Hendersonville, TN, political pundit denies working for Russian state-run media

By Jeremy Finley

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    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — Scottie Nell Hughes is well-aware of the tweets.

“You are quite literally working for Putin. Your actions will not be forgotten,” one man tweeted at her.

“I wonder if North Korea will hire Scottie Nell Hughes now,” tweeted another.

The vitriol toward the Hendersonville resident has increased so much that she’s now placed her Twitter account on safety mode, a temporary block to keep away what she describes as hatred towards her and all the employees of the now-shuttered RT America.

The network, funded by the Russian government, abruptly shut down this month after carriers from Roku to DirecTV dropped it from their platforms following the invasion of Ukraine.

“I do know that there was so much hate that was being targeted – not only to myself but my colleagues – obviously people that were from other countries, including Russia,” Hughes said.

In its coverage of RT America’s closure, CNN described the network as “one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s main mouthpieces in the US.”

Dr. Robert W. Orttung, research professor of International Affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, said RT, the main network of Russia’s state-run media, routinely promotes Russia propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine.

“This idea that Ukraine is controlled by Nazis, that they’re conducting a genocide against Russian speaking people there,” Orttung said.

Orttung has also read Hughes’ recent tweets.

“I don’t know what her motivation is – obviously (she and Putin) have similar interests. She’s defending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and he’s obviously prosecuting that invasion. They have a lot in common,” Orrtung said.

Hughes, though, defends her work for RT America.

“I work with Russians, I don’t work for Russians,” Hughes said. “Ninety nine percent of (online critics) have never watched the work that I’ve done.”

“You know what your critics are saying – that you are essentially working for a Russian propaganda machines,” asked News4 Investigates.

“My show was mainly domestic. Ninety percent of what I covered was domestic,” Hughes said.

And Hughes’ highlight reel of her work as an anchor and commentator for RT America since 2018 shows her focusing mainly on issues in the United States.

However, she said, when the pandemic hit and the war in Ukraine was launched, she did increase coverage of international issues.

Hughes points out her show was produced stateside by a production company, but knows their funding came from the Russian government.

“What do you say to people that would say, ‘Hey listen, you’re the one who signed up to work for RT America, you’re essentially going to work for Putin?’” asked News4 Investigates.

“First of all, if those people are even accurate. If they actually exist and they’re not trolls sitting in their grandparent’s basement,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the Russian government never told her what to say or not say on her broadcasts.

She said they also did not censor what she wrote on Twitter.

News4 Investigates reviewed Hughes’ recent tweets and found two retweets featuring claims about Nazis in Ukraine.

One retweet featured a statement from a man discussing a street in Ukraine named after a Nazi, and a retweet of an article declaring a Nazi flag was found at a mall.

“Putin has been heavily criticized for lying to his own people. Saying that the purpose of invading the Ukraine is to free them from the Nazis,” asked News4 Investigates. “You are tweeting about Nazis. This is the Russian narrative.”

“One tweet, and I was tweeting out the truth,” Hughes said. “There are bad groups, there are white nationalists that do live in this country. That is not a reflection on an entire population. Same thing here, though. To say that doesn’t exist, that’s false.”

“Do you believe the reason that Russia is invading Ukraine is because they are stopping the Nazis?” News4 Investigates asked.

“Doesn’t have anything to do with my beliefs,” Hughes said.

“You (wrote on Twitter) my number on priority is peace between Russia and Ukraine. But my question is: do you feel that Russia should pull out? Do you feel that Russia should leave Ukraine?” News4 Investigates asked.

“I think that we are closer every day. My prayer is that we are closer to peace because the people of Ukraine and the people of Russia are suffering from this,” Hughes said.

“I have to ask one more time,” News4 Investigates said.

“Shocking,” Hughes responded.

“Do you think Russia should invade this country and take it over?” News4 Investigates asked.

“I think they need to get along. I think they need a relationship just like we have with Canada and trying to have with Mexico,” Hughes said.

It is sharing those types of opinions that has kept Hughes employed in media. But for now, she’s without a platform.

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