US authorities accuse Russia of linking to video falsely claiming voter fraud in Georgia | News about the 2024 US election

Russia has previously denied allegations that it wanted to interfere in the US presidential election.

Intelligence agencies in the United States have blamed “Russian influence actors” for a video that falsely claimed voter fraud took place in the battleground state of Georgia, days before the country's crucial presidential election.

The video began circulating Thursday afternoon on X, the social media platform of billionaire Elon Musk, a staunch supporter of Republican candidate Donald Trump. A Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs is shown saying he plans to vote multiple times in two counties.

In a joint statement released Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that “Russian influence actors recently produced a video falsely depicting individuals claiming to be from Haiti, illegally.” to choose”. Georgia.

“This ruling is based on information available to the IC [intelligence community] and previous activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities,” the agencies said

The activity was “part of Moscow's broader efforts to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans,” the statement said.

There was no immediate comment from Russia, which previously dismissed as absurd U.S. intelligence claims that it wanted to interfere in the Nov. 5 election.

Earlier Friday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his state had been targeted with a video that was “obviously fake.”

He added that the clip was likely the product of Russian trolls “trying to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election” and called on social media companies to remove it from their platforms.

The original video was no longer available on X as of Friday morning, but copycat versions were still widely shared.

An analysis of information on two of the IDs in the video confirmed that they did not correspond to any registered voters in the counties, the Associated Press reported.

Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, have previously spread false rumors about Haitian migrants eating pets in the city of Springfield.

Trump referenced the claims during an election debate against his rival, Democrat Kamala Harris, in September that was watched by tens of millions of people. As a result, there were dozens of bomb threats in Springfield, leading to evacuations and closures of public buildings and the cancellation of a diversity festival.

Opinion polls, both nationally and in the seven closely divided battleground states, show Trump virtually tied with Harris four days before Election Day. More than 66 million people have already cast their votes.