Intelligence Democrats say Russia is targeting Democratic candidates, and that pre-election threat reports are missing

By Staff Reporter

WASHINGTON — The two top Democrats on Congress’s intelligence committees said Wednesday that a classified briefing from the director of national intelligence showed Russia running an online misinformation campaign against Democratic candidates in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, and that the administration has not given them several pre-election threat reports they have asked for.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said they could not describe what they had been told in detail because it was classified. But “the state of play, I would argue, is Russia, similar to prior occasions, is going after Democrats, usually with misinformation,” Warner said, according to NPR. He added that Iran had been “more anti-Trump” and that China had been “more selective, oftentimes on local races or smaller issues.”

Warner pointed to news reports that Democrat James Talarico, the Senate nominee in Texas, and Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia “in particular are being dinged” by fake advertisements made with artificial intelligence, Reuters reported. Himes called Moscow’s conduct “the same old, same old.” “The Russians are kind of throwing everything out there,” he said. “Chaos, you know, don’t trust your voting machines.”

What the briefing did and did not show

Both lawmakers drew a line between influence campaigns, which try to sway or confuse voters, and interference with the machinery of voting. Himes said there was no evidence that any country could get into U.S. election systems and change results. “Nothing out there suggests that there is even the capability or the intent to do interference, whereas there is a pretty robust influence environment,” he said, according to Reuters.

The briefing they described came from Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, whom the Senate confirmed in July. Himes said in a statement at the time that he had known Clayton for years and considered him “a serious person with integrity,” while criticizing his unwillingness at his confirmation hearing “to clearly state the results of the 2020 election.” The lawmakers said they received one classified report from Clayton’s office on Tuesday, which they described to NPR as a “grabbag” of intelligence on meddling efforts.

Public researchers have documented at least one campaign that matches the lawmakers’ description. MS NOW reported this week that a long-running Kremlin-linked operation known as Matryoshka, or Storm-1679, has posted doctored videos carrying fake CNN logos in which Hollywood actors appear to denounce Democrats, using audio that appears to have been cloned with AI. A later batch targeted specific Democratic candidates, including Talarico, Ossoff, Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire, Mary Peltola in Alaska, Roy Cooper in North Carolina and Sherrod Brown in Ohio. Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, told the outlet the campaign’s audience so far is “negligible.”

The reports Congress says it has not received

Himes told reporters that when Clayton took office, the committees “asked and received the required classified summary of influence and interference,” but that they had “not received a bunch of things that we have asked for,” including updates he described as due 120, 60 and 30 days before the election, NPR reported. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to requests from NPR or Reuters.

The main statutory requirement is narrower than that list. Under 50 U.S.C. 3371a, enacted in 2019, the director of national intelligence must send congressional leaders and the intelligence and homeland security committees an assessment of foreign intelligence threats to a federal election no later than 180 days before it, and an update no later than 90 days before. For this year’s election, those deadlines fell in early May and early August. Himes did not say which statute or agreement set the 120-, 60- and 30-day timetable he described, and the Inquisitor could not independently confirm what the committees have and have not received, since the documents are classified.

Preparing for a dispute after the vote

The two Democrats said much of their planning is for what happens after the polls close. They said they had told Clayton and other intelligence officials they must be reachable by phone on and after Election Day in case President Donald Trump claims foreign interference. “If, at noon on Election Day, the president announced that the Iranians have undertaken operation,” Himes said, according to NPR, “I’m on TV saying ‘I’m Gang of Eight and I have received no such briefing, no such information, and I have no reason to believe that this is accurate.’”

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told NPR that “President Trump has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections,” and that the administration is “taking decisive action to protect our elections including prosecuting election crimes, strengthening election infrastructure security, and protecting vulnerable voters from fraud and coercion.” Asked earlier this month whether he would accept the results, Trump said, “Of course I will, but we don’t want cheating,” NPR reported.

Wednesday’s comments follow two letters this fall. Warner, Himes, Sen. Alex Padilla of California and Rep. Joe Morelle of New York wrote to 25 technology companies, from Meta and Alphabet to OpenAI, Anthropic and Truth Social, warning of “concerning signs of backsliding” on election-integrity commitments and saying that “Russia continues to undermine confidence in U.S. elections through disinformation campaigns executed directly on many of your platforms,” according to Warner’s office. Warner also joined Senate Democrats in a request for information to the Justice Department and FBI about the administration’s election actions.

The Inquisitor sent requests for comment Thursday morning to Warner’s office; the office of Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s chairman; the House Intelligence Committee; the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; the White House press office; and the Brennan Center for Justice, which studies election security. None had responded by publication. The Inquisitor could not find a published press email for Himes’s office or for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; an earlier message to ODNI’s media address was rejected.

Photo: Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia. United States Senate / Wikimedia Commons, public domain.