U.S. intel officials say Russia is behind attempts to smear Tim Walz

A general view to the Kremlin towers and Ivan the Great cathedral in May 2024. U.S. intelligence officials say Russia was behind an attempt to spread baseless claims about Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images

Russia was behind salacious false claims against Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz that circulated widely on social media last week, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

"The intelligence community assesses that Russian influence actors created and amplified content alleging inappropriate activity committed by the Democratic vice presidential candidate during his earlier career," an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday.

"Vladimir Putin wants Donald Trump to win because he knows Trump will roll over and give him anything he wants. We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections," said Morgan Finkelstein, a spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign.

Last week, posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, accused Walz of wrongdoing when he was a high school teacher and football coach. That included a video purporting to show a former student making allegations against Walz, which was shared by an X account that has promoted the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory. However, the Washington Post interviewed the actual former student, who is not the man in the video and who said the alleged incident never occurred.

Other posts making unverified accusations against Walz were also quickly debunked by users on X and fact checkers, who noted that screenshots of what was supposed to be an email from an alleged victim contained inconsistencies, including what appeared to be a cursor still visible in the text of one image.

The claims were boosted by pro-Trump accounts with large followings. They racked up millions of views on X and other platforms. The post by the QAnon account had more than 4.3 million views before it was deleted, according to Wired.

The intelligence official said the video showed "several indicators of manipulation" consistent with Russian influence operations.

"This video is consistent with the pattern of Russian influence actors seeking to undermine the Democratic presidential ticket by fabricating allegations against them," the official said. "One of their tactics they use is these staged direct-to-camera videos and trying to make them go viral."

That includes a video from earlier this year that intelligence officials say Russia staged in which a woman claimed to be the victim of a hit-and-run accident by Vice President Kamala Harris in 2011. The false claim was spread via a website claiming to be a local San Francisco TV station. There is no evidence any such incident occurred, and the purported TV station does not exist.

Researchers say such tactics are hallmarks of a Russian propaganda operation dubbed "Storm-1516", uncovered by Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub last fall, that manufactures purported whistleblower videos and other faked evidence and then tries to make them go viral, according to NBC News.

Other Russian influence operations have created websites spoofing real U.S. news outlets to share fake articles generated by artificial intelligence. In September, the justice department indicted two employees of Russian state broadcaster RT in a scheme to funnel nearly $10 million to right-wing American influencers who posted videos opposing aid to Ukraine, praising Trump, and denigrating Democrats. The influencers have said they did not know the company paying them was linked to Russia.

At Tuesday's briefing, intelligence officials said efforts by geopolitical adversaries to divide Americans will "intensify" in the lead up to Election Day and continue after polls close.

"Foreign actors, particularly Russia, Iran, and China, remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans' confidence in the U.S. democratic system. These activities are consistent with what these actors perceive to be in their interests, even as their tactics continue to evolve," the ODNI official said.

The U.S. says Russia would like to see former President Trump win the election, while Iran favors Harris. China does not have a preference in the presidential contest but is trying to sway downballot races, officials have said.

Intelligence officials say foreign adversaries are better prepared to exploit the potential uncertainty of the post-election period this year, thanks to what they learned from the 2020 cycle and a better understanding of what happens after polls close.

Both Russia and Iran are "probably willing to at least consider" inciting violence, including by stoking threats towards election workers and amplifying protests, officials said.

Russia in particular is expected to boost anything that questions the integrity of the election, no matter who wins, "because Russia believes election controversies distract and weaken the United States," the intelligence official said.

But if Harris wins, the official said, Russia is expected to become even more aggressive.