FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday described the Russians’ “very active” efforts to exert influence over November’s presidential election, with a crusade of meddling in denigrating Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
In his testimony before the House National Security Committee, Wray said that “the consensus of the intelligence network is that Russia continues to try to influence our elections,” which he said differs from interference efforts in the 2016 presidential election involving the piracy of emails from Democratic and state electoral systems.
Wray under pressure that Russian influence in the November election so far has become disinformation campaigns.
“We have noticed very active and active efforts by the Russians to influence our elections in 2020 through what I would call more than an evil foreign influence,” said Wray, who said it is led by Russians through social media. state media and online newspapers.
Wray added that Russian influence in the November election appears to be an effort to “sow department and discord” and “mainly to denigrate Vice President Biden and what the Russians see as a kind of anti-Russian establishment. “
Wray’s comments come when Trump and several other senior management officials minimize Russia’s paintings to help him win re-election and fuel the theory that China is meddled in the November election to help Biden.
Earlier this month, ABC News reported that the Department of Homeland Security had intervened to prevent the publication of an intelligence bulletin detailing a Russian plan to attack Biden by portraying him in poor intellectual fitness, a claim Trump issued to the former vice president.
The next day, ABC News reported on another DHS bulletin that it appeared that Russia reinforced trump’s same incorrect information about mail voting, which the president continues to claim without merit that leads to voter fraud.
Last month, National Security adviser Robert O’Brien rejected the concept of applying new sanctions against Russia, even after the ID first warned that the country had detailed a crusade to “denigrate” Biden in the November election.
See Wray’s comments below:
Full video here: https://t. co/aLfZmkqbcC pic. twitter. com/CAq4VHoRqI
– CSPAN (@cspan) September 17, 2020