James DevaneyGetty Images
Hello, what’s this? A small package from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, right here on the chiffarobe? From CNN:
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Tuesday released an assessment of foreign threats to the 2020 US federal elections. The report found that Russia's efforts were aimed at "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.”
Russia's efforts to influence the 2020 elections feature prominently in the report, which details how "proxies linked to Russian intelligence" were used to push unsubstantiated claims about Biden to into the American mainstream. "A key element of Moscow's strategy this election cycle was its use of proxies linked to Russian intelligence to push influence narratives -- including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden -- to US media organizations, US officials, and prominent US individuals, including some close to former President Trump and his administration," the report says. "Unlike in 2016, we did not see persistent Russian cyber efforts to gain access to election infrastructure," it notes.