Right wing influencer Lauren Chen, who has been accused of aiding a Russian propaganda campaign, dodged questions during a House of Commons committee hearing in Canada, despite possibly being the subject of a criminal investigation.
A U.S. Department of Justice investigation back in September accused two Russian nationals of backing a conservative media outlet to spew disinformation and pro-Kremlin propaganda and talking points, funneling $10 million to do so. Both of the Russians were alleged employees of RT, a media network controlled by the Russian state.
As mentioned by CBC, the media outlet was unnamed, but was later revealed to be Tenet Media, which was co-founded by Chen and her husband, Liam Donovan. Chen and Donovan are both Canadians but ran Tenet out of Tennessee.
Chen, who was issued an order to appear last month, responded Tuesday virtually before the House of Commons public safety and national security committee. In her opening statement, Chen stated that she would not be answering any of the committee’s questions willingly.
“After consulting with counsel… I have concluded, on their advice, that answering questions from this committee could reasonably provide a, quote, ‘link in the chain’ toward a possible indictment against me,”, she said, according to the National Post.
“Both Canada and the United States strongly value the right to be free from self-incrimination”.
Over the next 45 minutes, Chen repeatedly deflected questions from the committee by repeating “for the reasons already given, I have no comment”. She even repeated the phrase when being asked to confirm her name and citizenship, and other basic biography details.
Chen’s behavior frustrated multiple MPs, who unanimously voted to refer her to the House of Commons for breach of privilege. While the meeting was scheduled for 2 hours, it ended less than an hour.
Conservative MP Raquel Dancho said that “Ms. Chen, unfortunately I feel, is making a farce of this committee”, while liberal MP Pam Damoff said that she felt “deeply, deeply disturbed.”
Aengus Bridgman, the director of the McGill/University of Toronto Media Ecosystem Observatory, told the National Post that the case surrounding Chen is an example of the close proximity between Canadian and American influencer networks. “Canada, being so closely tied to the U.S., is highly susceptible to Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Americans,” said Bridgman.
After Chen was dismissed from the court hearing, the committee announced that Donovan, and Lauren Southern, another conservative influencer who appeared on Tenet, were ordered to appear in Ottawa on Nov. 29.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We are supported through donations and such charitable organizations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This holiday season, double your impact by making a tax-deductible donation to Asian American Media Inc and AsAmNews. Thanks to an additional benefactor, all donations will now be matched up to a total of $12,000.
Please also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.
