High-profile GOP congressmen move to disempower NGO that created watch list of Ukraine 'opponents' — including Blaze Media

Congressional Republicans are fighting back after an NGO with ties to Ukraine and the U.S. State Department created a watch list of American individuals and media outlets — including Blaze Media — supposedly known to have promulgated "Russian disinformation" or otherwise made "anti-Ukrainian statements."

Last week, an NGO best known as Texty.org but that is sometimes referred to as the Data Journalism Agency created a list of some 380 politicians and activists on the left and right as well as more than 75 entities that are supposedly "opponents of Ukraine."

According to Texty.org's article about the watch list, these people and organizations established themselves as Ukrainian opponents by taking steps such as delaying further Ukraine funding by a few months or calling for "a stronger audit" of how such funds have been allocated, as Blaze News previously reported.

The Texty.org article even called out the Democrat congressional group known as "the Squad" for daring to utter "anti-war speeches."

'All Americans can agree that our tax dollars should not be supporting direct attacks on U.S. persons based upon reasonable political disagreement, and especially not direct attacks on U.S. legislators based solely upon their vote.'

Blaze Media managed to secure a spot on the list by supposedly sharing "false and manipulative" information about the origins of the Ukraine/Russia war and otherwise disseminating "common narratives of Russian propaganda," according to an email from Texty.org's deputy editor in chief, Inna Gadzynska.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) also found himself on that list, as did 115 other Republicans in the House of Representatives. On Wednesday, Banks sent a letter to his Republican colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee, calling on them to defund Texty.org.

Then, during a full committee markup of the fiscal year 2025 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs funding bill, those Republicans banded together to include a provision that would prohibit Texty.org from receiving federal funding.

"I was just designated an ‘opponent of Ukraine,’ after being sanctioned by the Russian regime," Banks said in a statement. "I’m not bothered by what foreign nations think of me. But it’s shameful for our agencies to be using Hoosiers’ tax dollars to collaborate with foreign groups that attempt to intimidate U.S. citizens and lawmakers. I’d like to thank the Republicans on the Appropriations Committee for defunding any such work with the Data Journalism Agency."

Banks was not the only Republican on the watch list to take decisive action against Texty.org. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio also reached out to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, requesting to learn more information about the connection between the State Department and Texty.org co-founder Anatoly Bondarenko, who participated in TechCamp, "a public diplomacy program" established by the Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs, a subdivision of the State Department.

"Needless to say, whatever one thinks of American foreign aid or support for Ukraine, all Americans can agree that our tax dollars should not be supporting direct attacks on U.S. persons based upon reasonable political disagreement, and especially not direct attacks on U.S. legislators based solely upon their vote," the letter to Blinken said.

Blaze Media cofounder Glenn Beck suggests Bondarenko may even be involved in inciting a color revolution in the United States. "[Bondarenko] is a guy who has deep ties to the State Department and to color revolutions by hosting a TechCamp in one of those countries," he recently told Peter Gietl, managing editor of Return, a tech division of Blaze Media.

Beck believes that people such as Bondarenko and George Soros have "perfected" conducting color revolutions elsewhere and are now attempting to implement one here. "[They want] to topple her and maker her into a democracy instead of a republic," he explained.

Gietl agrees. "Unfortunately these color revolution organizations that have been used to attack foreign enemies are being directed to set their sights on the American people," Gietl said in a statement to Blaze News. "These groups and the U.S. State Department that funds them aren’t loyal to the Constitution or even the American people. They’ve sworn allegiance to the oligarchical bureaucracy that rules us."

Gietl also celebrates the move by congressional Republicans to push back against this globalist aggression, calling it "an important first step."

"Every American should be enraged our tax dollars are being spent funding foreign NGOs who then attack elected members of Congress and journalists who question U.S. involvement in this war. It has become a tactic to smear anyone on the right or anti-war as being Russian disinformation shills. We’re not going to stand for it.

"Blaze Media is going to keep the pressure on until every American taxpayer dollar is stripped from them."

Texty.org denies creating an "enemies list" or a "kill list." "The editorial team of Texty.org.ua does not deny, condemn, or dispute the right of American citizens, media, and institutions to express any opinions or hold any political beliefs. We value and respect freedom of speech, which is essential for a democratic society," a statement from Texty.org read in part.

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