US intelligence assesses Russian operatives behind fake video showing Pennsylvania ballots being destroyed

(CNN) — US intelligence has assessed that Russian operatives were behind a fake video purporting to show someone destroying mail-in ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that circulated on social media Thursday.

“The IC (Intelligence Community) assesses that Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania, judging from information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities,” said a joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The agencies said that the video is part of an ongoing Russian effort to “raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans” in the final days of the 2024 campaign.

CNN reported earlier Friday that US investigators suspected that Russian operatives were behind the fake video, according to two sources briefed on the matter.

The Board of Elections in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia, was quick to debunk the video on Thursday. “The envelope and materials depicted in this video are clearly not authentic materials belonging to or distributed by the Bucks County Board of Elections,” the board said in a statement.

The county is crucial in determining whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris wins the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

The video appeared on Thursday afternoon on X and was shared by some users as supposed evidence of voter fraud.

But the video was hatched by Russian operatives, according to Darren Linvill, an expert on Russian disinformation campaigns at Clemson University.

The video was “created in the style and manner of many previous” videos from a Russian information campaign known as Storm-1516, Linvill told CNN. “More importantly, it appeared for the first time from an account that has originated previous Storm narratives and routinely shares campaign content,” he said.

It’s the latest example of suspected foreign influence operations in the closing days of the US presidential campaign as Russia, Iran and China all try to cast doubt on the integrity of US elections, according to intelligence officials. Russian operatives have tried to denigrate Harris’ campaign, Iranians have tried to undercut Trump’s, while China has largely focused on down-ballot races.

The same Russian network, Storm-1516, was behind a fake video shared on X this month attempting to smear Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, according to Linvill and experts at Microsoft. US intelligence agencies also attributed the activity to Russia.

Patricia Poprik, chair of the Bucks County Republican Party, told CNN that she was flooded with texts and calls about the video.

“We decided to put out a statement because so many people were calling us from not just Pennsylvania,” Poprik said.

Poprik acknowledged that plenty of Republican voters are already skeptical about whether voting by mail is safe, and she wanted to try to put them at ease. “It’s just scaring voters and it’s not what we want,” she said, “I personally voted by mail. I believe it’s safe.”

The Bucks County GOP’s effort to help debunk the video is notable because it comes as other prominent conservative voices across the country have continued to amplify misinformation.

The original post of the video has been deleted, but it has constantly been reposted across various social media sites on Thursday and Friday.

The network behind the account has been active for years on social media.  CNN has identified at least nine other accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Rumble, X, Gettr, Truth Social and Gab, that the group is running.

The accounts that were identified as the source of the video all posted it around the same time, around 3:00 p.m. ET on Thursday. Many of the accounts frequently push QAnon-conspiracy messages alongside pro-Trump and anti-Harris content.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed reporting.

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