There are less than two months before the United States presidential election. Still, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director, Chris Wray, told officials on Thursday that Russia has been very active in its efforts to interfere with the November elections.
Foreign interference
Wray said that Russia is attempting to manipulate the presidential race by focusing on former Vice President Joe Biden and his campaign. He told the Homeland Security Committee that the intelligence community's consensus is that Russia is still attempting to invade the elections.
According to USA Today, Wray said that the Kremlin is placing all its focus on sparking turmoil within the American nation and denigrating Biden's presidential campaign.
The FBI director's assessment monitored an analysis that the National Counter-Intelligence and Security Center published in August. The study called out Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian Ukrainian parliamentarian, for allegedly spreading disinformation that attempted to undermine Biden's campaign.
The analysis concluded that some Kremlin-linked entities are attempting to boost United States President Donald Trump's campaign on social media platforms and Russian television.
The previous report also noted that China saw Trump as an unpredictable leader and prefers that someone else take the seat of the presidency of the U.S. The document said that Iran has been moving to instigate and spread division within Trump's administration ahead of the November election.
On Thursday, the FBI director said that the agency would not tolerate any foreign threat that would attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the presidential election. Wray also cited recent violence across the nation that has undermined social justice demonstrations.
Wray's comments also come after President Trump's administration continuously suggests that China is supporting Biden to win the elections while denying that Russia is helping him win re-election.
Targeting American election infrastructures
Foreign efforts to interfere with U.S. elections do not differ from what officials observed in 2016, where similar actions against election infrastructure were seen. Wray said that despite not seeing the second part of the attempts this year, Russia's activity has been increasing, as reported by CNN.
The FBI director stated that Russia has been using social media platforms, proxies, state media, and several online journals to spread disinformation and cause discord among the American people. He noted that efforts aimed to discredit Biden, which Russia believes poses as an anti-Russia administration.
Several intelligence officials stated that they had discovered evidence that proves Russia has been very active in interfering with the November election and is working to undermine Biden's campaign.
Additionally, evidence of Moscow's efforts has emerged that show Russia using a troll Facebook group that was involved in interference attempts in 2016 is now trying to target the American election.
According to The New York Times, several officials criticized the Homeland Security Department after it was revealed that the agency refused to publish an intelligence document from July 9 that warned of Russian attempts to undermine Biden's mental health and efforts by China and Iran that targeted Trump.
