Will Sommer

Exclusive: A year after Tenet Media was busted for funneling Russian money to MAGA pundits like Benny Johnson and Tim Pool, a Trump administration effort involving State and the FBI has welcomed Tenet's founders back into the US. @thebulwark.com: www.thebulwark.com/p/lauren-che...

Trump Admin Scores Visa for Founder of Russian Propaganda Outlet

Tenet Media’s Lauren Chen is back—even though the illegal-influence and money-laundering investigation remains open.

New WSJ: After flying an FBI jet to see his girlfriend sing at a wrestling match, FBI director Kash Patel took the jet to a private Texas hunting resort called the Boondoggle Ranch. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Kash Patel’s ‘Effin Wild’ Ride as FBI Director

In just one week in October, he ticked off his bosses with premature comments about a terror investigation squeezed in a trip to the ‘Boondoggle Ranch’ on the bureau jet.

New: Kash Patel's FBI launched an unnecessary raid on the home of a former Capitol Police officer, based on Jan. 6 conspiracy theories from right-wing media outlet The Blaze.

Lawsuit: Blaze’s Crackpot Reporting Prompted a Wild, Unnecessary FBI Raid

Quickly debunked reporting based on “gait analysis” was enough to get the feds to descend with a helicopter on a falsely accused J6 pipe-bomber’s home.

Trump officials are reportedly pushing Romania to let Andrew Tate and his brother leave the country, amid human trafficking and sex crime cases. www.ft.com/content/3f95...

Trump administration pressures Romania to lift restrictions on Tate brothers

Tristan and Andrew Tate have been charged with sexual misconduct, organised crime and money laundering

Fascinating look at the pro-Gaza invasion mindset.

Grim news from Joe Rogan world: Joe is getting into polio vaccine skepticism, and just had a guest who said polio wasn't that big a deal. Not good!

Students for Trump founder Ryan Fournier arrested on domestic violence charges at a luxury DC apartment after allegedly punching his girlfriend. defector.com/students-for...

Students For Trump Co-Founder Arrested On Domestic Violence Charges, Allegedly Yelled "Do You Want To Die Today?" | Defector

Ryan Fournier, the co-founder and chairman of the group Students for Trump, was arrested early Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C., after he allegedly assaulted and threatened a woman, according to do...

Big story from @oliverdarcy.bsky.social — the White House has been suppressing and censoring pool reports. www.status.news/p/white-hous...

The Pool Filter

Some White House pool reports are no longer making it to the official distribution list, Status has learned—an unsettling development in the Trump administration's escalating war on the press.

Right-wing activist Laura Loomer had a disastrous deposition in her lawsuit against HBO's Bill Maher.

Among the mishaps: Loomer tries to evade a question by claiming MTG keeps Arby's sandwiches in her pants.
www.thebulwark.com/p/laura-loom...

An Uncomfortably Revealing Laura Loomer Deposition

Insights into her insults, clues about her career hopes.

A new sign of trouble at Bari Weiss's University of Austin—Larry Summers resigns from advisory board over the university's direction.

MAGA media is desperate for proof of widespread left-wing violence. But from an GOP bar fracas to a teen who staged his abduction by “four Mexicans,” the stories keep turning out to be hoaxes.

My latest newsletter for @thebulwark.com: www.thebulwark.com/p/maga-media...

MAGA Media Keeps Thirsting for Left-Wing Violence

. . . even if that means they have to invent it.

MAGA star Jack Posobiec says voter fraud is a serious issue—yet he has voted for years in Pennsylvania, despite clearly living in Maryland. slate.com/news-and-pol...

MAGA’s “Voter Fraud” Watchdog Votes in a Swing State. He Doesn’t Live There.

A long paper trail shows that Jack Posobiec casts a ballot in one state and lives in another.

Greg Bovino’s presidential bid is already in trouble, after its founder was allegedly caught in a trashed motel room with meth. @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/meth-scand...

Meth Scandal Rocks Nascent Greg Bovino 2028 Campaign

Plus: MAGA media women fend off gay husband allegations.

Reply to @willsommer.bsky.social

The irony here is that Benny Johnson and Tim Pool, key popularizer of this secret Politico funding theory, actually were secretly and illegally paid millions of dollars by the Russian government. (They claim they didn't know the money was from Russia.) www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/...

Inside Tenet Media, the pro-Trump ‘supergroup’ allegedly funded by Russia

Even some of Tenet’s right-wing stars wondered why it existed. Now, a new federal indictment claims it was a Russian propaganda operation.

Trump's new focus on "remigration"—an idea borrowed from the European ultra-right that means forcing non-white people, even legal citizens, out of the country—portends something sinister. I discuss with @gregsargent.bsky.social on the Daily Blast podcast: newrepublic.com/article/1968...

Trump Erupts in Crazed Hard-Right Rant as MAGA Fury Takes Darker Turn

As President Trump endorses a vile, extreme concept called “remigration,” a writer who closely tracks Trumpism explains how lawless violence and outright sadism have become central to MAGA politics.

Right-wing media is melting down today over the erroneous idea that Politico is secretly funded by USAID. Here's the backstory:

What happened in the intervening four months between this Bondi statement and the DOJ report on Epstein?

Jake Lang, the organizer of an anti-Muslim rally outside of Zohran Mamdani's home, is now in big trouble after being caught flirtatiously texting someone he believed to be a 15-year-old girl.

My latest False Flag newsletter for @thebulwark.com www.thebulwark.com/p/how-catch-...

How a Catch-a-Predator Sting Nabbed a Right-Wing Hatemonger

Was Jake Lang evaluating a teenage girl for a bikinis-and-burkas protest? Or was something more lecherous at play?

Pro-Trump media outlet The Blaze is "in the fetal position" over how much they may have to pay for falsely accusing a Capitol Police officer of being the Jan. 6 pipe bomber.

Now they've fired their star reporter over the story. @thebulwark.com

www.thebulwark.com/p/the-blaze-...

The Blaze Fires Reporter Behind Its Crazy Jan. 6th Pipe Bomber Story

And he’s firing back, alleging the publication was “in the fetal position” over lawsuit threats.

As Trump's DOJ meets with Ghislaine Maxwell, Trump's right-wing media allies are preparing for the unthinkable: teaming up with a convicted sex-trafficker to save Trump.

MAGA's "Free Ghislaine" campaign is already underway. My latest for @thebulwark.com:

www.thebulwark.com/p/maga-inche...

MAGA Inches Closer to a Ghislaine Maxwell Alliance

Is perpetrating heinous crimes against children too big a hurdle for a political alliance of convenience? Maybe not.

The Trump administration says they're screening new immigrants for antisemitic statements on social media. That rule apply doesn't apply to one of the much-feted white Afrikaner refugees, who has plenty of negative ideas about Jews. www.thebulwark.com/p/an-afrikan...

An Afrikaner Refugee Has Thoughts About the Jews

The Trump administration is clear: Antisemitism from brown people will not be tolerated.

Pro-Trump media went wild for a bombshell exposé claiming the Jan. 6th pipe bomber was a Capitol Police officer with CIA ties.

But now the story looks shaky, tweets are getting deleted, and the story's backers are running for cover. My @thebulwark.com newsletter: www.thebulwark.com/p/the-blaze-...

The Blaze’s Pipe-Bomb Bombshell Appears to Bomb

The right-wing outlet claimed to solve the Jan. 6th pipe-bomb mystery. Things quickly looked less certain.

Some news: I'm starting a new job at @thebulwark.bsky.social, where I'll be writing a newsletter twice a week on right-wing media and conspiracy theories. It's exciting!

Here's the announcement in today's Reliable Sources newsletter:

Drama in Nick Fuentes-world tonight after prominent groyper "Vrillium" was exposed for wearing women's clothes and describing himself as gay. Huge blow to the groyper community.

Vrillium blames JD Vance supporters for digging up the dirt on his gay past: “It was some gay shit.”