US intel assesses Russian operatives behind fake video trying to smear Tim Walz
CNN
Russian operatives created and amplified false online content attempting to smear Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday.
Russian operatives created and amplified false online content attempting to smear Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The content in question — which included manipulated audio content that circulated on the social media platform X in the last week — contained “several indicators of manipulation that are consistent with the influence efforts and tactics with Russian actors,” an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told reporters on Tuesday. The statement was based on newly available intelligence and analysts worked over the weekend to analyze the media content, the official said. Some posts circulating the fake content on X garnered hundreds of thousands of views and were amplified by right-wing personalities. The episode had echoes of the bizarre and false “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory that attempted to smear Democrats in 2016. It is evidence of Russia’s 11th-hour efforts to malignly influence the 2024 presidential election in favor of former President Donald Trump, whom US intelligence assesses is the Kremlin’s preferred choice. With two weeks until Election Day, accusations of foreign meddling are extremely political sensitive. The intelligence community has repeatedly exposed influence operations from Russia and Iran aimed at hurting Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump, respectively, in an effort to make those influence operations less impactful with the American public.
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