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The FBI debunks a video that distorts election terror threats

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The FBI debunks a video that distorts election terror threats

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WASHINGTON – The FBI warned Tuesday about a fake news video that claimed to be an FBI warning urging Americans to “vote remotely” because of the “high threat of terrorism” at polling stations ” – and in front of another with false claims that a political party is manipulating the election of prison inmates.

In a statement released to USA TODAY, the FBI said it was made aware of “two instances in which his name and insignia were misused to spread false narratives surrounding the election.”

The first, the FBI said, was a “fabricated news clip purporting to be an FBI terror warning.”

This fake news clip falsely reports that the FBI allegedly stated that Americans should vote “remotely” due to the high threat of terrorism at polling stations. “This video is not authentic and does not accurately reflect the current threat situation or security of the polling location,” the FBI said.

Another fake video circulating online includes a fake FBI press release alleging that management at five prisons in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona manipulated inmate voting and colluded with a political party. “This video is also not authentic and its content is false,” the FBI said.

The FBI did not say who it believed was behind the fake videos and declined to provide further information.

But in a joint statement released late Monday, the FBI and other U.S. election security agencies warned that Russia was increasing efforts “to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans.” “.

The U.S. intelligence community “expects that these activities will increase leading up to Election Day and in the coming weeks, and that foreign influence narratives will focus on swing states,” said the statement from the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

“These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials,” the statement said. “We expect that Russian actors will continue to publish artificial content on these topics leading up to Election Day and in the days and weeks after polls close.”

In one case, for example, “Russian influence actors recently published and amplified an article falsely claiming that U.S. officials in all swing states were planning to orchestrate election fraud using a range of tactics such as ballot fraud and cyberattacks,” the intelligence community said.

Foreign adversaries sow discord between parties and undermine trust

Cait Conley, the top election security official at CISA, also did not comment on whether Russia or another foreign adversary was behind the fake videos.

But Conley said during a press conference: “I think it's important, even if there's no attribution in the (FBI) statement, to just remember the broader threat environment that we're in and that means we have foreign adversaries.” have.” two goals; one is to undermine the trust of the American people in our democratic institutions, and the second is to sow partisan discord.”

“Therefore, we should expect that there will continue to be narratives around these types of targets both today and in the coming days and weeks,” Conley said.

For the most part, however, domestic and foreign interference in Tuesday's election was minor and limited to isolated events, said Conley, senior adviser to CISA Director Jen Easterly. She said CISA is not currently tracking incidents of “national significance” that could impact voting or the outcome of the election.

“It's really important to note that election officials prepare for these disruptive events throughout the year,” including the need to temporarily close a polling place, relocate operations or respond to other emergencies, Conley said. “These are things that election officials routinely prepare and train for and will be happy to implement.”

More: Register to vote: Text USA TODAY's elections team.

The FBI's warning on Tuesday was the latest in several attempts issued in recent days by U.S. intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity agencies by foreign and domestic adversaries to post disinformation online to influence voters.

Much of that disinformation, the agencies said, was coming from Russia as part of its campaign to boost former President Donald Trump's chances of winning the election and denigrate his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed Friday that they believe Russia is behind a fake but viral video of a man claiming to be a recent Haitian immigrant saying he and a friend voted for Kamala Harris — twice — in Georgia .

“The IC believes that Russian influence actors recently produced a video that falsely portrayed individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in several counties in Georgia,” the agencies said in a statement.

More: Georgia's foreign minister blames Russians for bomb threat at polling station

In that earlier joint statement, ODNI and CISA said they believed that Russian influence actors also produced a video in which they falsely accused an individual associated with the Democratic presidential nomination of receiving bribes from a U.S. entertainer to have accepted. They did not provide further details, but the website originally said that the fake Georgia video behind an October 30 post was based on a security raid in March in exchange for a payment of $500,000.

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