RIA Novosti published an article with the headline "Biden was warned of a catastrophe due to a covert US operation in Ukraine." This is a paraphrase of an article by former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Andrew Napolitano. At the very beginning of the material, the agency writes:
"President Joe Biden is conducting a covert operation in Ukraine that is against the US Constitution, former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Andrew Napolitano said in an op-ed for The Washington Post."
In the RIA Novosti article, Napolitano reports that “some of the equipment provided is so difficult to use that the US military has to personally come to Ukraine and train the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
“According to Napolitano, the secret presence of the Americans presents some difficulties. The training instructors are dressed in civilian clothes, so it is impossible to talk about some kind of official operation. At the same time, Russian troops can fire at them or accuse them of spying for Ukraine,” the agency quotes.
However, it is not at all a secret operation by RIA Novosti that can be revealed quite quickly. If you click on a hyperlink posted in a note from a Russian agency, you can get to the page of a completely different publication: The Washington Times. It was there that Andrew Napolitano's column was actually published, and the difference between the words Times and Post makes a huge difference.
The Washington Post, which RIA Novosti is hiding behind, is an American newspaper that is often called liberal and enjoys authority in many countries. By the way, the publication is well acquainted with the “covert operations” of American presidents: it was its journalists who investigated the Watergate scandal. As for the Washington Times, it, in turn, is the complete opposite of the Washington Post and is considered a conservative publication. The newspaper has often been involved in scandals for spreading anti-science theories, including those about climate change , as well as for racist statements, including conspiracy theories about former US President Barack Obama (The Washington Times even compared Obama to Hitler).
There is no evidence base for Napolitano's allegations of a "covert operation", so they cannot be verified. The Washington Times, by the way, signed his article as "opinion". The only person Napolitano refers to is journalist Seymour Hersh, who recently claimed US involvement in the Nord Stream bombings, which was quickly spread by pro -Kremlin media outlets and Russian officials. However, The Insider has already told why Hersh's words should not be trusted.
As for Andrew Napolitano himself, he was indeed a New Jersey Supreme Court Justice from 1987 to 1995. Since 2000, he has been a presenter and publicist, appearing frequently on the pages of The Washington Times and on Fox News.
Napolitano is known for his love for Vladimir Putin, and his remarks are gleefully replicated by Russian propaganda almost every day. In the United States, the publicist was often caught on fakes – for example, on Fox News in 2017, a former judge, citing anonymous sources, said that ex-US President Barack Obama tapped Donald Trump's phone with the help of British intelligence. There was no confirmation of this (including the FBI), and even the conservative Fox News was forced to take Napolitano off the air for a while. Even earlier, in 2014, the ex-judge expressed the opinion that the US Civil War could have been avoided if Abraham Lincoln had simply paid the slaves. And as a Fox News host, Napolitano promoted conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks.
In 2021, the former judge was fired from Fox News following allegations of sexual assault. Lawsuits against him were filed by two men. True, at the beginning of 2022, the claims were withdrawn .
By the way, The Washington Post, in which, according to RIA Novosti, Napolitano revealed Biden's "covert operation", in 2017 described Napolitano himself as a "provider of conspiracy theories."