FBI’s Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe recently held a surprise press conference to reveal a major election security announcement.
During the announcements, Ratcliffe confirmed that both Russia and Iran are attempting to influence the 2020 elections and have obtained voter registration data. Ratcliffe noted that both nations have attempted to influence voters’ opinions through communicating false information and sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters and incite social unrest.
Some of the threatening emails have claimed to come from the far-right group Proud Boys that warned “we will come after you” if the recipients didn’t vote for President Donald Trump. These false allegations were sent to Democratic voters in at least four battleground states. Many states, including Florida, make names and party affiliations in voter information easily accessible to members of the public.
The FBI confirmed that the interferences discovered were designed to damage President Trump during the 2020 elections and undermine confidence in American democracy. While Ratcliffe gave no particulars about what Russians have done with the voter registration data they obtained, Iran has been distributing a video with false information about fraudulent ballots. The video implies that individuals could cast fraudulent ballots, even from overseas. This claim is not true.
FBI Director Christopher Wray then spoke about the actions the FBI has taken to ensure the integrity of the presidential elections. He said there was no way American votes can be changed through Iranian or Russian intelligence and that they aren’t going to let their guard down.
“You should be confident that your vote counts,” Wray said.
Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell also commented on the recent news. “I see the FBI and intelligence community says Russia and Iran are trying to influence our election. Did they forget to mention Twitter and Facebook as well?” Caldwell tweeted.
This is shortly after Ratcliffe had also confirmed that the Hunter Biden emails are not Russian misinformation, even though Facebook and Twitter censored the article from being shared by users due to “misinformation.” It’s safe to say that 95% of the media has been “influencing” the election, but it’s good to see election officials finally speaking up about some of it.
