Russia’s efforts to interfere with the US election are reaching a new level

As Election Day began in Georgia, several polling places in Fulton County were temporarily evacuated after receiving bomb threats. The threats, fortunately, were not credible. As for who was responsible for the threats, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger informed news organizations of the developments.

“We have identified the source,” the Republican official said he told reporters“and he was from Russia.”

The comments weren’t too much of a surprise. The The New York Times reported:

US intelligence and law enforcement officials warn that Russia is stepping up its already strong efforts to undermine confidence in Tuesday’s presidential election by producing fake videos and promoting false allegations of fraud in proxy states to fuel division and sow fear .

while affirmative from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said other countries could also target Americans with disinformation, “Russia is the most active threat.”

At 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 pretending to vote in the US presidential election.”

And while that report has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly has. confirm on MSNBC Late last week, the video in question was “produced in Russia and designed specifically to go viral and undermine American confidence in the security and integrity of our elections.”

If at this point you’re thinking, “Seems like we’ve seen a lot of headlines like these lately,” it’s not your imagination.

Remember the recent viral video that showed someone tearing up ballots in Pennsylvania? He was from Russia.

How about the defamatory video targeting Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz? He was from Russia.

On the same day as those revelations, The Washington Post reported on a Republican operative allegedly “working directly with Russian military intelligence to disseminate falsehoods and misinformation targeting the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris.”

A month earlier, federal prosecutors alerted the public alleged Russian payments prominent far-right media figures.

There is a reason why US intelligence agencies have spent the past few months repeatedly warning the American public that Russia is implementing “a wide range of influence efforts” targeting the US election.

Why, exactly, would Moscow be so eager to help the GOP ticket – again – Donald Trump told supporters late last week that the United States “he should never have entered Ukraine” — a curious statement, given that the United States has zero troops in Ukraine. It was a statement that suggested the former president may believe it was a mistake for the US to extend military support to our Ukrainian allies.

Two weeks earlier, the Republican blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the invasion of his country by Russia.

The comments came just days after former US President he refused to say if he has had several secret conversations with Putin since leaving the White House, though he added“But I’ll tell you if I did, it’s a smart thing to do.”

Which came in the wake 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 allegationsThe Kremlin—to the extent that its statements have merit—said that Trump did, in fact, send Covid tests to Moscow.)

Which came on the heels of Trump refusing to say if he wants our Ukrainian allies to prevail in the war against Russia.

Which came on the heels of Trump denouncing US efforts to combat Russian disinformation campaigns, going so far as to characterize Russia as a victim.

What came after the GOP candidate talked about the possibility of lifting US sanctions against Russia.

Which came a few weeks after Trump publicly congratulated Russia over a historic prisoner exchange.

Which came on the heels of the republican pointing to Putin for validation to justify his position towards Ukraine.

Which came on the heels of former US President celebrating the fact that Putin was echoing his talking points about the 2024 election and Trump’s multiple criminal charges.

Which came after Trump told the audience at Mar-a-Lago 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 after years of Trump bowing, genuflecting and repeatedly showing abject weakness against his Russian ally.

It’s a wonder why it’s Moscow it seems to go to considerable lengths to “shape the outcome” of the 2024 race “in favor” of Trump?

This post updates us related prior coverage.