As Election Day got underway in Georgia, a handful of polling locations in Fulton County were temporarily evacuated after receiving bomb threats. The threats, fortunately, weren’t credible. As for who was responsible for making the threats, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger briefed news organizations on the developments.
“We identified the source,” the Republican official told reporters, “and it was from Russia.”
The comments didn’t come as too big of a surprise. The New York Times reported:
U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials are warning that Russia is intensifying its already robust effort to subvert confidence in the presidential election on Tuesday by manufacturing false videos and promoting phony allegations of fraud in swing states to stoke division and sow fear.
While the statement from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said other countries might also target Americans with misinformation, “Russia is the most active threat.”
Around the time officials issued that warning, CNN reported, “An American social media influencer said he was paid $100 by a pro-Kremlin propagandist to post a fake video of Haitian immigrants claiming to vote in the US presidential election.”
And while that report hasn’t been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly did confirm to MSNBC late last week that the video in question was “Russian-produced and specifically designed to go viral and undermine American confidence in the security and the integrity of our election.”
If at this point you’re thinking, “It sure does seem as if I’ve seen a lot of headlines like this lately,” it’s not your imagination.
Remember the recent viral video that showed someone tearing up ballots in Pennsylvania? It was from Russia.
How about the smear video targeting Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz? It was from Russia.
The same day as those revelations, The Washington Post reported on a Republican operative who’s allegedly “working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.”
A month earlier, federal prosecutors alerted the public to alleged Russian payments to prominent far-right media personalities.
There’s a reason that U.S. intelligence agencies have spent the last several months repeatedly warning the American public that Russia is implementing “a broad range of influence efforts” targeting the U.S. elections.
As for why, exactly, Moscow would be so eager to help the GOP’s ticket (again) Donald Trump told supporters late last week that the United States “should have never gone into Ukraine” — a curious assertion given that the U.S. has zero troops in Ukraine. It was a statement suggesting that the former president might believe it was a mistake for the U.S. to extend military support to our Ukrainian allies.
Two weeks earlier, the Republican blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Russia’s invasion of his country.
The comments came just days after the former American president refused to say whether he’s had multiple, secret conversations with Putin since leaving the White House, though he added, “But I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing.”
Which came on the heels of allegations that the former Republican president, while in office, secretly sent Covid-19 testing equipment to Vladimir Putin at the height of the pandemic, even as people in his own country struggled to gain access to such resources. (While Trump denied the allegations, the Kremlin — to the extent that its statements have merit — said Trump did, in fact, send Covid tests to Moscow.)
Which came on the heels of Trump refusing to say whether he wants our Ukrainian allies to prevail in the war against Russia. Which came on the heels of Trump denouncing U.S. efforts to combat Russian misinformation campaigns, going so far as to characterize Russia as a victim. Which came on the heels of the GOP candidate talking up the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions against Russia. Which came weeks after Trump publicly congratulated Russia over a historic prisoner swap. Which came on the heels of the Republican pointing to Putin for validation to justify his position on Ukraine. Which came on the heels of the former American president celebrating the fact that Putin was echoing his talking points about the 2024 election and Trump’s multiple criminal indictments. Which came on the heels of Trump telling a Mar-a-Lago audience how “smart” Putin was for invading a neighboring country. Which came on the heels of Trump describing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “genius” and part of a “wonderful” strategy. Which came on the heels of years’ worth of Trump kowtowing, genuflecting and repeatedly showing abject weakness toward his Russian ally. Is it any wonder why Moscow is reportedly going to considerable lengths to “shape the outcome” of the 2024 race “in favor of” Trump? This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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