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Scott Ritter Argues for Trump To Shut Down U.S.-Funded Ukrainian CCD and Myrotvorets Hit Lists

Myrotvorets web site: adding another name to its hitlist. Credit: Myrotvorets web site.

In his Jan. 25 “Scott Ritter Extra” Substack article “The Trump ‘Litmus Test’,” former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter called on President Donald Trump to act on his own, just-signed Executive Orders and cut off all U.S. funding for, and to fully “shut down,” the Ukrainian hit lists of Myrotvorets and the Center for Countering Disinformation.

Ritter explained that, because of his differences with Biden administration policies, his name is on these hit lists, as are those of Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, and Tucker Carlson, a close Trump ally. Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, as well as other leading members of the Institute and speakers at its international conferences, including former New York Senatorial candidate Diane Sare, are also right at the top of one or both hit lists.

After quoting from the two Executive Orders—"Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship” and “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government"—and citing the Ukrainian government’s Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) by name, Ritter cut to the chase:

“I would likewise like to know if President Trump believed that the coordination between the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Justice, together with the U.S. intelligence community, using permanent staff or contracted proxies, and the Ukrainian government which resulted in the creation and maintenance of several lists—including one which, with the support of the U.S. State Department, labeled U.S. citizens as ‘information terrorists’ requiring summary justice (i.e., death), and another which did not shield its role as a de facto ‘hit list,’ violates the new orders in so far as federal resources were involved in facilitating work designed to punish U.S. citizens with the ultimate sanction—death—for the ‘crime’ of exercising their right of free speech.”

“I’m particularly interested in the opinion of the president when it comes to Tulsi Gabbard, his pick for Director of National Intelligence, and Tucker Carlson, his close ally, since they both have had their names placed on these lists.”

Ritter includes a photo of Tucker Carlson’s profile on the Myrotvorets “kill list” and his own profile on the CCD blacklist “paid for by the U.S. State Department.”

“I’ll take this moment to remind President Trump that one of the ‘crimes’ I was accused of committing by the Ukrainian government which put me on their State Department-funded death lists, was to claim that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict was a direct result of NATO expansion. Which is, of course, the same assessment put forward by President Trump. If you were an average American citizen, Mr. President, your name would be on that list.”

Ritter explained that his home had been raided by the FBI on Aug. 7, 2024, using the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) as a pretext. “I would also like the Attorney General to review the enforcement practices of the Biden administration regarding the Foreign Agent Registration Act, and particularly how this law has been weaponized by the Biden administration to punish and prosecute American citizens for speech protected by the First Amendment, especially when performed in the context of journalism.”

Ritter concluded, addressing Trump directly: “Now is your chance to stand up in defense of the average American citizen and shut these lists down while terminating all connectivity between the U.S. and Ukrainian governments which target U.S. citizens for speaking out against Ukrainian propaganda talking points. ‘The First Amendment to the United States Constitution,’ you wrote, ‘an amendment essential to the success of our Republic, enshrines the right of the American people to speak freely in the public square without Government interference.’ You promised to defend this right. Prove it with action, not just words.”