Russia, Iran and China all have favored candidates in this year’s elections, US intelligence officials said Friday, but America’s adversaries are not in agreement about who would best further their own interests.
While the Kremlin wants to swing voters “in favor” of former President Donald Trump and “diminish the prospects” of Vice President Kamala Harris, the mullahs in Tehran have indicated they would prefer the Democratic nominee over the Republican, officials in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) revealed in an unclassified briefing.
Meanwhile, they said, Beijing appears to care less about who wins the White House, opting to focus on down-ballot races and targeting candidates seen as “threatening” to its interests.
Regardless of their preferences, all three nations have begun to ramp up election influence efforts ahead of Nov. 5.
“Russia, Iran, and China are trying by some measure to exacerbate divisions in US society for their own benefit, and see election periods as moments of vulnerability,” a readout of the briefing stated.
“These actors most likely judge that amplifying controversial issues and divisive rhetoric can serve their interests by making the United States and its democratic system appear weak and by keeping the US Government distracted with internal issues instead of pushing back on their hostile behavior in other parts of the world,” the readout also notes.
While there have been no known efforts to actively interfere in the election process, all three governments have stepped up influence campaigns and pushed propaganda “to shape voter preferences.”
According to ODNI officials, Russia remains “the most active foreign influence threat,” with state-controlled media outlets like RT and other US-sanctioned entities pushing messages to “disseminate Russia-friendly narratives.”
The effort “is consistent with Moscow’s broader foreign policy goals of weakening the United States and undermining Washington’s support for Ukraine,” the officials said.
There have also already been foreign efforts “to compromise political entities” in the US this election cycle, with Iranian agents notably hacking into Trump campaign data.
Though Tehran has targeted both the Trump and Harris campaigns, the government there has specifically “denigrated the former President,” officials noted, referring to Trump.
In July, an ODNI official said US intelligence agencies had “observed Tehran working to influence the presidential election, probably because Iranian leaders want to avoid an outcome they perceive would increase tensions,” suggesting Harris could be seen by the Islamic theocratic regime as more amenable.
Iran, like Russia, has been able to get its actors to publish fake news articles and adopt false personas to spread its propaganda.
Meanwhile, China is continuing its theme of focusing on House and Senate contests after pursuing the same course in the midterm elections of 2022.
Two years before, the FBI revealed a vast Chinese espionage effort that involved US officials and several San Francisco-area Democrats — including Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).
Christine Fang, aka Fang Fang, a honeytrap acting on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security, ended up working for several Democratic campaigns and seducing some lawmakers in an attempt to get access to sensitive US intelligence information.
At least two Midwestern mayors had sex with the Chinese spy — but Swalwell has declined to discuss specifics about his interactions with Fang.
At the same time, the People’s Republic of China has made “small-scale efforts” to heighten America’s domestic divisions on social media by promoting content about Israel’s war with Hamas, a conflict that has split the Democratic Party’s coalition.
Other foreign influence campaigns against state and local government officials are taking place nationwide, ODNI officials disclosed Friday.
Additionally, officials said they were aware of some overseas actors weighing outright lobbying of political figures before the election, but did not detail those plots.
The warning comes after Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was convicted in July of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for both Egypt and Qatar, while Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was indicted in May for purportedly taking bribes from an Azerbaijani oil company and a Mexican bank.
First son Hunter Biden evaded charges of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) — despite evidence that he directly lobbied the US Embassy in Italy to help a Ukrainian gas company land a deal.
Hunter pleaded guilty to nine counts of tax fraud on Thursday, more than a month and a half after his father, President Biden, dropped out of the 2024 race.
