US National Intelligence release report confirming Russia and other actors attempted to interfere in 2020 election

Washington, USA – The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a declassified report on foreign threats to the 2020 USA elections, which concludes that foreign adversaries, including but not limited to Russia, did attempt to interfere.

Russia’s methods targeted “denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US,” it says.”

“[Since 2016,] the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been a part of a whole nation effort to ensure American voters decide US elections. Importantly, after millions of Americans voted, we have no evidence any foreign adversary was capable of preventing Americans from voting or changing vote tallies,” said CISA.

The report also confirms efforts by Chinese and Iranian actors to also interfere in the elections adding “We assess that Iran carried out a multi-pronged covert influence campaign intended to undercut former President Trump’s reelection prospects-though without directly promoting his rivals-undermine public confidence in the electoral process and US institutions, and sow division and exacerbate societal tensions in the US. We assess that China did not deploy interference efforts and considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the US Presidential election.” 

Avril Haines, Director of Intelligence said, “Foreign malign influence is an enduring challenge facing our country. These efforts by U.S. adversaries seek to exacerbate divisions and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions. Addressing this ongoing challenge requires a whole-of-government approach grounded in an accurate understanding of the problem, which the Intelligence Community, through assessments such as this one, endeavors to provide.”