White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas apologized Sunday afternoon for giving an interview with a Russian government-backed media outlet registered as a foreign agent in the United States, saying he was “unaware” of their status.
“I recently did an interview with RT and was unaware they are a registered foreign agent,” Atlas tweeted. “I regret doing the interview and apologize for allowing myself to be taken advantage of. I especially apologize to the national security community who is working hard to defend us.”
I recently did an interview with RT and was unaware they are a registered foreign agent. I regret doing the interview and apologize for allowing myself to be taken advantage of. I especially apologize to the national security community who is working hard to defend us.
— Scott W. Atlas (@SWAtlasHoover) November 1, 2020
On Saturday, Atlas spoke to RT, formerly Russia Today. In the interview, he said lockdowns and coronavirus restrictions were “killing” people and said they were a “failure.”
“The lockdowns … will go down as an epic failure of public policy by people who refused to accept they were wrong — were wrong, refused to accept they were wrong, didn’t know the data, didn’t care and became a frenzy of stopping COVID-19 cases at all costs,” Atlas said.
“And those costs are massive,” Atlas continued. “And what’s happening here is that the argument is undeniable. The lockdowns are killing people, but they’re not really impactful, the lockdowns.”
In 2017, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report claiming RT, which is funded by the Kremlin, “aggressively uses the internet and social media to conduct ‘strategic messaging for the Russian government,'” according to the New York Times. The report claimed the network’s programming ahead of the 2016 election was “aimed at undermining viewers’ trust of US democratic procedures” and spreading disinformation.
Following that report, the Justice Department announced in November 2017 that the outlet was registered as a foreign agent. “Americans have a right to know who is acting in the United States to influence the U.S. government or public on behalf of foreign principals,” then-acting Assistant Attorney General Dan Boente said at the time.
A more recent study published by the Oxford Internet Institute called RT “one of the most important organizations in the global political economy of disinformation” and said: “It is the most richly funded, well-staffed, formal organization in the world producing, disseminating, and marketing news in the service of the Kremlin.”
One participant in the study said, “Anything that causes chaos is RT’s line.”
Atlas garnered criticism in the past for statements he’s made about the coronavirus pandemic, particularly about the effectiveness of masks. In October, Twitter removed one of Atlas’s tweets on the grounds that it was spreading content that “severely” contradicted information from the World Health Organization on the effectiveness of wearing a mask.
Atlas’s role as an adviser was announced in August and was met with backlash from the medical community, given that as a radiologist, he had no training in epidemiology or infectious disease. Public health experts feared Atlas would replace Dr. Anthony Fauci on the coronavirus task force.
