Unverified “Grooming” Accusation Against Walz Promoted by Russian Disinformation Operative
How Walz’s background as a schoolteacher and LGBTQ+ advocate became the target of a Russian disinformation operative, a QAnon podcast, and right-wing social media
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Russian Disinformation Operative Airs Anonymous, Unsupported “Grooming” Claim Against Walz
By McKenzie Sadeghi and Sofia Rubinson

Former Florida deputy sheriff turned Kremlin propagandist John Dougan is advancing a new claim targeting Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz with unverified allegations of “grooming” a foreign exchange student — an especially damning charge against someone whose political appeal is as an everyman schoolteacher and coach.
The accusation appeared on an Oct. 5 episode of the pro-QAnon podcast “RedPill78,” carried on Rumble, Apple Podcasts, Odysee, and Bitchute. Host Zak Paine, casually puffing on his e-cigarette, and Dougan, sipping a glass of wine from Moscow, were joined by an anonymous man claiming to be a former foreign exchange student from Kazakhstan. Dougan is behind a series of campaigns meant to advance Russian interests through false claims about U.S. officials, institutions, and policies. Dougan describes himself as an independent “whistle-blower” journalist whom the victimized former exchange student contacted. The anonymous accuser claims that he was a student at Mankato West High School in 2004, where Walz was a teacher, football coach and advisor to the LGBTQ community from 1996 to 2006.
The unnamed individual whose altered voice could be heard on the 78-minute podcast said that 20 years ago, he participated in the U.S. State-Department-funded Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program, which provides students from countries formerly controlled by the Soviet Union the opportunity to study in the U.S. for a year. The purported victim’s face is not shown, and he is referred to by the pseudonym “Rick” throughout the segment.
“Rick” said his inappropriate relationship with Walz started when he was upset after class one day when he said some of his personal possessions had been taken. Walz purportedly took “Rick” into an empty classroom and consoled by touching his shoulder, back, and “butt” as what he said was a “sign of support.” He also claims that Walz touched him inappropriately in a swimming pool.
“He [Walz] would touch my shoulder, just like [a] sign of support, and he would do the same with my back,” the unnamed purported foreign exchange student,” says, apologizing for his limited English-language speaking capability. “And then, he would touch some other parts. I’m not sure the correct word, he touched my butt for several times.”
However, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told NewsGuard that it has no record of any FLEX student from Kazakhstan in Mankato area schools from 2000 through 2020.
Asked about the allegation, Mankato Area Public Schools’ communications director Mel Helling called the claim “outlandish.” Asked whether the school hosted any exchange students from Kazakhstan in 2004, Helling said that she would have to check the records and that the district had no further comment at this time.
NewsGuard sent two emails and a voicemail to the Harris campaign; three emails and two phone calls to the FLEX program; an email to Walz’s office, and an email to former Attorney General Eric Holder, who vetted Walz for the Harris campaign. Except for the information received from the State Department about the FLEX program, none was responded to as of this writing. Apple did not respond to two emails seeking comment on its hosting of the RedPill78 podcast that aired the unsubstantiated allegation against Walz and has a history of promoting QAnon conspiracies.

Asked about the allegations against Walz, Dougan told NewsGuard: “This guy sought me out from another country after seeing my whistle blower videos on Nord Stream,” he said, referring to his unsupported claim that the U.S. blew up the Nord Stream pipeline. “He told me his story with such vast knowledge. I looked at his passport, his Visa that was issued confirming his presence in the US during 04 and 05, verified his stay with his host family in Mankato.”
Asked for documentation of the man’s identity, Dougan shared a selectively cropped photo of a U.S. visa issued in Kazakhstan. NewsGuard was unable to confirm that the photo was authentic, and the photo did not include any information proving the man’s identity. “I don't trust you not to disclose the information to the FBI or CIA, no offense,” Dougan said.
In an emailed statement to NewsGuard, Paine, the podcast host, said in part: “As I’m sure you’re aware, a claim of this nature is generally considered difficult to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt without video or photographic evidence or an admission by the accused or a finding of guilt in a court of law. Short of that, the testimony of the alleged victim is all that exists and he’s taken considerable risk in coming forward in any capacity.”
Dougan and Paine’s Disinformation Playbook
Both Dougan and Paine have long histories of creating and spreading Russian disinformation and conspiracy theories.
As NewsGuard previously reported, three months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Dougan uploaded a video in December 2021 featuring what he said was an undercover “walk-through” of a bioweapons lab in Ukraine financed by American pharmaceutical companies — a false narrative that Russia used to justify its invasion of Ukraine.
On Feb. 24, 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Dougan appeared on Paine’s podcast and said, “I don’t know if you know this, but there are like 14 bioweapons labs in Ukraine sponsored by America.” Throughout March 2022, Dougan regularly appeared on RedPill78 as an “independent whistleblower” from Russia with supposed knowledge about U.S.-funded biolabs, according to The Daily Beast (NewsGuard Trust Score: 87.5/100). NewsGuard has previously reported the discovery of 171 websites with names such as DCWeekly, Boston Times and Chicago Chronicle that Dougan operates from Moscow that publish false anti-U.S. and anti-Ukraine claims.
Paine, who has previously advanced QAnon conspiracy theories, describes himself as a “citizen journalist” and says he was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Paine’s X and YouTube accounts were suspended by the platforms in October 2020 ahead of the U.S. presidential election for promoting voter fraud claims, according to the BBC (Trust Score: 95/100). (His X account was reinstated under X owner Elon Musk’s ownership.) In March 2021, he encouraged his viewers to drink a bleach solution claiming to cure cancer, according to The New York Times (Trust Score: 87.5/100).

From Fringe to Mainstream
The allegations targeting Walz’s background as a schoolteacher and LGBTQ+ advocate began a day after Harris selected Walz as her VP pick. Beginning on Aug. 7, conservative commentator Laura Loomer — who NewsGuard has found to have previously promoted 17 false narratives — issued posts on X accusing Walz of being a child predator.
“There’s a reason why he [Walz] shakes his wife’s hand and panders to the gay community, and it’s not because he’s awkward…It will all come out,” Loomer wrote in an Aug. 7 X post that generated 3 million views. A day later, Loomer wrote, “@GovTimWalz has already proven himself to be a child predator in the way he advocates for the chemical castration of children. Don’t ever let a Democrat politician touch a child.”
On Oct. 5, the RedPill78 episode appeared on podcast platforms, potentially inspired by the previous attacks from conservative commentators such as Loomer against Walz. In the days following the episode, the allegations from the supposed former exchange student against Walz remained largely confined to fringe online circles.
The program about Walz apparently left some of the podcast’s own viewers unconvinced. “Someone who was a student here has that deep of an accent? Feels like a troll. I have no doubt Walz is a POS, but this seems off,” one user commented on X.
However, on Oct. 7, two days after the episode aired, an apparent coordinated push to elevate the story began. The X account “Miami Chronicle” (the name of one of the 171 fake pro-Kremlin local news sites operated by Dougan) began sharing the video across X and tagging popular conservative commentators.
“Did you see the exchange student from Kazakhstan who gave the interview about how he was sexually groomed by Tim Walz? It's really shocking,” the Miami Chronicle account wrote. “This is a vetted former exchange student who goes into great details. @elonmusk needs to hear about this.” (Asked about the Miami Chronicle account, Dougan said, “Never heard of it.”)
By Oct. 12, the story had found its way into the broader right-wing echo chamber, amplified by accounts with millions of followers. In an X post issued that day, Juanita Broaddrick, who alleged that she was raped by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1978, shared the RedPill78 episode and wrote, “WHOA!!!!! There’s apparently more Walz victims.” Her post generated 483,000 views and 20,300 likes and reposts.

The RedPill78 episode was shared by the anonymously run X account Shadow of Ezra (342,000 views), which NewsGuard has found to previously share misinformation, pro-Trump account DocNetYouTube (402,000 views), the right-wing site GraniteGrok (Trust Score: 37.5/100), and the pro-Trump X account @akafacehots (5.5 million views), which previously advanced the false claim that Walz had his stomach pumped after he drank horse semen.
Reality Check is produced by co-CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, and the NewsGuard team.
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