The New York Times published an article criticizing Republican Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance Monday over his investments in a platform that airs a Russian network, without mentioning his opponent’s appearances on the network.
The article pointed out that a venture firm co-founded by Vance, Narya Capital, gave a “major investment” to help the video uploading platform, Rumble, expand. The firm is among Rumble’s top ten shareholders. The platform also airs the Russian sponsored media network, Russia Today (RT).
Vance’s financial disclosures showed that the Republican candidate took a personal stake in Rumble that is worth between $115,000 to $300,000, according to PolitiFact. The article described Rumble’s role in allowing RT, known for allegedly spreading Russian propaganda, to have a voice on its platform.
“Rumble is serving as a platform for RT’s Russia-friendly content at a time of growing unhappiness on the right — and also from some voices on the left — about the Biden administration’s expansive arming of Ukraine. The House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy of California, has said that if his party wins back the House next month, it will resist writing ‘a blank check’ to the Ukrainian government,” the article read. “While Russia’s war has been broadly condemned in the West, several influential conservative pundits, including Tucker Carlson on Fox, have often been reluctant to criticize Mr. Putin.”
The article also pointed to Vance’s previous comment from February where he said, “I gotta be honest with you. I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine.” In the summer, he clarified that he wants Ukrainians “to be successful.”
Vance’s opponent, Democratic Ohio Rep. and Senate candidate Tim Ryan, posted the Times article Monday, alleging that Vance “continues to profit” from Putin’s propaganda.
“JD Vance backed a company spreading butcher Vladimir Putin’s propaganda. He continues to profit off of it. JD’s said it before: he doesn’t ‘really care what happens to Ukraine,'” Ryan wrote in the tweet.
JD Vance backed a company spreading butcher Vladimir Putin’s propaganda. He continues to profit off of it.
JD’s said it before: he doesn’t “really care what happens to Ukraine.” https://t.co/WRu6aboONj
— Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) October 31, 2022
The article, however, did not mention Ryan’s repeated appearance in interviews on RT in the past, even inviting the network to his congressional office. Footage from the network shows that he appeared on the network at least four times. (RELATED: JD Vance, Tim Ryan Tangle On Abortion, Immigration During Debate)
In his congressional office, Ryan told the network inside his congressional office to discuss then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s tax returns and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s ability to work with world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, footage shows.
Ryan also appeared on the network in March 2016, where he criticized former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s handling of education, back when he ran for president in the Republican primary. In 2014, he joined the network to criticize former House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s economic plan, “Path to Prosperity.”
A J.D. Vance campaign spokesperson told the Daily Caller that Vance invests in Rumble because it is simply a free speech platform. The spokesperson also added that Ryan invited Putin’s propaganda into his congressional office, referring to a September 14, 2016, interview where he discussed the upcoming 2016 presidential election.
“Based on his own logic, Tim Ryan welcomed ‘butcher Vladimir Putin’s propaganda’ into his congressional office,” a Vance spokesperson told the Daily Caller. “Yet he wants to throw stones at JD Vance for investing in an online streaming platform that refuses to take part in Big Tech censorship. Quite the scandal—just not the kind Tim Ryan thinks it is.”
The New York Times did not respond to the Daily Caller’s inquiry. The Caller reached out to Ryan’s office for comment.