An unlikely figure is being credited by conspiracists for the Justice Department's bombshell indictment of two employees of the Russian government-controlled media outlet RT: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The indictment, unsealed on Wednesday, accuses Russian nationals Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The pair allegedly funneled $10 million to a media start-up in an attempt to covertly deliver pro-Kremlin messaging to U.S. audiences. Though the start-up is not named in the indictment, multiple outlets have reported it to be Tenet Media, which is linked to right-wing commentators such as Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, and Dave Rubin.
The indictment indicates that the Russian operatives falsely represented themselves to the influencers. The three aforementioned commentators have all released statements denying any knowledge of the influence operation and stating they were victims in the scheme.
In his statement, Pool added that "never at any point did anyone other than I have full editorial control of the show."
RFK Jr. is an unexpected name to show up in conversations about this news, as he is not mentioned in the indictment in any capacity nor appears to have any tangential involvement in the developments.
But after one person posted a completely baseless theory that RFK Jr. was secretly behind the entire operation, some social media users are eating up the outlandish idea.
The conspiracy hinges on the fact that RFK Jr. had lunch with former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer-turned-commentator Scott Ritter less than a day before Ritter's home was raided by the FBI.
The Ritter raid was reportedly conducted as part of broad criminal investigation into Americans who have worked with Russian state media. Ritter, who has served as a contributing writer for RT, was not arrested.
Kennedy did not recently dine with Pool or any of the other commentators affected by the influence operation, but his interactions on X prompted one person to make the massive reach.
"On Aug. 6th, RFK Jr. got lunch with Scott Ritter. 24 hours later, Ritter's home was raided for FARA violations on behalf of Russia," reads the post that started the RFK discourse. "On Aug. 9, RFK Jr. thanked Tim Pool profusely for his support. Less than a month later, Tim was implicated in a Russian influence operation."
Another person expressed their belief in the conspiracy that Kennedy is secretly taking down Russian assets, writing that "maybe RFK Jr got flipped."
"Meets with Scott Ritter.. Gets arrested. Meets with Tim Pool... Tenent goes down," the user continued. "Might just be RFK Jr on the NXIVM/Epstein apology tour."
Concluded someone else: "RFK Jr is 100% a Fed."
The conspiracy theory has not gained any serious traction, but many social media users have begun amplifying it ironically—and are joking that President Donald Trump might be next on secret agent RFK's target list.
"My new favorite conspiracy theory is that RFK Jr. is actually the most successful deep cover Deep State agent in American history," wrote Atlantic staff writer Yair Rosenberg on X.
He jokingly added a photo of RFK Jr. and Trump shaking hands, saying, "uh oh donald."
"RFK Jr has also recently endorsed Donald Trump. Watch this space..." joked someone else.
On Reddit, a now-deleted post shared the theory and asked users: "Is RFK is gonna take down Trump?"
"Waaaaait…..you telling me I might actually end up respecting this guy? I’m open to that change," replied one redditor.
"What if he was the Deep State all along???" asked another poster.
"RFK jr is a secret agent," concluded a separate commenter. "The conspiracy thing is a ruse to get inside. C’mon he’s a Kennedy. Trump better watch his back!"
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