Russia’s influence operations aim to tip US election in favor of Donald Trump, intel official says
Attorney General Merrick Garland (C) accompanied from left, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division Matt Olsen. On Wednesday, the Election Threats Task Force disclosed a Russia-led influence campaign to sway the U.S. presidential election. Intelligence officials confirmed the findings of the task force in a media briefing. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The assessment comes two days after the DOJ and others took steps to identify and blunt Russian influence operations.
Russia is using a combination of covertly funded groups and its state-run media outlet to inflame U.S. domestic divisions and increase support for former President Donald Trump ahead November’s election, an intelligence official said Friday.
The remarks come after the U.S. on Wednesday accused Russia of running a multi-pronged disinformation campaign that targeted voters ahead of election day. As part of the operation, $10 million in funding was wired through shell companies backed by Russian broadcaster RT news agency to fund Tenet Media, a right-wing outlet in Tennessee that has since ceased operations.
The Justice Department in its accusations said RT funneled the money to help “distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.”
“RT has built and used networks of U.S. and other Western personalities to create and disseminate Russia-friendly narratives while trying to mask the content in authentic Americans’ free speech,” said the official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, who spoke on the condition of anonymity per ground rules of a media briefing on election threats.
“These actors, among others, are supporting Moscow’s efforts to influence voter preferences in favor of the former president and diminish the prospects of the vice president,” the official said, referring to Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Election security has been identified as a top cyber concern for 2024 by officials, researchers, and academics, as a record number of voters worldwide are casting their ballots in the era of social media and new AI tools aimed at consumers. The issue has taken center stage in recent weeks after the intelligence community confirmed that Iranian hackers breached Trump’s campaign and have attempted to target the Harris platform.
Election threat briefings have been offered up to both campaigns, said another ODNI official who declined to say whether Trump or Harris campaign staff accepted them. Spokespeople for both campaigns did not return Nextgov/FCW’s request for comment by publishing time.
Russia’s influence apparatus is very large and Kremlin spin doctors are puppeteering other active influence entities, said the first ODNI official.
The U.S. intelligence community in July assessed that Russia has not changed its political interests from previous elections, where its efforts largely benefitted the Donald Trump campaigns.