By Mia Cathell
On the eve of the final presidential debate, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced at an election security news conference that Iran and Russia “have taken specific actions to influence public opinion related to our elections.”
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe confirmed that Iran is sending fake emails posing as the far-right Proud Boys with the intention of aiding Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
“This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos and undermine your confidence in American democracy,” Ratcliffe stated.
Specifically, Ratcliffe continued, Iran sent “spoofed emails designed to intimate voters, incite unrest, and damage President Trump” and is “distributing other content to include a video that implies individuals could cast fraudulent ballots even from overseas.”
“This video and any claims about such allegedly fraudulent ballots are not true,” Ratcliffe said, adding that “these actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries. Although, we have not seen the same actions from Russia, we are aware that they have obtained some voter information just as they did in 2016.”
The Washington Post reported earlier that Department of Homeland Security officials told state and local election administrators that a foreign government was responsible for the online barrage of threatening emails arriving this week in the inboxes of Democratic voters, according to authorities on the call “who all spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.”
The messages appeared to target Democrats through “voter files” gathered from commercially-available digital databases. Recipients were instructed to change their party registration and cast their ballots for President Donald Trump.
“You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you,” the intimidating communications warned, which reportedly reached three swing states by Tuesday night.
The deceptive campaign utilized an Internet domain, officialproudboys.com, associated with the Proud Boys. The enlisted domain was recently dropped by a hosting company that services Google Cloud. Without a secure host, the organization’s online network was left vulnerable to exploitation. Voters using Comcast, Yahoo and Gmail accounts were affected.
If you haven’t figured out that our media is an absolute disaster yet then you just aren’t paying attention. They plot hoaxes, they spread hoaxes, they work with partisans to plant stories and they assist foreign enemies in running disinformation campaigns. They can’t be trusted.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) October 22, 2020
It's not enough that a Lincoln Project founder was a registered agent for the Kremlin, or that its principals continue to spread lies from Russian spies via the Steele dossier. The Lincoln Project is now spreading disinformation from Iranian terrorists. https://t.co/9V6H1Zyct3
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 22, 2020
Given tonight's news that fake Proud Boys e-mails were fabricated by Iran to feed a media narrative to hurt Trump, you have to wonder how much of the other obvious media concern-trolling over "white supremacy" and QAnon is also the product of Iranian election interference.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) October 22, 2020
So, I guess the moderator and Biden owe President Trump and the Proud Boys an apology for falsely linking them with violent white supremacists (who don’t exist.)
Now, let’s watch the left, in unison all using the exact same words, denounce the IC that they can’t be trusted.
@Nan G: I, for one, am not holding my breath.