RIA Novosti published an article about how “an American radio host, satirist and activist” Randy Crediko visited Donbas and “personally made sure” that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were allegedly shelling civilians in Donetsk, and the American media were telling lies.
“I live in the USA and we only get one-sided reports, and mostly from Kyiv, not from here. I decided that I would come and see for myself. And, just like today, I saw where these bombs were coming from, where Ukrainian forces were launching them against civilians. You won't see it in The New York Times or CNN," Credico said.
However, doubts arise in the impartiality of Krediko if you look at his biography. Once he was really a comedian and appeared in various popular TV shows. But scandalous antics and dependence on alcohol and drugs derailed his career.
“Cocaine and alcohol became increasingly difficult to resist, and when he got drunk, he developed a bad habit of sending nasty emails en masse to friends, acquaintances, politicians, journalists and activists. He called various recipients "shameless", "clowns" and "a bunch of fat". He told the leaders of one progressive group that they were all “a bunch of unemployed white people funded by a trust fund.” Every morning he woke up, unable to remember what he wrote, and opened the computer to find out who was no longer talking to him, ”wrote the New Yorker in 2015.
For some time, Krediko was indeed engaged in human rights activities. He fought against the punitive "Rockefeller Laws" on drugs. But once they were repealed, he turned into a perpetual political candidate for whom almost no one votes: he ran for the US Senate, for mayor of New York and governor of New York state with very poor results. Credico continued to drink and was intermittently arrested for rampage.
However, the general public learned about him only in 2017 and in a very unexpected way: according to the testimony of Trump associate Roger Stone, given by him to the House Intelligence Committee, it was Credico who was the intermediary between Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who published the contents of the email of the head of the presidential campaign Hillary Clinton John Podesta (remember, the mail was hacked by Russian hackers from the Fancy Bear group). According to Stone, on August 27, 2016, Credico sent him a text message saying, "Julian Assange has kryptonite on Hillary." Credico notified Stone of subsequent WikiLeaks releases of numerous emails stolen from the Podesta.
The radio presenter was summoned to court in this case. At first he refused to testify, but then he nevertheless spoke about his relationship with Stone. Credico stated that Stone pressured him not to testify to Congress and even threatened to kill Credico's dog at one point. As a result, Stone was found guilty on seven counts (mostly perjury) and sentenced to prison, but Trump pardoned him. Credico escaped the consequences. He neither publicly confirmed nor denied his contacts with Assange.
Now the radio host has turned into a pro-Kremlin propagandist who often appears in various publications and TV shows, one way or another connected with the Russian authorities. For example, he is a regular guest of The Grayzone, which was founded by Americans – RT employees. Recall that this publication recently published a text about the “fake poisoning” of Alexei Navalny, written using a neural network that invented the sources.
