Just 33 days before the election, a senior Justice Department official is warning of an “onus of foreign election interference” from Russia, Iran and China.
Matthew Olsen, head of the department’s National Security Division, said in an interview with CBS News that the United States faces a multi-pronged offensive from all three countries. Lines of attack include a barrage of Russian propaganda aimed at sowing division within a highly polarized US electorate, persistent cyber intrusions into the campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris , as well as a “serious” Iranian assassination plot targeting Trump.
“They see this as a vulnerable time for us,” Olsen told CBS Evening News anchor and editor Norah O’Donnell. “They are looking for ways to change the outcome of our elections or find issues that divide us in ways that support their national interests over ours.”
Olsen’s comments are expected to be the Justice Department’s final word on the subject of election interference, honoring a policy of refraining from public statements in the 30 days before an election to avoid influencing the outcome.
In a wide-ranging interview, he called the threats “sophisticated,” using cutting-edge technology “to target our policies.”
In Russia, he says bad actors are leveraging artificial intelligence to fabricate content, such as fake videos of the vice president intended to spread disinformation. What’s more, he added, Moscow has upped its game in another way — by whitewashing the Kremlin’s arguments through U.S.-based social media influencers with large online followings. Olsen described a brazen effort by Russia to help Trump win the election.
“What we are seeing with Russia is clearly a preferred solution,” Olsen said. “Russia seeks to promote the candidacy of the former president and denigrate the candidacy of the vice president.”
Contrary to messaging from the Trump campaign, which has consistently disputed reports of Kremlin interference, Olsen said the Russian initiative was real in 2016 and is even stronger today.
“Russian interference in [2016] the elections were not a hoax. This was actually happening at that time. This is actually happening now,” Olsen said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
Olsen said the intelligence and law enforcement communities learned a lesson from 2016, when officials were very protective of intelligence indicating Russians were aggressively interfering in elections. This cycle, they made a conscious decision to be much more transparent with the public.
“We’ve learned at the Justice Department, but this is especially true for the intelligence community, and it needs to be as open and transparent as possible about the nature of the threat,” Olsen said.
In September, the Justice Department seized 32 Internet domains that Russia allegedly used as part of its “doppelganger” online campaigns aimed at influencing elections around the world, including the upcoming presidential election here in the United States. . Olsen cited the case as an example of how the department is working to “dismantle the infrastructure” of Russian propaganda operations.
The seizure targeted Russian entities, including the Social Design Agency (SDA), which since 2022 is believed to have been responsible for developing a propaganda strategy including the impersonation of legitimate news entities, such as Fox News or the Washington Post.
“They created these fake websites. They look very real,” Olsen said. “It’s difficult for the average American to understand the sophistication of these efforts. But that’s why we’re trying to be as transparent as possible about the nature of the threat.”
Olsen pointed to a specific case brought by the Justice Department in which they discovered “talking points” from people “at the highest levels of the Kremlin, people within [Vladimir Putin’s] inner circle” who have declared their goal of seeing Trump win.
Olsen said that in addition to its goal of supporting Trump’s campaign, Russia is closely focused on sowing division among American voters on hot-button issues. Chief among them is the war in Ukraine, where Moscow intends to diminish popular support among Americans for Ukrainian independence.
But Olsen said the Russians also view domestic issues as prime targets for their disinformation campaign. He highlighted immigration, one of the most contentious political fights in the 2024 elections. The Russians, he said, are “highlighting immigration as a divisive issue.”
Russia is not the only country seeking to “sow discord” in the run-up to the elections. According to Olsen, one of the Justice Department’s biggest concerns is credible evidence that Iran wants to “compromise” Trump’s campaign and is actively plotting to assassinate Trump, an issue he says he is monitoring “with careful attention.” intense “.
“There are few countries in the world that pose as widespread and significant a threat as Iran,” Olsen said, noting that the effort is linked to the death of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in an airstrike. American. in 2020. “They are determined to retaliate for Soleimani’s killing. And they have targeted U.S. officials they believe are responsible for this decision.”
In recent months, there have been two assassination attempts against former President Trump, and in another case, a Pakistani national with ties to Iran was charged with allegedly planning a murder plot for hire targeting current and former U.S. officials — a list that sources close to the investigation told CBS News was possible Trump would be included.
Olsen declined to say whether the government’s arguments against Ryan Wesley Routh, who was accused of attempting to assassinate the former president at his Florida golf course in September, has ties to a foreign government, citing the ongoing nature of the case. Routh has pleaded not guilty.
Last month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence briefed Trump on Iran’s “real and specific threats to assassinate him.”
As for China, although the volume of activity is lower than that of Iran and Russia, its interest in the upcoming elections seems more focused on campaigns for Congress and state offices, where it aims to find candidates likely to register “more in line with the policies”. China’s interests”, rather than the presidential race.
Olsen said he has not seen any foreign attempts to manipulate voting machines or other election infrastructure. But one of his biggest concerns is what happens in the aftermath of the election, especially given likely delays in determining the results of the vote.
“I think our adversaries will continue to view this period as an opportunity for them to shape the outcome of the election or to sow discord in the country,” Olsen said, warning that “this is really the biggest problem that I see “. right away.”
