Washington – Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized lobbying operations aimed at undermining President Biden’s candidacy during the 2020 elections and boosting former President Donald Trump, according to a non-confidential report by the U.S. intelligence community on foreign threats to 2020 elections released on Tuesday.
The report, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, outlined five important judgments about the efforts of foreign actors to influence or interfere in the United States elections, including Moscow’s attempts, directed by the highest echelons of the Russian government, to undermine the public confidence in the electoral process and sows division among Americans.
“A key element of Moscow’s strategy in this electoral cycle was the use of prosecutors linked to Russian intelligence to disseminate narratives of influence – including misleading or baseless allegations against President Biden – to US media organizations, American officials and prominent American individuals. , including some close to former President Trump and his administration, “said the disqualified report.
The intelligence community assessed with “high confidence” that Russia and Iran used disinformation to undermine public confidence in electoral processes and results. There were no indications, however, that any foreign actor attempted to alter the voting systems or other technical aspects of voting, such as voter registration, voting, counting of votes or results reports.
Although the report criticizes Russia and Iran’s attempts to interfere in the 2020 elections, the intelligence community assessed with great confidence that China “has not deployed interference efforts and considered, but has not deployed, efforts to influence the outcome” of the presidential election. Still, other foreign actors – Hezbollah in Lebanon, Cuba and Venezuela – have made some efforts to try to influence the elections, although they were “on a smaller scale” than the actions taken by other foreign actors.
An August assessment by the intelligence community warned of the ongoing activities of China, Russia and Iran ahead of the November elections, noting that China would prefer Trump to lose his candidacy for re-election.
Russia’s efforts in the 2020 elections differed from its influence campaign in 2016, as the intelligence community report published on Tuesday concluded that “there have been no persistent Russian cyber efforts to gain access to electoral infrastructure”.
Instead, a “key element” of its strategy was to use people connected to the Russian intelligence services “to wash out narratives of influence” through the media, prominent American and American officials. According to the report, Putin oversaw the activities of Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian pro-Russian legislator, to disseminate narratives designed to harm Biden. Derkach was sanctioned by the Trump government in September.
“The main effort that CI discovered revolved around a narrative – which Russian actors started spreading as early as 2014 – alleging corrupt ties between President Biden, his family and other American officials and Ukraine,” the report said.
Another individual, Konstantin Kilimnik, an associate of former Trump campaign president Paul Manafort, who is characterized as an “agent of Russian influence”, tried to undermine US ties to Ukraine and undermine Biden’s candidacy, said the report.
Kilimnik, Derkach and associates tried to use “important US people and media channels to wash their narratives for US officials and audiences,” said the intelligence community. “These Russian representatives met and provided materials to American people linked to the Trump administration to defend formal investigations; they hired an American company to petition American officials; and they tried to contact several American officials. They also made contact with established figures in the American media and helped produce a documentary that aired on a United States television network in late January 2020, “the report said.
Russian state media, trolls and online proxies “published derogatory content about President Biden, his family and the Democratic Party, and broadly amplified related content circulating in the US media, including stories centered on his son”, as Russian actors of The Internet’s influence promoted Trump and his messages about the impeachment and electoral inquiry, the report said.
The intelligence community also found that Russian hackers tried to violate organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party after the 2018 midterm elections and targeted U.S. political actors in 2019 and 2020.
The motivation behind Moscow’s attempts to undermine Biden’s candidacy came from the Kremlin’s belief that his election would be “disadvantageous to Russian interests,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, Iran has mounted an influence campaign, probably authorized by supreme leader Ali Khamenei, to undermine Trump’s prospects for re-election and exacerbate divisions in the U.S., the disqualified assessment said.
“Iran’s efforts in 2020 – especially its emails to individual American voters and efforts to spread allegations of electoral fraud – have been more aggressive than in previous election cycles,” said the intelligence community.
Iranian cyber attackers were held responsible for threatening emails sent to Democratic voters in several states that allegedly belonged to the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys, as well as to a website containing death threats against US election officials.
Tehran has focused its campaign on social media and advertising on “perceived vulnerabilities” in the United States, including the response to the coronavirus pandemic, economic slowdown and civil unrest.
“The evil foreign influence is a lasting challenge that our country faces,” said National Intelligence director Avril Haines in a statement. “These efforts by US adversaries seek to exacerbate divisions and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions. Facing this ongoing challenge requires a government-wide approach based on a precise understanding of the problem, which the Intelligence Community, through assessments such as this one strives to provide. “
The report released on Tuesday was a declassified version of a confidential report provided to the president, senior executive officers, Congressional leadership and intelligence oversight committees on January 7.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said the assessment underscores what was already known: Russia stepped in to help Trump and harm Biden, and undermined confidence in the electoral process.
“No matter which nation wants to influence our political system and who can benefit, both parties must speak with one voice and repudiate any interference in our elections,” said Schiff in a statement. “We must protect ourselves and try to prevent all attempts at foreign interference and ensure that American voters decide the American elections.”