Political commentator Tim Pool told Ben Shapiro on Friday that he was unaware that the founders of a media company that licensed one of his talk shows were being paid by Russians, and was blindsided by the allegations from the Department of Justice earlier this week.

In his first interview since the DOJ indictment, Pool, the host of the popular Timcast show, reiterated on “The Ben Shapiro Show” that he had very limited contact with Tenet Media, which is accused by federal prosecutors of secretly taking money from Russians and licensed one of his spin-off shows called the “Culture War” podcast. He also explained that Tenet, which was founded by conservative commentator Lauren Chen, didn’t even have exclusive rights to his show, much less editorial input on it.

“That’s the crazy thing, it’s not even an exclusive show, it’s not exclusive, we published it other places, we own all the rights for it,” Pool said. “And so now we get entrenched in whatever this is, and I’m just like, nah, I don’t have anything to do with this. I don’t know what it is Lauren Chen was doing. I’m quite perturbed by the allegations. I don’t know what will turn out to be true, but I’m pissed.”

EXCLUSIVE: @Timcast first interview about the DOJ/Tenet Media indictment and his own Kamala Harris lawsuit pic.twitter.com/wVkPj7etKw

— The Ben Shapiro Show (@BenShapiroShow) September 6, 2024

Pool said that despite clips circulating on social media this week that show him harshly criticizing Ukraine, he has always hated Russia.

“Russia sucks. I’m not a fan of Russia,” Pool said. “I think Vladimir Putin is a dictator who’s used unethical and dictatorial means to maintain power for decades. And I’ve long said that.”

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Pool said his comments criticizing Ukraine are rooted in his anger that the United States is spending resources abroad when it should be spending them on domestic problems.

Chen, a Canadian-born YouTuber and former RT employee, and her husband, Liam Donovan, are not named but referenced in the indictment as founders of Tenet Media.

The Russian defendants allegedly worked with Chen and Donovan to “mask” the “true source of funding” for the company, which the indictment revealed to be RT — a Russian state broadcaster.

Chen and Donovan were accused of “falsely portraying” to commentators such as Pool that their company was sponsored by a private investor named “Eduard Grigoriann” — a persona that turned out to be fake.

The Blaze has cut ties with Chen over the Russia allegations. Pool says he’s been contacted by the FBI, which is treating him as a victim of the scheme.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is under scrutiny after a dead person was reported to have donated to his campaign, according to Ohio election officials.

The New York Post reported on Friday that Brown’s campaign reported two donations from May 2024 totaling $350 from Carol Ann Baker of Toledo, Ohio, who died in December 2023. The donations were flagged to the office of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose who passed it onto the Federal Election Commission for further investigation.

“Our office received a complaint identifying that the Friends of Sherrod Brown committee reported receiving two contributions from an individual that was confirmed to be deceased,” LaRose spokesman Dan Lushek said. “But, as that committee is a federal entity and not a filer with our office, we referred the complaint and our findings to the Federal Elections Commission for further action.”

In a letter to the FEC, head of investigations at the Ohio Secretary of State’s office Huan Yi included an affidavit from Baker’s husband confirming her death. Before her death, Baker was an English teacher at Rossford High School and a trustee for Harris Township.

Yi added that Ohio’s Election Integrity Unit would be available to help as needed.

“Ohioans deserve absolute confidence in their elections,” he said. “The purpose of this letter is to refer to your office potential violations of federal law for your investigation, as appropriate.”

According to the complaint filed with Ohio election officials, the man who flagged the donations said he had reached out to the FEC in August, but did not hear anything back from them.

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Brown is currently defending his seat from Republican challenger Bernie Moreno, whose campaign criticized him over the donations.

“Brown’s scheme to fund his campaign with contributions from dead people isn’t just creepy, it’s illegal,” Moreno Press Secretary Reagan McCarthy said. “This conspiracy deserves more scrutiny. How far does it go?”

While Ohio went comfortably for former President Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020, Brown currently maintains a 3.6 point average advantage in the polls heading into November. The Ohio seat could prove to be one of the pivotal races that determines control of the Senate as Democrats have just a two seat advantage.