and are not eligible for waivers or reductions.

Rion spent five years at the school, adding a one-year graduate course to her bachelors, and graduated in 2015.

Rion said her course at Harvard was 'full Harvard University degree' and '90%' of her classes were 'taught by Harvard Professors' – though she stated that she completed about 18 months of the course via distance learning.

'My Harvard University degree is as full a Harvard University degree as anyone's and granted with full honors. I earned the degree about five years after my admission through the distance programs and after spending five long years on and off campus,' she said.

'I wanted to be schooled with adults, to be free to go and come and travel and to work on my writing projects and not be locked into a suffocating and regimented dormitory box of a life.'

During her course, Rion says she worked as Art Director and Principal Illustrator for Cloverstone Publishing, founded by her sister Channing.

On the firm's website Channing says it is run from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is also a student at Harvard.

On the trail: Chanel Rion says that she was part of Donald Trump's campaign in New Hampshire. A senior Republican told DailyMail.com they have no memory of her. She did however post a picture with her sister Channing Rion in front of a Chris Christie campaign sign

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Celebration: Chanel Rion and Courtland Sykes were present at a Trump inauguration event

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Celebration: Chanel Rion and Courtland Sykes were present at a Trump inauguration event

But company records show the publishing house is in fact registered at an address of an Asian food store in Springfield, Missouri, and was dissolved by Missouri state in 2015 for failing to file a registration report.

The only book listed on the publishing company's website is a semi-autobiographical novel written by the women's father, using the name 'Dann O Ryan'.

Their brother, Baron Ryan, also claimed in an interview with the Springfield, Missouri, News-Leader, to have written the novel to gain one of his Eagle Scout badges, though his name does not appear on the book's cover.

Channing told DailyMail.com that she registered Cloverstone Publishing at the Springfield food store because she was 'in between apartments' in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she ran the firm. She said the address was owned by a Korean friend who offered to let her use it to register her business.

Channing said her brother and father wrote together her publishing company's one book, and distributed it to libraries for free.

Rion lists her employment after graduation as 'Political Illustrator for The Left Edge', a blog of her self-published illustrations.

The illustrations, which do not appear to have earned her income, include references to Pizzagate, a conspiracy theory that senior Democrats made cannibalistic sacrifices and trafficked children for sex in the basement of a DC pizzeria, and an image of George Soros as a sinister puppeteer, similar to ones which Jewish groups say are anti-Semitic tropes. She claims to have produced illustrations for 'President Trump and family.'

She has also claimed for at least the last two years that she is writing a 'series' of books for girls which will be 'available January 1,' and 'are being offered as language trainers in grim and dedicated rote English-learning venues including China and South Korea.'

According to her social media, Rion met her fiancé Bob Courtland Sykes during her final year at Harvard, where he was also taking a non-degree course at the Extension School.

Sykes, 39, who now goes by his middle name Courtland, set up a defense consulting company in 2017, but acknowledged in an interview that year that he had no clients.

Yet the couple, who have been engaged since July 2016, posted photos on their Facebook pages of at least 28 trips around the United States from March 2016 to December 2017, showing them water-skiing, driving classic cars, visiting museums and grand houses.

Despite no apparent source of income, their jet-setting lifestyle continued after Sykes declared his candidacy for the US Senate in Missouri in September 2017.

Fiance: Bob Courtland Sykes is a former sailor whose highest-ranking decorations is (top, left) the Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal. He also wears (top, second left) the Navy Good Conduct Medal with star; and (top, second right) the National Defense Service Medal. He also holds a Combat Service Ribbon and two decorations for service in Iraq

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Couple: Rion and Sykes are frequently photographed in carefully-choreographed settings. Sykes is holding a 2009 book about British ambassadors to Washington D.C. with JFK on the cover

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Couple: Rion and Sykes are frequently photographed in carefully-choreographed settings. Sykes is holding a 2009 book about British ambassadors to Washington D.C. with JFK on the cover

Korean dress: Chanel Rion has paid tribute to her mother's Korean heritage. She has claimed to have lived close to the DMZ as well as in a 'communist' village in France

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Korean dress: Chanel Rion has paid tribute to her mother's Korean heritage. She has claimed to have lived close to the DMZ as well as in a 'communist' village in France

Political campaign: While neither Bob Courtland Sykes nor Chanel Rion's social media shows them campaigning for Donald Trump in 2016, there is ample evidence of his failed Republican primary run for the Missouri Senate seat in 2018

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Unsuccessful support: Chanel Rion hit the campaign trail for her fiance Bob Courtland Sykes in 2018. He came in eighth place in the Republican primary with 2.08% of the vote

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Unsuccessful support: Chanel Rion hit the campaign trail for her fiance Bob Courtland Sykes in 2018. He came in eighth place in the Republican primary with 2.08% of the vote

Gathering support: Courtland Sykes' campaign for the Republican senate candidacy in Missouri in 2018 was a flop despite his fiancee's support

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Gathering support: Courtland Sykes' campaign for the Republican senate candidacy in Missouri in 2018 was a flop despite his fiancee's support

Trump-land fixtures: Bob Courtland Sykes posted a picture in December 2017 with one-time White House aide Steve Bannon and David Clarke (second from right), the former Milwaukee County sheriff who was a fixture in Trump circles although in recent months has been less prominent

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Doomed campaign: Bob Courtland Sykes posted pictures with Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican Senate candidate who lost amid accusations of inappropriate conduct with teenage girls. Sykes claimed the allegations were 'planted' by Mitch McConnell

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From 2016, Rion and Sykes' social media is filled with photographs of dozens of trips across the country, some where they appear to be helping with Republican Party campaigns, and others which appear to be holidays.

However there are no pictures of them playing a role in the Trump campaign, and one senior Republican told DailyMail.com they had no memory of Rion.

In September 2016, a few weeks from the election, the couple posted pictures from a lake house in Missouri, a photo of Sykes in a classic Pontiac Firebird in Ohio, a wedding in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a trip to the Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, and Hot Springs in Arkansas.

They were however at Trump's inauguration, in between January 2017 trips to Charlottesville, Virginia and Vacherie, Louisiana in January 2017.

The next month Sykes and Rion vacationed in New Orleans, returned to Hot Springs and then appeared at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland's National Harbor.

In December last year Rion posted pictures at a party in Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and pictures of herself in an elegant ball gown and fur coat at The Greenbrier, a luxury resort in West Virginia.

COURTLAND SYKES

This article has been corrected to reflect Mr. Sykes’ military service and combat record. We apologize for any inaccurate statements originally made.

In response to questions from DailyMail.com, Rion stated that: 'Everybody in America wears designer clothing, stays in hotels and may sometimes water ski. I shop for bargains just like everyone else and look as good as I can with the choices I make.'

Sykes has touted his military career working for the Defense Intelligence Agency and served eight years in the Navy, as an intelligence specialist. He is a combat veteran who served in Iraq.

His rank when he was discharged was Petty Officer First Class, and his highest-ranked decoration, the Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal, was for training 140 Columbians in, among other things, combat swimming, how to use speedboats, small arms firing and close-quarters combat.

Sykes told DailyMail.com he holds the Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and a Combat Action Ribbon, for active participation in ground or surface combat.

'I am very proud of my eight and a half years of active military service,' he said.

'I am very proud to volunteer my youth to target some of the most hostile elements in some of the most dangerous locations around the world.'

Debut: Chanel Rion made her first broadcast as an OAN correspondent on May 13, 2019, and moved to cover the White House the following month

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Debut: Chanel Rion made her first broadcast as an OAN correspondent on May 13, 2019, and moved to cover the White House the following month

Access boast: Chanel Rion was invited to a lunch the president traditionally holds with network television anchors on the day of the State of the Union

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Access boast: Chanel Rion was invited to a lunch the president traditionally holds with network television anchors on the day of the State of the Union

Holiday time: Chanel Rion spent Christmas Eve at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, meeting Eddie Gallagher, the SEAL he pardoned at the end of a war crimes trial, and Gallagher's wife Andrea

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Holiday time: Chanel Rion spent Christmas Eve at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, meeting Eddie Gallagher, the SEAL he pardoned at the end of a war crimes trial, and Gallagher's wife Andrea

Boast: Chanel Rion highlighted her Christmas Eve at Mar-a-Lago on her social media, describing it as 'nights with patriots'

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Boast: Chanel Rion highlighted her Christmas Eve at Mar-a-Lago on her social media, describing it as 'nights with patriots'

MAGA fixture: Chanel Rion interviewed Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, and flew with him to Ukraine to investigate his claims against Joe and Hunter Biden during the impeachment of Donald Trump. She says he was due to officiate her now postponed wedding

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Sykes said in an online biography he has been on four combat zone tours.

The failed Senatorial candidate attracted controversy in January 2018 when he posted a long statement on Facebook accusing feminists of being 'she devils'.

In the statement, he rejected 'radical feminism's crazed definition of modern womanhood' and wrote that he wants his daughters to be homemakers not 'career obsessed banshees' or 'nailbiting manophobic feminist she devils'.

Referring to his TV-reporter fiancée, he said: 'I want to come home to a home-cooked dinner at six every night, one that she fixes and one that I expect my daughters to learn to fix after they become traditional homemakers and family wives.'

Rion told DailyMail.com that Sykes sometimes cooks for her too, but added: 'I consider cooking my job even if I have a career and even if crazy feminists think I shouldn't.'

She said that after a four-year engagement her wedding next month, which she said would have been officiated by Rudy Giuliani - whom she accompanied on a trip to Ukraine last year - had been postponed due to coronavirus.

In 2017 interviews with Missouri media, Sykes admitted that his defense consultancy, Talosorion, did not have any clients.

According to federal contracts databases, the company still does not appear to have had any contracts with any government agency, and now appears to be registered to Sykes' parents' modest home in the small town of Hollister, Missouri.

Accused last week of breaking social distancing rules by entering the White House press briefing room after it was full, Rion claimed that the Grisham, now departed as press secretary, had given her personal permission to be there; Grisham confirmed that in court papers.

The White House did not respond to DailyMail.com questions about whether it was aware of her name change when it issued her with a 'hard pass,' which allows journalists unrestricted access to the White House.

Despite being banned from the briefing room by the White House Correspondents' Association who warned she was putting their safety at risk, Rion appeared again on Monday and on Tuesday, flouting the social distancing rules designed to let fewer reporters in the room to prevent infections.

The OAN reporter has become a firm favorite of the president, asking him soft-ball questions on his favorite topics.

In one briefing, when Rion asked Trump if his withdrawal of US forces from Syria was related to a U.S. special forces raid that killed the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the president said: 'It's a great question. And you're doing a great job, by the way. Your network is fantastic. They're really doing a great job. Please let them know.'

Donald Trump

Covid-19

www.news-leader....

Share or comment on this article: Changed name, alleged fraudster dad: Meet Chanel Rion Donald Trump's favorite White House reporter

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/19/journalists-blast-one-america-news-series-giuliani-087893

MICHAEL CALDERONE

12/19/2019

Upstart conservative network One America News’ decision to turn over three hours this week to Rudy Giuliani’s conspiracy theories gleaned from his trip to Ukraine found a receptive audience in the White House — less so in major newsrooms and TV studios.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper said Wednesday that Giuliani brought back “dirt of questionable credibility” from his trip with a reporter from a “far-right fringe cable channel.” On MSNBC, national security correspondent Ken Dilanian said Giuliani floated a “bogus conspiracy theory” about Joe Biden on OAN, a network “which makes Fox News look like PBS.” The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake labeled the OAN series “a stunning piece of propaganda."

charles Herring, president of One America News, shot back in an email to POLITICO. “We recognize that some ‘media’ outlets won’t acknowledge proven facts and won’t do their own time consuming and costly investigate work if the facts don’t fit their narrative,” he wrote. “This is simply a part of our media landscape today.”

But for much of the media world, OAN’s decision to give Giuliani a direct role in preparing its Ukraine report presents a troubling ethical development in the media landscape. Where once opinion shows began supplanting traditional news, now openly partisan content — presented largely unfiltered by the president’s personal attorney — is seeking to supplant content that’s opinionated but still independent.

Trump has celebrated OAN’s willingness to take his largely unfiltered line, retweeting several clips from the three-part OAN series this week in making his public case against impeachment. That’s come as he continues to carp at Fox News over its polling and bookings and suggested thatonly its “pro Trump Fox shows do well.”

Trump has displayed no similar frustrations with OAN, which promised in the three-hour series to dismantle House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff’s impeachment case, and, like the president, framed the proceedings as a hoax. [some gop rep at rnc called it "illegal"?] But while the series features many of the storytelling attributes of a news documentary, media experts say it departs from traditional journalism in giving such a prominent role to the president’s personal attorney.

“I think this completely crosses a line,” said professor Kathleen Culver, director for journalism ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“I would define one of the central characteristics of journalism as independence and here there is no independence. It is taking a source and bringing that source into the actual information gathering,” she said. “By making Giuliani a central figure in the gathering of information,” she added, “I think they’ve moved out of the realm of journalism and into the realm of advocacy."

mark Lukasiewicz, dean of the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University, said “the advocate is in the driver’s seat” in the OAN series, with Giuliani bringing forth documents on screen and helping conduct interviews. “The role typically played by an investigative journalist is played by Rudy Giuliani,” he said.

Herring did not respond directly to a question about about OAN’s independence with regard to Giuliani’s involvement in the project. But OAN correspondent Chanel Rion told viewers why her team took Trump’s attorney along to Ukraine and Budapest.

“His hundreds of hours and months of research into what he calls the great political scandal of our time made him the only person to go with us on this trip,” she said of Giuliani. Rion told viewers that their findings would “both astound and enrage” and offer a side kept from viewers by a “complacent media.”

The Herring family, which made a fortune printing circuit boards, is a fairly new entrant to the media business.The company launched lifestyle channel Wealth TV, later renamed AWE, in 2004, and created One America News in 2013. The San Diego-based network, which is reportedly available in about 35 million homes — compared with at least 90 million for Fox News — generally covers the major headlines of the day without excessive punditry and turns to conservative hosts at night.

But OAN's pro-Trump leanings became apparent during the 2016 election, as it turned to his rallies live, and have continued into the presidency. The Washington Post’s Marc Fisher reported in a 2017 profile of OAN that CEO and founder Robert Herring “directed his channel to push Trump’s candidacy” and “steer away from the new president’s troubles.”

Charles Herring disputed the notion that his father takes such a heavy hand in news coverage. “News anchors are not allowed to express opinions,” he told the Post. “They simply deliver the news and we leave it up to the viewers to decide. It’s not our family’s mission to determine the news.”

On Twitter, Robert Herring’s views are clear. “Our ratings are going up because we treat you like you are the President of the United States,” Herring responded to Trump when touting OAN’s ratings. “Your ratings are going up because you are doing a great job. Let’s keep it up!”

As Trump visited San Diego in September, Herring pointed out to the president that OAN “ran a 30-minute special report detailing the accomplishments you have made."

The network’s official Twitter account, however, once called “bullshit” when Trump didn’t mention OAN among his media boosters.“President Trump recently gave a speech, thanking his supporters in the media. Not a single mention of One America News — one of his GREATEST supporters,” read the tweet, which, according to a Guardian report, was sent by Robert Herring. Earlier this month, he tweeted: “If you are upset about the Democrats trying to impeach President Trump, let everyone know by putting an @OANN sticker on your car!”

Trump has returned the affection. He tweeted in October that OAN “is appreciated by many people trying so hard to find a new, consistent and powerful VOICE!” and last month laudedthe network for “seeking the facts and the truth.” Trump retweeted at least five clips from the OAN series this past week.

Charles Herring told POLITICO that OAN is “very appreciative of all our viewers and the support and encouragement they extend to us via comments on our feedback page and tweets/retweets — including from a special viewer in the White House.”

The testimony of current and former officials, along with Trump’s own words, has shown that he urged Ukraine’s president to launch investigations into the Bidens and a 2016 election conspiracy theory as the U.S. withheld aid to Ukraine. The allegations from an unnamed whistleblower, which ignited the scandal, have been largely confirmed, as PolitiFact concluded Monday in giving Trump its “Lie of the Year” award.

Rion told viewers OAN was holding "our own hearing" where they'd be the jury. The OAN team and Giuliani, she said, will present a side “that not only destroys Adam Schiff’s case for impeachment, but uncovers what may be one of the greatest cover-ups of our time."

in the series, Giuliani makes the unsubstantiated allegation that Biden committed “bribery” in calling for the removal of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin because his son Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. Biden’s request at the time was the view of the Obama administration, which, like several Western nations and international organizations, saw Shokin as not aggressively prosecuting corruption cases.

rion and Giuliani traveled abroad to interview Shokin, as well as Yuriy Lutsenko, whom The New Yorker dubbed in an extensive profile this week as a key Giuliani contact. They also met in a studio with Ukrainian “witnesses” alleging corruption involving Democrats. (The Daily Beast’s Anna Nemtsova wrote the OAN investigation features “some of Kyiv’s most dubious characters”).

Herring said over email that “One America News is seeking the truth regarding Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 Presidential election” and that “the best way to determine what happened in Ukraine is via interviews with first hand witnesses and a thorough review of the support documentation.” He suggested that “there is an effort to keep the ‘lid on the jar’ regarding corruption that traces back to the United States.”

“We appreciate the efforts by others to shed light on the facts, including first hand witnesses, other investigative reporters and media outlets, and politicians,” he added.

One prominent senator indicated Sunday that he’s interested in hearing about Giuliani’s Ukraine trip. On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Lindsey Graham said, "Rudy, if you want to come and tell us what you found I'd be glad to talk to you.”

---

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/biden-ukraine-recordings-oan/612454/

many lnx

Is OAN the Leading Edge of Russian Misinformation?

The Biden campaign says Trump’s favorite TV network is peddling the Kremlin’s lies.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE

JUNE 11, 2020

In what appears to be a signal of intensifying political warfare ahead of the November election, One America News Network, the Trump-supporting cable channel that has been promoting anti-Biden conspiracies for several months, says it has obtained several hours of secret recordings of then–Vice President Biden’s conversations with Ukrainian officials. If such recordings exist, they’re likely linked to pro-Russian interests in Ukraine and a Russian intelligence operation, two former U.S. ambassadors to Ukraine and a former ambassador to Russia told me. The OAN employee who claims to have the tapes would not say what was on them, other than suggesting that they will be revelatory.

In the audio that has been released elsewhere so far, Biden is heard dangling the promise of financial aid to Ukraine if its government ousted a prosecutor who was seen as corrupt—which Biden has previously said publicly was his goal, as part of a push for widespread reforms. Conspiracists have alleged that this was intended to help his son Hunter escape charges of corruption, but an audit by Ukraine’s former top prosecutor released last week found no evidence of illegal activity by Hunter in his capacity as an energy-company board member.

[MORE STORIES

Donald Trump

Democracy Versus Kleptocracy

FRANKLIN FOER

The Press Is Embracing False Equivalence—Again

JAMES FALLOWS

Rudy Giuliani: ‘You Should Be Happy for Your Country That I Uncovered This’

ELAINA PLOTT]

What is most remarkable here is that none of this is particularly surprising. Russian interference in the 2016 election has been closely studied over the past four years, and America’s vulnerabilities have only worsened in that time. As my colleague Franklin Foer wrote recently, “Russia’s interference in 2016 might be remembered as the experimental prelude that foreshadowed the attack of 2020.” That OAN is now a player in such interference suggests an escalation that the Biden campaign has been bracing for.

Indeed, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul—who has recalled being secretly recorded himself, among other forms of harassment, when he was posted in Moscow—told me, "There’s never been a moment like this in American history.”

[Read Putin is well on his way to stealing the next election

That includes 2016. McFaul said what he’s seeing now reminds him of tactics the Kremlin has used against its domestic political opponents. “It’s not to convince you of a different point of view. It’s to convince you that there is no truth,” he said. “When it feels like nobody’s telling the truth and there is no truth, the reaction to that is despondency and demobilization.”

It’s hard not to feel some déjà vu here. In 2016, Russian intelligence agents hacked the emails of Democratic National Committee staffers and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, and delivered them to WikiLeaks, as a way to get them into the American media. Some outlets learned a lesson from that episode, and have treated new Biden recordings out of Ukraine with care. Others have not. Andriy Derkach, who released the Biden tapes that have already come out, is a former member of a pro-Russian political party who graduated from a KGB-run academy in Moscow. OAN lends his efforts a veneer, however thin, of journalistic legitimacy.

The person now claiming to have more tapes is OAN’s Chanel Rion, the on-air personality who went with Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, on his December trip to Ukraine in part to find information on Biden to help Trump. Rion, who has become famous for her conspiracy-inflected questions at White House briefings, emailed the Biden campaign May 29 claiming that she was working on an “in-depth report” aboutrecordings that appear to be of Biden speaking with Petro Poroshenko, then the president of Ukraine. “We have over five hours of these recordings (beyond what has been posted online by Nabu Leaks),” she wrote, referencing a Ukrainian website suspected of Russian links.

Derkach, a politician known as the “Ukrainian Putin,” has been a proponent of the conspiracy theory that Ukraine was really behind the interference in the 2016 election instead of Russia. And he has previously been eager to provide damaging material about Biden for Trump’s sake. Derkach released a batch of recordings three weeks ago, claiming that they had been made by Poroshenko and given to him by “investigative journalists.” (Poroshenko has said the audio is “fabricated.”) Most mainstream-media outlets have decided that the recordings that have emerged so far offer “little new insight into Biden’s actions in Ukraine,” as The Washington Post’s Carol Morello wrote after the recordings were first released.

Giuliani, reached by text, did not comment on suspicions that the recordings have ties to Russian interests or intelligence, or on whether he was involved in getting any of them to OAN.

Rion was until recently an illustrator. She has said she joined members of the Trump family in 2016 for the New Hampshire primary’s victory party; she has also tweeted a drawing of Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein with the hashtag #spiritcooking, which is often associated with the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. On her website, she describes herself as “a fierce foe of anything Clinton, of everything Obama, and as a total and unrelenting enemy of academic left-liberalism and political correctness anywhere.”

In March, she cited a “monitored source” on air who’d said that the coronavirus had been linked to a lab in North Carolina; that source turned out to be a person who’d tweeted at her. She has asked wild questions at White House briefings, including one about whether Trump would pardon Barack Obama for unspecified crimes, and another about whether Trump’s lawyers would like to depose Joe Scarborough, after Trump floated a baseless accusation that he’d murdered an aide.

Rion’s email, which the Biden campaign forwarded to me, suggests that OAN is “producing an in-depth report on these recordings for OAN's Special Investigates series.” In a phone call on Sunday, she told me that she now expects to acquire much more than the five hours of recordings she mentioned in her email. Rion said that Derkach was just one of the people who have been giving her material. She said she has verified, with the help of “a couple of sources on the ground,” and with sources in the U.S. as well, that the recordings have no ties to Russian intelligence or interests. She would not explain her verification process, saying, “I don't want to tip off anybody.”

It was once unusual for the public to gain access to top-secret government documents, let alone private conversations between the American vice president and a foreign leader. But as countries around the world increase their cyberwar capabilities and their willingness to interfere in one another’s domestic politics, and as the democratization of publishing allows for the rapid spread of misinformation, media leaks of hard-to-verify and potentially doctored documents and recordings of government officials are becoming commonplace.

“It is common practice for Russian intelligence to help put out information in skewed forms in Ukraine, and forensic experts have seen that this information is doctored,” said John Herbst, a former career Foreign Service officer who served as the American ambassador to Ukraine from 2003 to 2006.“The Kremlin is a master at this sort of practice, and the sources in Ukraine providing this sort of information are known to be well connected in Moscow.”

Herbst was one of seven former ambassadors to Ukraine who wrote an open letter to Ukrainians two weeks ago, prompted by the already-public recordings. They said they are “disheartened by efforts to involve Ukraine in America’s domestic politics as the 2020 US presidential election approaches.”

“This all just confirms what we knew,” said Steven Pifer, another former ambassador to Ukraine, who signed the letter.

David A. Graham: What happened in Ukraine?

Russia would love to “somehow inject Ukraine back into American politics,” Pifer said. “There will be people on the American side who play into it—OAN is one.”

The Biden campaign says OAN’s willingness to play along is exactly why the network received the recordings. “In 2016 and ever since, hostile foreign actors have perpetrated insidious efforts to disfigure and poison American democracy. Yesterday’s hacked emails are today’s bugged phones and deepfakes,” Andrew Bates, a campaign spokesperson, told me.

An OAN spokesperson, Krista McClelland, did not respond to a request for comment about the suggestion that the recordings have links to Russian intelligence. Nor did she respond to the Biden campaign’s charges.

Other countries are stepping up their own efforts to get involved in this year’s elections; Iran and China, for example, have been linked to attempts to hack Biden and Trump campaign computers. But Russia continues to lead the misinformation game. The day after Rion reached out to Biden’s team, Sputnik—the Kremlin-owned propaganda service, which American intelligence has accused of being involved in the 2016 misinformation efforts—ran an interview with a former Poroshenko aide who claimed that he was the one who’d made the recordings, and that he’d given them to his lawyers to give the Trump administration. “Because of the coronavirus,” he said,” they are waiting. But in September, closer to elections, they will begin to use them more.”

There’s no evidence to support this. But the Trump campaign doesn’t seem to have much interest in dampening ideas like it: The communications director, Tim Murtaugh, didn’t respond to multiple emailsI sent about whether the campaign has more materials from Ukraine featuring Biden, and neither did White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley.

Election Day is in five months. And the people best positioned to knock down the Russian misinformation apparatus seem most interested instead in propping it up

===

https://theintercept.com/2020/08/15/white-house-plants-pro-trump-conspiracy-theorists-among-reporters-briefing-room/

in AN APPARENT effort to make his daily news conferences even more like campaign events than they already are, the White House press office has been packing the briefing room with supporters of President Donald Trump from far-right media outlets who can be relied on to toss him softball questions and initiate attacks on his political rivals.

Clearly in on the plot, Trump solicited a question each day this week from one of the guests invited by his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, to stand at the back of the room — where representatives of One America News, The Epoch Times and Gateway Pundit compromised the health of reporters by violating social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.

On Monday, Trump called on Chanel Rion, a far-right Republican operative and conspiracy theorist now working as a correspondent for One America News,a San Diego cable channel dedicated to spreading lies about Joe Biden and elderly protesters battered by the police.

Rion gave Trump the opportunity to unleash a familiar riff from his pre-pandemic rallies by suggesting to him that Biden might have been considering President Barack Obama’s former national security adviser, Susan Rice, as his running mate because, “she can best cover up a lot of the Obamagate surveillance crimes that have taken place during your campaign.” Trump responded by accusing Obama and Biden of “probably treason.”

The next day, Rion triggered another familiar Trump diatribe by asking for his take on the resignation of Carmen Best, the first Black woman to lead Seattle’s police force, after the city council voted to cut her department’s budget. “What does this say about our country?” Rion asked Trump. “And what does this say about the Defund Police movement?” The president replied by repeating the lie that Seattle’s Democratic mayor had let “a radical left group, Antifa and others, take over a big portion of the city.”

On Wednesday, Rion drew Trump’s attention to what looked like a fairly lame conservative prank — the fact that the obscure website antifa.com was suddenly redirecting traffic to Biden’s campaign site. Suggesting that this stunt might somehow indicate support for Biden from the loose network of antifascist groups Trump has falsely portrayed as a shadow army, Rion asked if the president thought Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, should “publicly denounce the Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization?”

[twt]

They should,” Trump replied. “I think they’re afraid to. In my book, it’s virtually a part of their campaign: Antifa.” There was nothing remotely surprising in Trump making the absurd argument that Biden, a centrist Democrat, is secretly part of an antifascist subculture, but Rion’s play-acting as a White House correspondent is not intended to elicit any new information from the president. The point of these exchanges is to shield Trump from what tough questions about his failure to lead a coordinated federal response to the Covid-19 pandemic and to give him an opportunity to repeat lines he has already rehearsed, delivered as if they were answers to questions of vital importance.

Rion, who has been attending briefings as a guest of the White House press secretary since April, previously traveled to Ukraine with the president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to promote false accusations about Biden spread by the pro-Russian lawmaker Andriy Derkach. An American intelligence assessment released last week concluded that Derkach was involved in a Russian plot to undermine Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party by “spreading claims about corruption — including through publicizing leaked phone calls” from 2016 between the former vice president and Ukraine’s president.

On Thursday, shortly after Trump praised the crackpot legal scholar who invented a racist conspiracy theory that Harris was not eligible to be vice president, even though she was born to immigrant parents in Oakland, he turned again to Rion. This time, however, she asked if he would, instead, take a question from Emel Akan of The Epoch Times, another of his press secretary’s guests from an equally rabid pro-Trump media outlet.

When Trump agreed, Akan asked him how the U.S. would respond to “the recent attack on press freedom in Hong Kong,” specifically the arrest of the publisher of the popular Apple Daily tabloid news site, Jimmy Lai, who has been an outspoken critic of the pro-Beijing leadership in the semiautonomous Chinese city. Lai could be charged with “collusion” with the United States for meeting Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington last summer to discuss Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protest movement.

Although Trump began by saying, “Well, I think it’s a terrible thing,” he appeared to have little familiarity or interest in the subject of press freedom, or democracy in Hong Kong, pivoting quickly into his stock complaints about China’s trade policies. He even seemed to gloat a bit when he said that, as a result of the U.S. withdrawing the “tremendous financial incentives” for businesses based in Hong Kong, American companies might profit from the crackdown on the territory.

“We’ve now withdrawn all of those incentives. It’s going to be very hard for Hong Kong to compete,” Trump said. “And I will tell you that the United States… will end up making a lot more money because of it, because we lost a lot of business to Hong Kong,” he added. “We made it very convenient for people to go there, for companies to go there. We’ve withdrawn all of that and the United States will be a big beneficiary from an economic standpoint.”

While Trump’s answer was not the kind of stirring endorsement of press freedom Akan might have expected from an American president, inciting an attack on China’s government was probably gratifying to the owners of The Epoch Times. The paper is owned by members of the dissident Chinese Falun Gong spiritual movement who have spent heavily to promote Trump as a useful battering ram against their ultimate enemy: the Chinese Communist Party that considers the banned sect a cult. An Epoch Times echoes Trump’s rhetoric that China is to blame for the global pandemic, but urges people to call it not “the China Virus,” as Trump does, but the “CCP Virus.”

The White House press secretary’s invitation to the Epoch Times writer to participate in the briefing alongside reporters and photographers from some of America’s leading news organizations is remarkably brazen given that last year, when The Epoch Times was outside of the president’s own campaign, the site spent heavily to promote the baseless conspiracy theory that Biden had abused his power as vice president in 2016 to protect his son’s business interests in Ukraine.

Since then, the site has been banned from advertising on Facebook, after NBC reported that the newspaper had secretly placed Facebook ads promoting President Trump.Last week, Facebook also removed 303 fake accounts linked to The Epoch Times for spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and pro-Trump conspiracy theories about supposedly shadowy figures behind the ongoing racial justice protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

On Friday, after Trump twice refused to answer a question from The Associated Press about whether he believes the QAnon conspiracy theory in which he is a central figure,he from Alicia Powe, who writes for the far-right Gateway Pundit blog.

Powe, who has claimed that the Clinton Foundation controls the FBI and is stifling investigations of child sex-trafficking rings and the murder of Seth Rich, asked Trump to comment on the accusation that Biden had claimed credit for the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

[vid]

powe’s question was based on a blog post by the founder of Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft, which amplified an attack on Biden from the Kremlin-owned site Russia Today. Hoft’s post also quotes the analysis of Heshmat Alavi, a supporter of a militant Iranian cult called the Mojahedin-e-Khalq, who, as my colleague Murtaza Hussain revealed last year, is a fictional character.

McEnany did not respond to a question about whether she or someone else in her office invited Powe to the briefing on Friday, but Powe is a former blogger for WorldNetDaily, the far-right website that helped create the racist “birther” conspiracy theory to undermine President Barack Obama. Alyssa Farah, the White House director of strategic communications, is the daughter of Joseph Farah, who founded WorldNetDaily. In the 1990s, Joseph Farah was a leading proponent of the conspiracy theory that deputy White House counsel Vince Foster might have been murdered.

The presence of Rion, Akan and Powe also infuriated the White House Correspondents Association, whose members have agreed to send only 14 reporters a day during the pandemic, to maintain safe social distance.

The WHCA, which normally decides which accredited journalists are allowed in to the briefing room on a given day, also wants the aisles at the sides and the back of the room to be open for photographers and video crews to operate safely. “It is outrageous that the White House continues to invite ‘guests’ to press briefings, putting the health and safety of everyone in that workspace at greater risk,” the WHCA president, Zeke Miller, said in an email. “The WHCA’s social distancing guidelines were crafted in consultation with the White House based on the recommendations of the CDC and the nation’s leading public health professionals. Trampling on those guidelines endangers the critical work of reporters who have maintained independent press coverage of the presidency throughout the pandemic.”

Until April, OAN was a member of the correspondents’ association but the cable channel was expelled after Rion kept showing up at briefings when it was not her turn. Since then, she has attended press events as a guest of the White House press secretary.

Unlike the original, freewheeling coronavirus task force briefings — which came to a sudden halt in April when Trump mused that doctors should “check” to see if injecting patients suffering from Covid-19 with bleach or isopropyl alcohol, or exposing them to ultraviolet light, might cure them — the president’s current news conferences are much shorter and seem designed mainly to get his lengthy, written opening statements on the air and get him out of the briefing room after taking just a handful of questions.

Trump’s opening statements at the latest briefings are often nakedly political in nature, featuring crude, jarring attacks on Biden and other Democrats. “Today, we saw Joe Biden continue to politicize a pandemic and to show his appalling lack of respect for the American people. That’s what it is,” Trump said at the start of Thursday’s briefing. “At every turn, Biden has been wrong about the virus, ignoring the scientific evidence and putting left-wing politics before facts and evidence.”

After then blatantly lying about Biden’s suggested response to the pandemic in the most idiotic terms — “Sleepy Joe rejects the scientific approach in favor of locking all Americans in their basements for months on end” — Trump concluded, with a stunning lack of self-awareness: “To Joe, I would say: Stop playing politics with a virus. Too serious. Partisan politics has no place here. It’s a shameful situation for anybody to try and score political points while we’re working to save lives and defeat the pandemic.”

Trump’s prepared remarks at these briefings almost always feature highly misleading health and economic statistics intended to convey the false impression that the federal government’s pandemic response is the envy of the world.

At Tuesday’s briefing, for example, Trump said in his opening statement: “Since the end of July, the seven-day average for cases in the United States has fallen by nearly 20 percent, but the virus continues to increase in nations across the globe. Last week, France and Germany both recorded their highest daily number of new cases in three months — not that I want to bring that up, but might as well explain it to the media.” While those statistical measures of the increase by percentage of new cases in Europe and decrease by percentage in the U.S. were accurate, what they hid was the fact that, in raw numbers, the pandemic is obviously far less under control here than there.[shillenberger pat m cherrypick]

The day Trump made those remarks, 53,315 new Covid-19 infections were confirmed by testing in the U.S. Germany’s highest number of daily infections in three months, recorded this week, was 1,445. Cases are down more in the U.S. but from a very high level to a slightly less high level. In much of Europe, cases are rising but from very low baseline. Adjusted for population, the U.S. recorded 154 new cases per million on Friday, while France had 41 and Germany 17.[graf]

While the pandemic is resurgent in many parts of the world, Trump has been unable so far to brow-beat the public into accepting his obviously false claims that things are better in the United States than in Europe or Asia. A new poll released by Monmouth University on Thursday showed that 52 percent of Americans “think the United States’ handling of the pandemic is worse than other countries,” while just 15 percent feel the U.S. is doing a better job than others and 29 percent say it is doing about the same.

Having complained on Wednesday about what he called “a wiseguy question” from a reporter who noted that two top Federal Reserve officials “said that the economy hasn’t recovered strong enough because the country hasn’t contained the virus,” Trump devoted part of his opening remarks at Thursday’s briefing to falsely complaining that Biden, who, “never takes questions.”

“I take questions; he never takes questions,” Trump continued. “And you sort of wonder what’s going on, because they’re not that difficult. Some can be nasty, but they’re not that difficult.”

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/how-trump-is-once-again-colluding-with-russia/

no lnx twt

how Trump is once again colluding with Russia

Written by Nancy LeTourneau / Washington Monthly August 14, 2020

Almost two weeks ago, a story circulated that Portland protesters were burning Bibles and American flags. It spread via social media and was picked up by conservative outlets, such as the Washington Examiner. Of course, several Republican leaders joined the bandwagon.

tp kirk --> djt jr?]

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ted cruzretweet: This is who they are.

Ian Miles Cheong

@stillgray

Left-wing activists bring a stack of Bibles to burn in front of the federal courthouse in Portland. https://twitter.com/Shelldrayk/status/1289481822414413827/video/1

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don jr

Now we move to the book burning phase. I’m pretty sure ANTIFA doesn’t actually stand for what they say it stands for. Maybe just remove the anti part of them name and it’s perfect.

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tpkirk

BLM inc arsonists just burned a stack of Bibles in Portland

The activist media won’t report on this because it’s likely they support it

Our faith is under attack.

If you vote for Biden—you vote for Bible burnings

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Two reporters at the New York Times, Matthew Rosenberg and Julian Barnes, decided to look into the story and found Vladimir Putin’s fingerprints all over it. As is often the case with effective propaganda, this story contains a kernel of truth. Apparently, some group was handing out Bibles to protesters that night and one of them was used to start a fire. An American flag was also burned. But a local paper covering the protests that night devoted just one sentence to that story in a lengthy piece about what happened.

The video news agency connected to Russia Today (RT) was regularly streaming a live feed of the Portland protests. They edited the clip of the fire and made it the focal point of their protest coverage that night. Then, RT did an entire story about it. Social media took it from there and the next thing you know, outlets like the Washington Examiner were picking it up. Here is how Rosenberg and Barnes summarized the process:

The Russian technique is a kind of information laundering, akin to money laundering.Stories originate with Russian-backed news sites, some of them directly connected to Moscow’s spy agencies, officials and experts said. They are then picked up by Americans on social media or in domestic news outlets, and their origins quickly become obscured. Often, by the time a story reaches most of its American audience, there is little to indicate that it was created to fuel grievances and deepen political divisions.

Trump: They should. I think they’re afraid to. It’s– in my book it’s virtually a part of their campaign, Antifa. The Democrats act like, gee, I don’t know exactly what that is.

Take a look at Portland. Take a look at any place you want to take a look at, and they’re all over the place. They were here. [DC?]

Basically Rion gave Trump the opportunity to claim that Antifa is part of the Biden campaign—which is, of course, a blatant lie.

Walker looked into what actually happened with the antifa.com website. Once again, as Pelosi said, “all roads lead to Putin.”

:{:{}:

Records for “antifa.com” in the domain name database Whoisology.com show the site was registered in the Russian Federation from 2013 through last July.Starting last November, the site’s registration was moved to Panama, The website has always been anonymously registered and its owners could not be reached for comment.

Russia set up the antifa.com website and eventually redirected it to Biden’s campaign page, allowing the president to claim that the group was involved politically with Democrats. Of course, this raises the old question of whether this was all coordinated with the president or if Trump is simply taking advantage of Putin’s efforts. The same questions are raised about the role of OAN in these kinds of Russian propaganda efforts.

So there you have two examples of how Russia is currently interfering in the 2020 election to support the reelection of Donald Trump. One thing worth noting is that if these examples are reflective of their efforts, Vladimir Putin has calculated that his best bet is to inflame the so-called “culture wars,” something that has been the bedrock of the Republican strategy for decades. The Bible burning story was especially useful for the Christian nationalists who want to scare their followers into thinking that, as Trump has suggested, Joe Biden is against God and the Bible.

It is important to keep in mind that the only reason we know about these Russian efforts is because some reporters put in the time to track down the story. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who has seen what our intelligence services know about Russian interference, said that the 2020 efforts “make Moscow’s past interference and nefarious actions look like child’s play.” But the Trump administration is keeping that information from the public, while the attorney general hypes the antifa story and puts all of his energy into accusing the Obama administration of “spying” into the Trump campaign. That strikes me as the definition of collusion.

https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/downplaying-risk-death-sinclair-ran-national-segment-promoting

5/24/grab

https://www.mediamatters.org/

Coronavirus and Fox News:

Trump watching Fox News amid pandemic

Timeline: How Trump’s Fox News fixation shaped the federal coronavirus response

05/07/20 11:52 AM EDT

Fox & Friends advertises protests against social distancing 4/18/20

Promotion, praise, and a ton of coverage: How Fox News embraced protests against coronavirus safety measures

04/20/20 6:22 PM EDT

laura-ingraham-what-trump-needs-to-do-control-narrative-testing-04-21-2020.jpg

Fox News spins to “control the narrative” of Trump's failures on coronavirus testing

04/22/20 2:14 PM EDT

Hannity 4/9/20

Sean Hannity’s astounding coronavirus hypocrisy

04/10/20 2:22 PM EDT

Fox News interviews Arizona sheriff who won't enforce social distancing orders

Fox is cheering on rogue sheriffs linked to a pro-militia group

05/07/20 1:56 PM EDT

Sean Hannity

Six different polls show how Fox’s coronavirus coverage endangered its viewers

04/09/20 1:28 PM EDT

Sean Hannity defends Trump's outburst against reporter who asked him what he would say to frightened Americans

How Fox’s Sean Hannity has downplayed the coronavirus pandemic in America

04/01/20 1:17 PM EDT

Laura-Ingraham-Attack-Seth-Rich-Family.png

Laura Ingraham's coronavirus coverage has been a cesspool of misinformation — and a danger to public health

05/08/20 7:08 AM EDT

Ebola Trump

Fox News' coronavirus coverage stands in stark contrast to its coverage of Ebola in 2014

03/10/20 11:51 AM EDT

Coronavirus and right-wing media:

hugh-hewitt-mitchmcconnell-interview-states-bankruptcy-04-22-2020.jpg

Led by Hugh Hewitt, right-wing media cheer for states to file “bankruptcy” from coronavirus as a chance to cut public pensions

04/24/20 5:36 PM EDT

fake-news-radio-1.png

Across the country, right-wing talk radio hosts promote local protests against stay-at-home orders

04/24/20 10:27 AM EDT

rush-limbaugh-coronavirus-deaths-04-07-2020.jpg

Coronavirus deaths are being undercounted. Rush Limbaugh continues to allege the opposite.

04/07/20 5:18 PM EDT

Coronavirus social media

A Bill Gates coronavirus conspiracy theory spread on social media and to right-wing media figures

04/08/20 12:13 PM EDT

Dr. Anthony Fauci

Pro-Trump media have ramped up attacks against Dr. Anthony Fauci

03/24/20 2:21 PM EDT

Coronavirus COVID-19

Right-wing media figures spread “empty hospitals" theory to downplay the threat of coronavirus

03/30/20 2:58 PM EDT

Chanel Rion OAN

Pro-Trump OAN pushes wild conspiracy theory that novel coronavirus was created in a North Carolina lab

03/18/20 11:26 AM EDT

Bryan Fischer

American Family Association is lying about coronavirus on its evangelical radio network

03/25/20 4:48 PM EDT

Facebook

The Daily Wire and The Western Journal use Facebook page networks to spread right-wing spin about coronavirus

03/25/20 4:08 PM EDT

Coronavirus and mainstream media:

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/wild-tabloid-investigation-exposes-bizarre-background-of-trumps-new-favorite-white-house-reporter/

no lnx

Wild tabloid investigation exposes bizarre background of Trump’s new favorite White House reporter

Written by Travis Gettys / Raw Story April 9, 2020

President Donald Trump’s favorite White House reporter has murky background, a name change, a notorious fiancé, an accused fraudster dad and a TV psychic grandmother.

One America News correspondent Chanel Rion saw her profile rise after she was briefly banished last week from the White House briefing room but invited back by since-ousted press secretary Stephanie Grisham, and the Daily Mail took a deep dive into the reporter’s past.

The 29-year-old had been banned from the daily coronavirus briefings for ignoring social distancing guidelines, but Grisham asked her back shortly before the press secretary was ousted herself.

Rion also made news during the impeachment saga, when she flew to Europe and Ukraine with the president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to produce a documentary intended to show Trump was the victim of a corrupt conspiracy to remove him.

She was born in 1990 as Chanel Nmi Dayn-Ryan to a South Korean mother and a property developer father Dan Dayn-Ryan — who was born Danny Preboth but assumed multiple identities over a career that’s gotten him sued dozens of times for fraud.

Her father was involved in at least 31 companies sued in Harris County, Texas, in the 1990s for fraud involving apartment buildings and other real estate deals, and one plaintiff complained that Ryan offered to act as their attorney during one sale despite not having a law license.

Rion’s grandmother, Kansas psychic Allene Cunningham, frequently appeared on TV and radio shows to make predictions, and claims to have foretold Oprah Winfrey’s success and Patty Heart’s short imprisonment.

Rion filed to change her last name last year in Massachusetts, the same year she applied for security clearance for her White House press pass, but says she has used the alternate spelling of her last name since age six and that spelling is used on her passport and other documents.

She spent five years at the Harvard Extension School, a separate organization from the university that offers non-degree programs with far less rigorous or competitive entry requirements.

“My Harvard University degree is as full a Harvard University degree as anyone’s and granted with full honors,” she told the Daily Mail. “I earned the degree about five years after my admission through the distance programs and after spending five long years on and off campus.”

Rion claims to have worked as art director and principal illustrator for Cloverstone Publishing, founded by her sister Channing, and lists her post-graduate employment as political illustrator for her self-published Left Edge website.

Her illustrations, which don’t appear to have earned any income, depict the Pizzagate conspiracy and philanthropist George Soros, and she claims to have produced illustrations for Trump and his family.

She’s engaged to Bobby Courtland Sykes, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2018 and gained notoriety for attacking feminists as “she devils” and insisted his fiancée have dinner ready for him every night at 6 p.m.

“I consider cooking my job even if I have a career,” Rion told the Daily Mail, “and even if crazy feminists think I shouldn’t.”

The couple frequently post photos of themselves on social media, where they claim to have met during her final year at Harvard as he was taking a non-degree course at the Extension School.

Sykes claims to have served as an intelligence specialist in the U.S. Navy, but photographs of his uniform and medals posted on Facebook show his rank as petty officer first class, and his medals do not appear to back his claim to have served in a combat zone.

Their social media accounts are filled with dozens of photos showing the couple traveling around the U.S., including some shots that suggest they’re helping with Republican Party campaigns.

They attended Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, according to social media photos, and Rion posted photos of a party at the president’s Mar-A-Lago resort in December.

She explained her apparently luxurious lifestyle to the Daily Mail by claiming to have an eye for bargains.

“Everybody in America wears designer clothing, stays in hotels and may sometimes water ski,” Rion said. “I shop for bargains just like everyone else and look as good as I can with the choices I make.”

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The newest "political correspondent" for the pro-Trump network One America News Network is Chanel Rion, a right-wing editorial cartoonist who has drawn illustrations that have promoted anti-Muslim bigotry, Seth Rich conspiracy theories, and a call for "armed citizens" to defend the country against the "violent left."

One America News Network is an openly pro-Trump network that pushes conspiracy theories, including about the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. The Washington Post reported in a 2017 profile that the network's owner, Robert Herring Sr., has directed his channel to push the president's agenda. Jack Posobiec, a Pizzagate and Seth Rich conspiracy theorist who has previously advocated for the "alt-right," also works for the network.

President Trump recently tweeted his support for the network, writing: "Also, congratulations to @OANN on the great job you are doing and the big ratings jump ('thank you President Trump?')"

During a 2017 interview with conspiracy theory outlet TruNews, Rion said that she started cartooning "when all these sleazy women started coming out attacking Trump saying that they touched him [sic] or did what this or that under flimsy grounds and I thought that the media really dropped the ball on that."

Rion's illustration have pushed anti-Muslim messages and conspiracy theories. She drew a cartoon wondering if the "deep state," DNC, or "Clinton crime family" killed Seth Rich and if the Clintons killed author Victor Thorn, a Clinton critic and virulent anti-Semite. She also made an illustration that said we need "armed citizens to defend America from [the] violent left" because the left is supposedly plotting an "assassination coup to kill [the] right," and the Democrats are plotting "to inspire killers."