\u201cremoval from public positions, the introduction of sanctions, and investigations into personal involvement in crimes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn addition to political figures, Molfar has targeted American journalists, including Max Blumenthal, editor-in-chief of The Grayzone. The organization accused Blumenthal of disseminating Russian narratives and threatened to expose his personal information, including home addresses and family details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other notable figures targeted by Molfar include billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, journalists Glenn Greenwald and Tucker Carlson, and award-winning American economist and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A report published by Ukraine\u2019s National Coordination Cybersecurity Center (NCSCC), bearing USAID\u2019s logo, highlighted that Molfar assisted in training thousands of Ukrainian government employees in cyber warfare techniques and psychological operations. The report stated that over 2,000 public workers participated in practical assignments covering topics such as open-source searches, contact search, using Telegram bots, psyop as a method of information warfare, human intelligence and social engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to The Grayzone, Molfar\u2019s activities are part of a broader network of Ukrainian organizations involved in Kiev\u2019s information war efforts at the expense of US taxpayer money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another self-styled \u201cfact-checking\u201d<\/em> outfit, VoxUkraine, has received substantial funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and USAID. Its VoxCheck project has been involved in censoring Americans\u2019 social media posts deemed pro-Russian. Similarly, the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), an official body under Ukraine\u2019s National Security and Defense Council, has collaborated with both Molfar and VoxUkraine to combat \u201cdisinformation,\u201d<\/em> often labeling US public figures as promoters of Russian propaganda, including smearing now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.<\/p>\n\n\n\nImmediately upon assuming office, President Donald Trump suspended most US foreign assistance pending a three-month review to determine whether programs should continue based on their alignment with the new administration\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d<\/em> goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\nUSAID, Washington\u2019s primary mechanism for funding political projects abroad, has seen tens of billions of dollars\u2019 worth of approved grants frozen as a result. The NED\u2019s government funding was also frozen. Officially a US State Department-funded nonprofit for distributing grants to pro-democracy causes abroad, the NED has long faced allegations of acting as a CIA cutout for toppling foreign governments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Richard Sanders The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been implicated in funding a Ukrainian organization, Molfar, which labeled Vice President J.D. Vance and other US officials and public figures as \u201cforeign propagandists\u201d aligned with Russia, according to an investigation by The Grayzone. Molfar, established in 2019, describes itself as an open-source intelligence community platform which \u201ccollects lists of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1512,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions\/1512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}