Is Newsmax suddenly ashamed of taking money to publish propaganda?
We’ve documented how, over the past couple of months, Newsmax has published numerous “sponsored” articles written by moonlighting right-wing writers who were paid to churn out articles defending Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui (a.k.a Miles Guo), who was arrested on fraud charges. One of those writers was Matt Palumbo, who works for right-wing radio host Dan Bongino. The other main writer was Kelly John Walker, a right-wing podcaster who was arrested and convicted last year for threatening to zip-tie an elementary school principal because a friend’s child missed a school field trip because had to quarantine due to COVID exposure. These were some of the articles he wrote:
- Trustless Trustee: Weaponization of the DOJ by the Chinese Communist Party
- Investor “Victims” Stand with Guo Against ‘Weaponized’ DOJ, SEC
- Is DOJ Using Victimless “Crime” to Justify Long-term Detention?
- Is Congressional Investigators Letting CCP Win?
- Is The DOJ Trying Cases Before Trial?
But some of these articles — along with many of those written by Palumbo — have since been deleted by Newsmax. No explanation was provided; perhaps the Guo checks cleared and they no longer wanted to seen as a willing provider of paid propaganda.
We’ve also noted that the Guo propaganda pieces on Newsmax have a listed “sponsor” of Token Team — which happens to be the name of a company with whom Newsmax partnered a few years back to accept cryptocurrency as payment for ads. The two principals of Token Team were John Tabacco, later a Newsmax TV host, and Vito Fossella, whose congressional career ended in disgrace when it was discovered he had two families, one in Washington and another back home in Staten Island.
Well, we found another connection: A show called “Wise Guys with John Tabacco” airs weekly on Newsmax, and the March 26 edition of his show featured Nicole Tsai, spokesperson for a Guo front group called the New Federal State of China. The interview was filled with softballs, and Tabacco challenged none of the talking points Tsai promoted, including her suggestion that federal agents set Guo’s apartment on fire shortly after his arrest. Co-host Cara Castronuova, with a group called Citizens Against Political Persecution, fed the narrative too, hyping Guo’s ties to Donald Trump and claiming he’s a victim of “political persecution,” conspiratorially adding: “I’m not going to throw out accusations, but I do think Biden and his son have ties to the CCP.”
Neither Tabacco or any of the other interview panel participants — who also included defense attorney Lou Gelormino — disclosed any ties with Guo and his businesses and movements. And Guo interests clearly loved this segment because it has been reposted elsewhere with Chinese subtitles.