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One of Vice President Mike Pences top political advisers is a major investor in the Independent Journal Review, a social media-minded news outlet geared toward young conservatives.

Nick Ayers, Pences top strategist outside of the White House, confirmed to BuzzFeed News that he owns part of IJR. He is also playing a major role in America First Priorities, a political group launched by Trump campaign advisers to trumpet the presidents message. He joined Trumps campaign when Pence was tapped as the vice presidential nominee and later acted as a senior advisor for the vice president-elect during the transition. Ayers previously worked as a political consultant and as campaign manager for former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlentys presidential bid in 2012.

Theres no indication that Ayers was involved in this weeks controversial State Department decision to grant the sole press spot on Secretary of State Rex Tillersons trip to Asia to IJRs White House correspondent. The move, a break from tradition, has enraged the State Department press corps as Tillerson makes big diplomatic news without a traditional pooler tagging along.

Ayers investment in IJR is another example of close ties between Trumps orbit and a favored media outlet. Steve Bannon, the presidents top strategist, ran Breitbart News for years and has brought with him to the administration a handful of ex-Breitbart staffers. The company has said that it no longer has financial and editorial ties to Bannon. Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner transferred his ownership of The New York Observer to a family trust.

Theres no sign that Ayers has had any editorial involvement with his investment, and a person involved in the company noted that IJR notably didnt benefit from insider leaks during the campaign.

The revelation of Ayerss investment comes as a series of recent IJR stories attracted wider attention. An IJR reporter had dinner near the president at DCs Trump Hotel based on a tip from a source. The site scooped the national media when it first reported that Neil Gorsuch would be Trumps Supreme Court nominee.

IJR also faced criticism for a story posted Thursday spreading a conspiracy theory that Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Hawaii to sway a judge there to block Trumps revised travel ban executive order. IJR later retracted the article and posted an editors note apologizing. The publications congressional reporter resigned Thursday over disagreements with IJRs direction.

IJR was founded in 2012 by Alex Skatell, who previously met Ayers when he worked in Republican politics, and Phil Musser, a former executive director of the Republican Governors Association.

The site has found success in fashioning viral right-leaning web content geared for heartland news consumers, like funny GOP candidate videos (Sen. Ted Cruz fired a gun wrapped in bacon, for instance). IJR has also sought to ramp up its reporting chops, hiring journalists from mainstream outlets and co-sponsoring a GOP debate with ABC.

This week, IJRs reporting push came at the expense other political news outlets. BuzzFeed News first reported that Erin McPike, IJRs White House correspondent, was the sole journalist selected for a spot on Tillersons trip. We dont take this opportunity lightly and recognize the controversy surrounding press access for the trip, Skatell said in a statement at the time.

McPikes selection became the subject of a heated State Department press briefing on Wednesday. Can you explain why, once a seat was identified on that plane that was available, the decision was made rather than to allow the press to send a pooler who would share information and actually allow us to work around not being there personally, the decision instead was made to handpick a conservative outlet to accompany the secretary and not to share that information? one reporter asked State Department spokesperson Mark Toner, according to a transcript.

In this specific trip and instance, it was decided to take to make an outside-the-box, if I could put it that way, decision to bring somebody in who doesnt necessarily cover the State Department, a media outlet that isnt steeped in foreign policy and give it a new, fresh perspective, Toner said.

On Friday, reporters complained on Twitter that McPike had not filed a piece yet, even though Tillerson made newsmaking comments about North Korea and decided cut his trip to South Korea short. While external advice is noted, Im working on a longer piece per explicit instructions from my supervisor, and I always have been, McPike tweeted. Skatell tweeted that he is to be blamed for McPikes silence: View is a series of tweets not best medium to convey a long form piece.

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A Top Adviser To Mike Pence Is An Investor In Favored Media Outlet - BuzzFeed News