Intelligence bulletin warns Russian disinformation

9/4/20
An intelligence bulletin issued by the Department of Homeland Security warns that Russia is attempting to sow doubt about the integrity of the 2020 elections by amplifying false claims related to mail-in voting resulting in widespread fraud, assertions that have been repeatedly pushed by President Donald Trump. "We assess that Russia is likely to continue amplifying criticisms of vote-by-mail and shifting voting processes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to undermine public trust in the electoral process," the bulletin, first reported by ABC News, reads. The news comes one day after Attorney General Bill Barr condemned states for encouraging mail-in voting in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Barr also downplayed Russia's well-documented attempts to help Trump in presidential elections, including in this election cycle, instead pointing the finger at China despite the fact intelligence agencies have not said Beijing is actively meddling in the election. The revelation adds to the well-documented body of evidence that Russia is again interfering in a US presidential election, and also clearly indicates Moscow is tailoring its messaging to amplify false narratives that benefit the Trump campaign.

In his interview with CNN Wednesday, Trump Attorney General William Barr doubled down on a conspiracy theory that foreign countries will print large numbers of counterfeit absentee ballots and send them to voters. Experts say this scheme would be nearly impossible to pull off and is not a serious threat to the election, though Barr's repeated promotion of this theory has given Trump more fuel to continue questioning the legitimacy of mail-in voting. Asked what evidence he has to support this theory, Barr said he was "basing it on logic." Barr also diluted the intelligence community's assessment that Russia is the only country actively interfering in the 2020 election. Senior US intelligence officials, tasked with protecting the 2020 election, recently said that there is no evidence that foreign countries are interfering with the mail-in voting process in this country. A senior FBI official also said at the time that they have not seen evidence of coordinated national voter fraud related to mail-in ballots and the bureau has assessed that even if there is fraud, it won't tip the scales of the election results. Trump has repeatedly promoted the baseless lie that there is massive voter fraud in US elections.

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