It’s not just China and Russia who are attempting to influence the 2020 election. National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe confirmed on Wednesday night that Iran tried to interfere in the U.S. election to damage President Donald Trump’s chances of winning reelection.
According to the director, Iranian agents posed as members of the Proud Boys, a right-wing group that has come under scrutiny recently. They reportedly sent threatening emails to Democratic voters as members of the group.
“Ratcliffe said Wednesday both Iran and Russia have obtained U.S. voter registration information in an effort to interfere in the election, including Iran posing as the far-right group Proud Boys to send intimidating emails to voters,” CNN reported. “Iranians are responsible for a voter intimidation email campaign that was made to look like it came from the Proud Boys and was also spreading disinformation about voter fraud through a video linked in some of the emails.”
During a press conference, Ratcliffe explained that both Russia and Iran procured voter registration information. Officials have “already seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage President Trump.”
The director also indicated that Tehran was attempting to undermine America’s already-shaky faith in the nation’s electoral system.
He said:
“Additionally, Iran is distributing other content to include 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. These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries. Even if the adversaries pursue further attempts to intimidate or attempt to undermine voter confidence, know that our election systems are resilient, and you can be confident your votes are secure.”
FBI Director Chris Wray also addressed reporters. He pointed out that the Bureau is “the primary agency responsible for investigating malicious cyber activity against election infrastructure, malign foreign influence operations, and election-related crimes like voter fraud and voter suppression or intimidation, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.”
Wray continued, explaining that the Bureau is “working closely with our intelligence community partners as well as our other federal, state, and local partners to share information, bolster security, and identify and disrupt any threats.” He added. “We are not going to tolerate foreign interference in our elections or any criminal activity that threatens the sanctity of your vote or undermines public confidence in the outcome of the election. When we see indications of foreign interference or federal election crimes, we are going to aggressively investigate and work with our partners to quickly take appropriate action.”
Naturally, when the news broke about Proud Boys supposedly sending threatening letters to Democrats, the left almost had a field day. They played up the now-disproven intimidation scheme, using it to slam the president and his supporters. To put it simply, they did Iran’s bidding.
Great job, guys.
Here is only a tiny sampling of the tweets that high-profile leftists posted:
Proud Boys domain used to send threatening emails to Democratic voters in Florida, Arizona and Pennsylvania – The Washington Post https://t.co/QvD7hgvXg7
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 21, 2020
Proud Boys sending emails threatening Democrats in Florida:
“We are in possession of all your information You are currently registered as a Democrat …You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you.”https://t.co/Di2lCBMqQf
— Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) October 21, 2020
If you are a voter in Florida, Alaska or elsewhere who received an email purportedly from the Proud Boys, we want to hear from you. Contact our Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683).
— Kristen Clarke 866-OUR-VOTE (@KristenClarkeJD) October 20, 2020
Oddly enough, these folks are rather silent now that the Iranian plot has been exposed. None of them have posted corrections or even given so much as a “Whoops! My bad!”
But would we really expect anything different?
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
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