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Russia and Iran obtained information about the US voter registration and are attempting to sow unrest in the upcoming elections, the government’s director of national intelligence said at a rare press conference Wednesday night.
“We have already seen Iran sending false emails, designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and harm President Trump,” said John Ratcliffe, director of national intelligence.
FBI Director Chris Wray also spoke, saying that the United States will impose costs on any foreign country that interferes in the 2020 US elections.
Wray also warned against buying misinformation about election results. “You must be sure that your vote counts. Early unverified claims to the contrary should be viewed with a good deal of skepticism, ”Wray said.
Democrats immediately objected to Ratcliffe’s emphasis that Iran was sowing disinformation to harm Trump, characterizing the intelligence director as a “partisan trick”. Ratcliffe is a former Republican congressman and Democrats have criticized his decision to selectively declassify the documents to aid Trump.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said Wednesday night that during a classified briefing he received about the interference “I had the strong impression that it was rather to undermine confidence in the election and not for one particular figure. but to undermine the very source of our democracy. “
“I’m surprised DNI Radcliff said that at this press conference.” told Rachel Maddow of MSNBC.
Trump and many of his supporters have been among those who spread misinformation that votes will not be counted and made unsubstantiated allegations that ballots can be easily discarded.
Ratcliffe said Iran is also distributing video content “to imply that people could cast fraudulent votes, even from abroad,” and warned Americans not to believe in misinformation. “These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries,” he said.
The press conference was held when Democratic voters in at least four battle states, including Florida and Pennsylvania, received threatening emails, falsely claiming to be from the far-right group Proud Boys, warning “we will go after you” if they recipients did not vote for Trump.
The voter intimidation operation apparently used email addresses obtained from state voter registration lists, which include party affiliation and home addresses and may include email addresses and phone numbers. Those addresses were then used in a seemingly widespread targeted spam operation. Senders said they would know which candidate the recipient was voting for in the Nov.3 election, for which early voting is ongoing.
Federal officials have long warned about the possibility of this type of operation, as such registration lists are not difficult to obtain.
“These emails are intended to intimidate and undermine the confidence of American voters in our elections,” Christopher Krebs, the top election security official for the Department of Homeland Security, tweeted Tuesday night after the email reports.
He urged voters not to fall for “sensational and unverified claims,” reminding them that ballot secrecy is guaranteed by law in every state. “The last line of defense in electoral security is you: the American voter.”
While Russian state-backed hackers have been known to infiltrate the US electoral infrastructure.In 2016, there is no evidence that Iran, which cybersecurity experts consider an inferior player in online espionage, did. ever done.
Alireza Miryousefi, an Iranian spokesman at the UN, told ABC News that Iran had no interest in interfering in the US elections and called on the United States to “end its malicious and dangerous accusations.”
Unlike the United States, Iran does not interfere in the elections of other countries. The world has witnessed the desperate public attempts by the United States to question the outcome of its own elections at the highest level, ”he said. “These accusations are just another scenario to undermine voters’ confidence in the security of the American elections, and they are absurd.”
Before the FBI press conference began, senior members of the Senate intelligence committee issued a warning statement: “As we enter the final weeks before the election, we urge all Americans, including members of the media of communication, to be cautious when believing or spreading unverified information, sensational claims related to votes and voting ”.
The statement came from Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, and Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia.
“State and local election officials are in regular contact with federal law enforcement and cybersecurity professionals, and they are all working around the clock to ensure the 2020 elections are safe and free from outside interference.” they said.
Disinformation campaigns abroad are far from the only source of confusion and chaos as the United States heads to the polls. Concern over the disenfranchisement has been widespread, with Republicans winning victories Wednesday in their continued efforts to restrict voting rights. In a decision Wednesday night, the Supreme Court allowed Alabama officials to ban curbside voting.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union and other challengers of the ban said curbside voting would help the state curb the spread of Covid-19 and allow those most vulnerable to the disease. vote safely.
The plaintiff in that case, Howard Porter Jr, is a black man in his 70s with asthma and Parkinson’s disease. “So many of my [ancestors] he even died to vote, ”he testified before a district court. “And although I don’t mind dying to vote, I think we’ve already passed that, we’ve already passed that time.
The Iowa Supreme Court also upheld a Republican-backed law that could prevent election officials from mailing thousands of ballots by making it difficult for auditors to correct voter requests with omitted information.
Agencies contributed reporting
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