Capitol siege is a sign of the triumph of Russia's disinformation campaign
08 January 2021
The road to yesterday's ransacking of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob began four years ago with the Russian theft of Democratic party emails.
Why it matters: Russia aims to undermine U.S. democracy, and this week's turmoil is another sign of its success.
The big picture: Disinformation campaigns work in the short term to target enemies and in the long term to undermine the stability of social systems.
Be smart: The people who invaded Congress Wednesday to stop the certification of a U.S. presidential election weren't paid by the Kremlin or acting under orders from Putin. But their actions — like those of the president who stoked their rage with lies — couldn't have been more aligned with Russia's goals when it attacked the U.S. political system in 2016.
- The short-term goal was to help elect Trump, whom the Kremlin accurately viewed as a force for chaos and disruption in Washington.
- The long-term goal was to create lasting mistrust among Americans in their own elections.
Trump took the ball and ran with it. That left the U.S. with a population of tens of millions of people who now believe, without any evidence and against the rulings of dozens of state and federal courts, that Biden stole the White House from Trump.
Context: The U.S. failed to treat the 2016 attack as the declaration of cyber-war that it was.
- Trump saw investigations into Russian disinformation as efforts to undermine the legitimacy of his win.
That left the U.S. vulnerable, and today we are paying the price:
- With the SolarWinds hack, Russian cyber-saboteurs gained access to a still unknown number of U.S. government and corporate networks. They're still there.
- But the Capitol invasion shows that Putin no longer needs to send his hackers to pilfer Nancy Pelosi's email. Rioters waving Trump flags are now willing to do that work.
Between the lines: The work of undermining trust in the American system that began with clandestine cyber operations is now undertaken out in the open on social media platforms and right-wing media outlets.
What's next: Restoring trust takes longer than demolishing it.
- Documenting Russia's past mischief and completing long-stymied investigations into Trump's entanglements with Moscow will be an important part of shoring up Americans' faith in their system.
- But so will finding new ways to disassemble the alternate-reality information systems that inspire events like the Capitol siege.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.