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Senator introduces bill to investigate Russian news outlet RT

New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is introducing a bill that would give the Justice Department additional authority to investigate Russia's English-language news outlet RT America for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The bill, called the Foreign Agents Registration Modernization and Enforcement Act, would increase the Department of Justice’s power to compel organizations to produce information about their foreign connections and the sources of their funding.

Shaheen, a Democrat, said the bill comes in response to a report from the director of national intelligence about Russian influence in the 2016 election, part of which examined RT America. That report stated that RT News was skirting disclosure requirements by using a nonprofit structure and that RT's programming intended to advance stories that benefited Russian interests.

“We have good reason to believe that RT News is coordinating with the Russian government to spread misinformation and undermine our democratic process,” Shaheen said in a statement. “The American public has a right to know if this is the case.”

RT America is the American branch of RT News, a television network and digital news outlet that receives its funding from the Russian government. The organization has been accused of being a Russian propaganda arm, and its counterpart in the U.K. has been slapped on the wrist by regulators several times over breaking rules about news impartiality. The news organization gained notoriety during the 2016 election for its outward support for then-candidate Donald Trump, whose ties to Russian business interests and political operatives have become an area of intense interest and scrutiny. Trump and his associates have appeared several times on the network.

Shaheen's bill is unlikely to make it very far, but it shows another avenue Democrats are trying to take to push back on what they say is Russian meddling in U.S. elections and politics.

“RT News has made public statements boasting that it can dodge our laws with shell corporations, and it’s time for the Department of Justice to investigate," Shaheen said. "My bill provides the authority needed to request documentation of RT News and find out who they’re accountable to.”