The Biden administration plans on Wednesday (4) to accuse Russia of a sustained effort to influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election by using Kremlin-controlled media and other online platforms to target U.S. voters with disinformation, they said. to CNN six sources familiar with the matter.
The United States is expected to take a series of steps on Wednesday aimed at addressing the Kremlin’s efforts, including the White House publicly condemning the actions and the Justice Department announcing law enforcement actions targeting the Russian covert campaign, the sources said.
RT, the Russian state media network, is the main focus of the U.S. announcement, the sources said. American officials view the Russian media outlet as a key player in the Kremlin’s propaganda efforts.
The Russian disinformation operation is being laundered through American and non-American voices, four of the sources said.
Taken together, the actions would be the Biden administration’s most significant public response to alleged Russian influence operations targeting American voters. After the U.S. accused Iran of trying to hack the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns last month, Wednesday’s expected actions are a reminder that U.S. officials continue to view Russia as a significant foreign influence threat to the November election, the sources said.
In the afternoon, Attorney General Merrick Garland will host a meeting of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which will be attended by senior law enforcement leaders, including FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Another Russian company that U.S. authorities are expected to name on Wednesday is the Social Design Agency, which the Treasury Department has already sanctioned for allegedly running fake news sites in Europe on behalf of the Russian government, three of the sources said.
Formerly known as Russia Today, RT runs television and digital platforms around the world that promote the Kremlin’s agenda. The Justice Department forced RT America to register as a foreign agent in 2017 after U.S. intelligence officials concluded that the outlet contributed to Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.
Wednesday’s expected announcements would be the Biden administration’s second major effort to diminish RT’s influence in as many months. In July, the Justice Department charged an RT employee with involvement in a scheme that used a network of about 1,000 social media accounts to impersonate U.S. residents and spread disinformation about the war in Ukraine and other topics. U.S. officials have accused the Kremlin of funding the scheme; a Kremlin spokesman denied the accusation.
THE CNN asked RT for comment on the expected US announcements. The outlet has previously ridiculed US allegations that it acts as an agent of Russian influence.
THE CNN was unable to immediately reach Social Design Agency for comment.
A growing number of foreign actors have sought to influence the U.S. election since Russia’s 2016 activity, which included hacking the Democratic National Committee and leaking documents intended to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
In the run-up to the 2024 election, Iran’s alleged adherence to a similar hack-and-leak playbook that Russia used in 2016 has put U.S. officials on high alert. In June, a group of hackers linked to the Iranian government successfully attacked the Trump campaign, stealing internal campaign documents and sharing them with news organizations. The hackers breached the email account of longtime Trump ally Roger Stone to target campaign staff, the Times reported. CNN .
But U.S. officials are also keeping an eye on China, which U.S. officials and private experts say uses a vast array of online accounts to target American voters as well. Chinese leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Joe Biden that China would not interfere in the 2024 U.S. presidential election when the two men met last November, the report said. CNN previously.
But any foreign or domestic attempts to sow discord during U.S. elections and shape voters’ opinions do not change the fact that the voting process is very difficult to change and is protected by layers of defenses. There is no evidence of successful efforts — foreign or domestic — to influence U.S. elections by altering vote counts.
An estimated 97% of registered voters in the 2024 U.S. election will cast their ballots in a jurisdiction with verified paper registration — increasing transparency around voting, Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told reporters this week.
“Election infrastructure has never been more secure,” Easterly said.
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This content was originally published in Exclusive: White House accuses Russia of trying to influence US elections on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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