Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe announces that Russia and Iran are taking ‘specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections’

• Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe announced on Wednesday that Russia and Iran have “taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections.”
• “First, we have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran, and separately, by Russia,” Ratcliffe said. “This data can be used by foreign actors to communicate false information to registered voters” to sow chaos and undermine confidence, he added.
• Ratcliffe went on to say that national security officials have “seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage President Trump.”
• “Although we have not seen the same actions from Russia, we are aware that they have obtained some voter information just as they did in 2016,” he said. “We are prepared for the possibility of actions by those hostile to democracy.”
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Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe announced on Wednesday that Iran and Russia have “taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections.”

“First, we have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran, and separately, by Russia,” Ratcliffe said. “This data can be used by foreign actors to communicate false information to registered voters” to sow chaos and undermine confidence, he added.

Ratcliffe went on to say that national security officials have “seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage President Trump.”

He also said that Iranian actors are distributing other content including “a video that implies that individuals could cast fraudulent ballots even from overseas. This video and any claims about such allegedly fraudulent ballots are not true,” and are “desperate attempts by desperate adversaries.”

“Although we have not seen the same actions from Russia, we are aware that they have obtained some voter information just as they did in 2016,” he said. “We are prepared for the possibility of actions by those hostile to democracy.”

Sen. Marco Rubio, of Florida, and Sen. Mark Warner, of Virginia — the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee — released a statement shortly before the news conference warning about hostile foreign adversaries who “seek to sow chaos and undermine voters’ belief in our democratic institutions, including the election systems and infrastructure that we rely on to record and properly report expressions of the voters’ will.”

The statement continued: “They may seek to target those systems, or simply leave the impression that they have altered or manipulated those systems, in order to undermine their credibility and our confidence in them.”

Rubio and Warner went on to urge the public and members of the media to “be cautious about believing or spreading unverified, sensational claims related to votes and voting.” They also reassured the public that local election officials are regularly in contact with federal law enforcement and cybersecurity officials to “ensure that Election 2020 is safe, secure, and free from outside interference.”