What’s Seamus Bruner’s take on Lauren Chen’s firing?
During a recent appearance, GAI Director of Research Seamus Bruner weighed in on The Blaze firing Tenet founder Lauren Chen for taking money from Russia to produce social media content.
“Lauren Chen was an independent contractor, whose contract has been terminated,” Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardon said in an email to Semafor.
“So what do you make of the The Blaze?” OAN host Chanel Rion asked Bruner. “Lauren Chen of The Blaze and her husband, apparently played a key role in back-channeling to Russia. Do you believe that?”
“We’ll see. You know, it shocked me, to be honest with you. I couldn’t believe, any of it was true. And so I’m not positive. I’ve read the indictment. We’ll see. We’ll see how this plays out. If they did, then, of course, you can’t be doing that, you can’t be back-channeling to Vladimir Putin,” Bruner said, adding “I totally denounce him.”
“The problem with a story like this is, yes, these are private individuals. But the DOJ, as you and I both know, is not the most trustworthy group of folks, either,” Rion said. “The vast majority of conservative media and conservative personalities and influencers are not actually taking money from Russia, but you take headlines like this and you conflate it to the entire movie event, and all of a sudden it seems like this is grounds for the Democrats to reopen an entire Russiagate — Russia interfered with the election — argument all over again.”
Watch the clip above.
