Iran, Russia interfering in 2020 election: US intelligence agencies
22 October, 2020
US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday (Oct 21) that Russia and Iran have both tried to interfere with the 2020 presidential election.
Ratcliffe made the announcements at a hastily arranged news conference that also included FBI Director Chris Wray.
The announcement two weeks prior to the election showed the amount of alarm among top US officials that foreign actors were seeking to undermine Americans' confidence in the integrity of the vote and spread misinformation so that they can sway its outcome.
"We've confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran, and separately, by Russia," Ratcliffe said through the news conference.
The majority of that voter registration is public. But Ratcliffe said that government officials "have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage president Trump."
Ratcliffe was discussing emails sent on Wednesday and made to look like they came from the pro-Trump Proud Boys group, according to government sources.
US intelligence agencies previously warned that Iran might interfere to hurt Trump and that Russia was trying to greatly help him in the election.
Outside experts said that if Ratcliffe was correct, Iran will be trying to create Trump look bad by calling attention to support and threats by the sometimes violent group.
The emails are under investigation, and one intelligence source said it had been still unclear who was behind them.
Another government source said that US officials are investigating whether people in Iran had hacked into a Proud Boys network or website to distribute threatening materials. This source said US officials suspect the Iranian government was involved but that the evidence remains inconclusive.
Some of those emails also contained a video, debunked by experts, that purported to show how fake ballots could possibly be submitted. Ratcliffe said that claim was false.
The next government source said US authorities have evidence that Russia and Iran had tried to hack into voter roll data in unidentified states.
But the source added that because much of that voter data is available commercially, the hacking may have been targeted at avoiding payment.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com