With less than two weeks to go until Election Day in the US, top national security officials warned that Iran and Russia have taken specific actions to influence the 2020 election. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said at a last-minute press conference on Wednesday that both Iran and Russia “had taken specific actions to influence public opinion relating to our elections.”Ratcliffe, a controversial former Republican member of Congress, claimed that Iran sent emails to “damage” US President Donald Trump but didn’t specify that Russia was targeting Vice President Joe Biden. Ratcliffe did say that Russia had obtained voter information, just as it had in 2016. “We will not tolerate foreign interference in our elections,” Ratcliffe said. The press conference came after The Washington Post reported that the U.S. government believed Iran was behind threatening emails sent to Democratic voters that purported to be from the Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist organization that has been supportive of Trump.

Source: Huffington Post October 22, 2020 00:33 UTC