By Tom Tapp
Deputy Managing Editor
“These are lies coming from Russian media,” wrote Ben Stiller about a video posted on X alleging USAID spent $4 million to send the actor on a highly-publicized visit to Ukraine after the Russian invasion. “I completely self-funded my humanitarian trip to Ukraine. There was no funding from USAID and certainly no payment of any kind.”
(Note: The United States Agency for International Development is a United States government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance.)
The post in question was from an account titled “Patriot Lady.” Earlier in the day, X owner Elon Musk reposted the same video from an account called “I Meme Therefore I Am.” Since it was amplified by Musk this morning, the clip has gotten 2.8 million views on his page.
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It was later amplified by Donald Trump Jr., on whose page it got hundreds of thousands more views.
The posts in question purport to show a clip from E! News, which anyone who’s ever watched that network can tell is a suspect claim. Community Notes at the bottom of the video states, “Video has been fabricated to appear as though it came from ENews but there is no evidence that ENews ever reported this.” Furthermore, AFP’s FactCheck reporter Bill McCarthy wrote in a post that he reached out to E! and a spokesperson said the video “is not authentic and did not originate from E! News.”
Neither Musk nor Trump have taken the video down as of this writing.
Former Donald Trump lawyer Sydney Powell, who pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties in Georgia in 2023, also reposted the video and wrote, “USAID has apparently been one big slush fund for anything the Left wanted.”
Stiller replied to Powell as well, writing, “Totally false. Untrue.”
Powell has also not removed the video, despite Stiller’s denial, the denial from E! News or the Community Notes.
Totally false. Untrue.
These are lies coming from Russian media. I completely self-funded my humanitarian trip to Ukraine. There was no funding from USAID and certainly no personal payments. https://t.co/x264Bb7ZBW
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