U.S. officials say Iran, Russia actively interfering in 2020 election – National

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and intelligence community officials say Iran and Russia have “taken specific actions to influence public opinion” in the upcoming presidential election.

John Ratcliffe, the U.S. Director of National Security, said Wednesday that Iran is behind a series of emails and other messages to voters containing both intimidating threats to vote for particular candidates, as well as false information about voting.

The emails were sent after Iran obtained “some voter information” from U.S. databases, he said.

Ratcliffe also said Russia has obtained some voter information as well, but did not specifically say what that country’s actions were.

“You can be confident your votes are secure,” he told a news conference.

Although Ratcliffe said the foreign election interference “is not a partisan issue,” he said Iran’s actions — including “spoofed emails, designed to intimidate voters” — were specifically designed to harm U.S. President Donald Trump.

Earlier Wednesday, the Associated Press and other outlets reported that Democratic voters in at least four battleground states including Florida and Pennsylvania received threatening emails, falsely purporting to be from the far-right group Proud Boys, that warned “we will come after you” if the recipients didn’t vote for Trump.

The voter-intimidation operation apparently used email addresses obtained from state voter registration lists, which include party affiliation and home addresses and can include email addresses and phone numbers. Those addresses were then used in an apparently widespread targeted spamming operation.

The senders claimed they would know which candidate the recipient was voting for in the Nov. 3 election, for which early voting is ongoing.

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The Washington Post reported moments before Ratcliffe’s announcement that Iran was behind those emails, citing anonymous U.S. officials.

Ratcliffe said Iran was also behind a video circulating online that implies foreign actors could cast fraudulent ballots, even from overseas, which he said was false. Trump, Attorney General William Barr and other Republicans have spent months making similar arguments about mail-in voting.

“These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries,” Ractliffe said.

The news comes a day before Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden are scheduled to take part in the final presidential debate.

—With files from the Associated Press

-This is a breaking news story, more information will be provided as it becomes available.