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The FBI Says Russia Is Intervening In The US Election Campaign, But Trump Doesn’t Like That At All
According to FBI chief Christopher Wray, Russia is again massively interfering in the US presidential election campaign. It is specifically about President Donald Trump’s Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, “denigrating,” Wray said Thursday at a hearing in the US Congress.
FBI Chief Christopher Wray during the Congressional hearing. Image: keystone
“We are seeing very, very active efforts by the Russians to influence our 2020 elections,” Wray said. They also tried to sow “division and discord.” According to US intelligence services, this was also a campaign carried out by Russia before the 2016 presidential elections.
Meanwhile, unlike then, no direct attacks on electoral infrastructure have been found, the FBI director said. The Russian government had always denied the accusations.
Wray got a public reprimand from the president via Twitter for his remarks. “But Chris, you don’t see activity from China, even though it is a MUCH bigger threat than Russia, Russia, Russia,” Trump wrote. He also reiterated his unsubstantiated claim that Russia, China and other countries could interfere in the elections with falsified ballot papers. Twitter quickly provided Trump’s tweet with a reference to information on “how safe to vote by mail.”
Biden’s distinction between China and Russia
Meanwhile, in a question time with voters Wednesday night, Biden described Russia as an “opponent” of the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin knows him and knows that in the election of Biden he will have to pay for interference in US affairs, the former US vice president said. When asked, Biden declined to give any information on how Putin would be paid. When asked if China was also an opponent of the United States, Biden chose the term competitor.
Members of the House Homeland Security Committee also intensively questioned Wray about the so-called antifa movement, which Trump portrays in his election campaign as a central danger and driving force behind unrest in American cities. Republicans asked their questions to confirm this assessment, Democrats questioned them.
Wray said that from the FBI’s point of view, Antifa was more of a movement than an organization, contradicting what the president said. At the same time, he stressed that the Federal Police are investigating alleged extremisms against people who identified with Antifa. The FBI is also investigating “racially motivated violent extremists.”
Wray’s anti-fascist comments were also not well received by Trump. “And I see them as a group of well-funded anarchists and thugs,” he wrote on Twitter. The FBI was “unable or unwilling” to find his sources of funding.
A senior National Security Ministry employee recently wrote in an official whistle-blower complaint that he had received instructions on behalf of the White House to minimize Russian electoral interference in threat assessment reports and emphasize the threat posed by Antifa. The ministry denied the accusation. (sda / dpa)
