The U.S. intelligence community said it has detected an uptick in Russian active measures ahead of Tuesday’s election and issued a fresh warning that Iran is targeting former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, for retribution.
Russian efforts to divide Americans and make voters doubt the election’s integrity have increased since the Friday before Election Day, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The agencies said on Monday night that Russia and other foreign adversaries have ramped up influence efforts to meddle in the American campaign and the agencies expect “these activities will intensify through Election Day and in the coming weeks.”
“Influence actors linked to Russia in particular are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences, judging from information available” to intelligence analysts, the agencies said in a statement.
The agencies said examples include the dissemination of an article falsely accusing U.S. officials of conducting election fraud via ballot stuffing and cyberattacks.
“Russian influence actors also manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona, which involved creating fake overseas ballots and changing voter rolls to favor [Democratic candidate] Vice President Kamala Harris,” the statement said.
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The agencies said the efforts targeted swing states and risked inciting violence against election officials.
Iran may also seek to create content designed to suppress votes and spur violence, according to the intelligence community.
“We previously reported that Iran also remains determined to seek revenge against select former U.S. officials whom it views as culpable for the death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force Commander [Gen. Qassem] Soleimani in January 2020,” the agencies said. “It has repeatedly highlighted former President Donald Trump among its priority targets for retribution.”
Mr. Trump ordered the U.S. military airstrike that killed that Iranian commander on a visit to Baghdad. Soleimani was credited with building up and overseeing a network of militant groups and other allies around the region hostile to Israel and the U.S.
The agencies also reiterated their assessment that Iran sought to breach the digital defenses of those in Mr. Trump’s orbit and that Tehran presents a “significant foreign influence threat to U.S. elections.”
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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