Senior U.S. intelligence officials have decided to weigh in on the 2024 presidential election, warning Russia is seeking to influence the outcome on behalf of former President Donald Trump.
The warning comes as President Joe Biden struggles to unite the party behind his candidacy after a disastrous debate performance where he struggled to complete his thoughts and sentences.
The intelligence officials — who briefed reporters on background earlier this week — said Russia was trying to influence the election via covert social media use and other online propaganda efforts.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Russia was seeking to influence specific voting groups “including those in swing states,” promote divisive narratives and denigrate specific politicians, but declined to say who those voting groups or politicians were.
Officials also claimed that Moscow is seeking to undermine U.S. support for Ukraine and trying to influence members of Congress on Ukraine.
The warning will likely fall flat among Republican and conservative voters, after the intelligence community and federal law enforcement falsely claimed that Trump colluded with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton and win in 2016.
Watch Hillary Clinton Explain "You Can Have the Election Stolen from You" pic.twitter.com/weDUSafOs1
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A special counsel investigation by Robert Mueller found no collusion, and an investigation by then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) uncovered involvement by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The Justice Department inspector general and Special Counsel John Durham uncovered inappropriate and even illegal behavior by FBI officials against Trump.
And in 2020, 51 former U.S. intelligence officials claimed that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation.
The intelligence officials called Russia the “pre-eminent threat” to the election, but said Iran is also trying to influence the election.
They said Iranian government actors are posing as activists online, seeking to encourage pro-Gaza protests in the U.S. and even funding protesters. The pro-Gaza protests have been aimed at pressuring the Biden administration on curtailing support to Israel, and has been a major source of dissension among liberals inside the Democrat Party.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines issued a statement on Wednesday on Iranian government involvement in those protests, as reported by Breitbart News.
“We have observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests, and even providing financial support to protesters,” she said in her statement.
Officials said they are monitoring foreign actors “seeking to create deepfakes of politicians, flood the information space with false or misleading information, to sow doubt about what is real and to amplify narratives.”
The White House claimed that videos of Biden showing signs of mental and physical decline, appearing lost or disoriented were “cheap fakes.” However, those claims have come under scrutiny since Biden’s debate performance.
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