The U.S. intelligence community has said that Russia is actively seeking to “reconcile” presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and that some actors linked to the Kremlin are trying to boost President Trump’s candidacy for the 2020 presidential election, according to top security officials. country officially.
In an unusual statement describing the candidate preferences of several foreign actors, National Intelligence and Security Center Director Bill Evanina also said that China “prefers President Trump – who sees Beijing as unpredictable – not to win reelection,” and that Iran could try to “undermine” Democratic institutions of the US and the president, mainly through online and social media content.
“Many foreign actors have the preference for whoever wins the election, which they express through a range of open and private statements; efforts for secret influence are rarer,” Evanina said in a statement. “We are primarily concerned about the ongoing and potential activity by China, Russia and Iran.”
Mr. Trump dismissed intelligence over Russia. When a reporter in New Jersey asked the president about the assessment that Russia wants him to win re-election and China wants him to lose, Mr. Trump said, “The last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump. . ” When a reporter pointed out that this was not what intelligence officials said, the president replied, “I do not care what anyone says.”
His statement, issued less than three months before election day, identifies several examples of behavior that the intelligence community considered in shaping its assessment. Evanina has been the top official of the U.S. opposition to intelligence for years and was brave enough to carry out intelligence-based election security in May.
“China has extensively expanded its November 2020 influence efforts to shape the policy environment in the United States, putting pressure on political figures it considers contrary to China’s interests, and criticizing and opposing criticism of China,” he said in a statement. . It also cited Beijing’s criticism of the Trump administration’s COVID-19 response, its closure of the Houston consulate, and recent actions taken to block the social media platform TikTok.
Russia, the review said, “uses a range of measures to primarily denigrate” Biden. “For example, pro-Russia Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach is spreading allegations of corruption – including by leaking leaked phone calls – to undermine the candidacy of former Vice President Biden and the Democratic Party.” Mr. Trump’s candidacy was encouraged on social media and Russian television by unspecified actors affiliated with the Kremlin, Evanina’s statement said.
“We note that Iran is attempting to undermine US Democratic institutions, President Trump, and divide the country ahead of the 2020 elections,” the statement continued, adding that Tehran’s efforts “are likely to focus on online influence.”
“Tehran’s motivation to carry out such activities is driven, in part, by a perception that President Trump’s re – election would result in a continuation of US pressure on Iran in an effort to promote regime change,” he said. statement.
Friday’s update, which follows mixed pressure from Democratic lawmakers on the intelligence community to release more detailed election threat information, said it “represents the most up-to-date, accurate and objective election threat information the IC has. to bid in an unclassified setting at this time. ”
But a U.S. official informed the intelligence, warning that the update, although more detailed, suffered from an underlying lack of clarity about what each country did with the U.S. election, and why.
“Only one in three is actively seeking interference for the benefit of one candidate and at the expense of another, and that is Russia,” the official said. “That does not mean that China has no preference – but having a preference and doing something about it are not one and the same.”
In a bilingual statement, the First Chamber of Intelligence Committee praised acting chairman Marco Rubio and vice-chairman Mark Warner Evanina for providing “extra context” to a statement he issued last month, 100 days before the election.
“We thank him for providing this additional information to the American people, and we look forward to his continued commitment, along with other members of the Intelligence Community and the Administration, to the public over the next 87 days,” lawmakers said. . They encourage the intelligence community to continue sharing information publicly and call on political leaders “on all sides to refrain from arming intelligence for political gain.”
National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot said of Friday’s update that the US “will not tolerate foreign interference in our election processes and will respond to vicious foreign threats posed to our democratic institutions.”
Publicly identifying the preferences of a foreign actor for an election is an unusual step for the American intelligence community. Although the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement in October 2016 stating that the Russian government was behind the hacking and dumping of emails and had scanned election systems and investigated, it was only two months later, in January of 2017, that the intelligence community explicitly stated that Moscow, after “having developed a clear preference for president-elect Trump” did and took other measures in an attempt to eliminate the possibility of elections. of Secretary Clinton and then to boost Trump’s candidate.
That assessment – and subsequent efforts by the intelligence community to identify a preferred candidate in closed briefings – have become politically charged topics. Officials who told House Intelligence Committee members in February that Moscow had once again demonstrated a preference for President Trump were criticized by Republicans who questioned the validity of the underlying intelligence.
Press reports about that briefing worried Mr. Trump, who tweeted that Democrats had launched an “incorrect information campaign” about Russia’s preference for his candidacy and then removed acting director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. Mr. Trump has consistently adhered to Russia’s 2016 interference campaign, while highlighting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials that Moscow interfered in any case.
The president also criticized the work of U.S. intelligence agencies, whose findings on the Russian 2016 campaign were bolstered by a bipartisan First Chamber committee and supported by the report compiled by special adviser Robert Mueller.
Since 2016, intelligence and other administration officials have consistently warned that Russia and other opponents are likely to continue to engage in election interference, likely with new and more sober and less detective tactics.
All three countries identified in 2020 have previously been named as candidates likely to participate in disinformation and advocacy campaigns – including in the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment, an annual report compiled by the intelligence community on top global security challenges.
“We expect our opponents and strategic competitors to refine their capabilities and add new tactics as they learn from each other’s experiences, suggesting that the threat landscape in 2020 and future elections could look very different,” the 2019 assessment said.
To this day, some Democrats have been sharply critical of much of the revelation of ODNI’s election safety. Senior Democrats who belong to the so-called “Gang of 8″, a select group of legislators who are regularly briefed on classified matters by the executive branch, criticized Evanina’s statement in July for creating a false equivalence among actors from ” unequal intention, motivation and capacity, “and that the warning about Russia’s activities” was so generic without meaning. “
Those same lawmakers – Second Chamber Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and Warner – have previously expressed concern that Congress was targeted in a “compound foreign interference campaign” and called for a defensive FBI letter interview.
On Friday, Pelosi and Schiff welcomed Evanina’s renewal, although they argued that it did not go far enough to distinguish between the activities of the three countries.
“[T]”The oday statement treats three more actors of different intentions and capacities as equal threats to our democratic elections,” Schiff and Pelosi said. Members of Congress are now informed of the specific threats posed for the 2020 elections, and we have made it clear to the Intelligence Community that the American people must be provided with specific information that will allow voters to identify the respective threats of these foreign actors. to assess, and distinguish and differentiate goals, current actions and capacities of these actors. ”
Evanina, along with other senior security officials, briefed lawmakers in multiple classified sessions late last week and beginning this week.
His statement on Friday accused Ukrainian politician Derkach of explicitly undermining Biden by armed leaks. Derkach is known to have met last year with President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who spoke openly about working with Ukrainian contacts to obtain information about Biden.
Sources previously confirmed to CBS News that the concerns of the Democrats stem from some of Derkach’s materials were sent to certain lawmakers, including members of a House committee led by Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who is currently investigates Biden and his son, Hunter. Politico first reported the details of Democrats’ concerns.
Johnson has refused to receive information from foreign nationals about Biden and, along with Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, accused Democrats of assisting in Russian disinformation efforts.
In Friday’s update, Evanina said the intelligence community will continue to classify briefings to relevant stakeholders and unclassified updates to the public.
“In addition to sharing information, let me assure you that the IC is also doing everything in its power to both combat cyber and influence efforts directed at our election process,” he said. “Our election should be our own.”
CBS News’ Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.
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