6/14/2023 0 Comments Midterm elections cnn![]() On July 26, Missouri's Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill revealed that Russian hackers attempted to break into her Senate email account unsuccessfully, confirming a report in The Daily Beast. On July 20, Microsoft VP for Customer Security and Trust revealed at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado that Russian hackers had already specifically targeted three Congressional candidates running in the 2018 mid-term elections, using sophisticated spearphishing techniques spoofing a Microsoft website. He cited the #WalkAway hashtag as an example of astroturfing. Love said that the WalkAway social media campaign, originally created by New York resident Brandon Straka, had been co-opted by Russian bots in an attempt to discourage Democrats from voting in the mid-term elections, citing Hamilton 68. Ī July 15 Business Insider article revealed a new Russian intelligence-linked "news" site, USAReally, which follows in the footsteps of previous Russian IRA-backed troll farms, and appears to be an attempt to "test the waters" ahead of the mid-terms. Romney's views of Russia as the United States' "biggest geopolitical threat," were widely panned in the 2012 US presidential campaign, but mark him as one of few outspoken Republican opponents of Russian threats. On July 10, 2018, the Utah State Elections Director Justin Lee reported that the registration database in Utah recorded a huge uptick in hack attempts, upwards of one billion attempts per day (12,000/second) were seen after Mitt Romney announced his return to campaign for the Senate. On May 23, 2018, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a committee hearing, warned that the US government was not protected from Russian interference in the 2018 midterms elections, saying, "No responsible government official would ever state that they have done enough to forestall any attack on the United States of America". The hack attempted to redirect visitors to another site, and included text in Russian. Īpril 23, 2018, saw a report of a possible Russian hack of the website for State Senate candidate Kendall Scudder, a Dallas Democrat candidate. The hack is kept secret, even from the GOP leadership, until the NRCC is contacted for a December story by Politico. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) discovers that the email accounts of four senior officials have been hacked and monitored for months by a probable foreign agent. We’re doing a very, very deep study, and we’re coming out with, I think, some very strong suggestions on the ’18 election," adding, “we’ll counteract whatever they do.” April March ĭuring a press conference in the White House on March 6, 2018, President Trump was questioned on the topic of possible interference in the upcoming midterm election, responding “We won’t allow that to happen. He stated: "We need to inform the American public that this is real, that this is going to happen." At the same hearing, CIA Director Mike Pompeo told the committee that Russia has already been observed engaging in such tactics. In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on February 13, Coats noted that voting in some elections will begin as early as March 2018 for primaries. Previously, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also warned that Russia is interfering in the 2018 midterm election. As of February 13, 2018, six US intelligence agencies unanimously assessed that Russian hackers are scanning American electoral systems and using bot armies to promote partisan causes on social media. In February 2018 Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats claimed during a congressional testimony that "the United States is under attack" from Russian authorities. Broussard criticized the Republicans in the FEC for a "slap on the wrist" civil penalty. ![]() FEC commissioners Ellen Weintraub and Shana M. In 2022, it was reported that a Federal Election Commission investigation had found that American Ethane Company, which had received investments from Russian oligarchs, had contributed Russian money to US political candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, largely in Louisiana. The leaders of intelligence agencies have noted that Russia is spreading disinformation through fake social media accounts in order to divide American society and foster anti-Americanism. Primaries for candidates of parties began in some states in March and would continue through September. The United States Intelligence Community concluded in early 2018 that the Russian government was continuing the interference it started during the 2016 elections and was attempting to influence the 2018 United States mid-term elections by generating discord through social media. Worldwide Threat Assessment that states Russia is targeting the 2018 US election
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