FBI: Foreign actors likely to sow disinformation about delays in election results
22 September 2020
The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a public service announcement on Tuesday warning that mail-in ballots "could leave officials with incomplete results on election night," and that foreign actors are likely to spread disinformation about the delays.
The bottom line: The agencies called on the public to "critically evaluate the sources of the information they consume and to seek out reliable and verified information from trusted sources," including state and local election officials.
The big picture: The agencies expect foreign malign actors to disseminate false reports of "voter suppression, cyberattacks targeting election infrastructure, voter or ballot fraud, and other problems intended to convince the public of the elections’ illegitimacy."
- In addition, the perpetrators "could create new websites, change existing websites, and create or share corresponding social media content to spread false information in an attempt to discredit the electoral process and undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions."
Between the lines: The alert echoes the warning of FBI Director Chris Wray, who last week told Congress he fears a "steady drumbeat of misinformation and sort of amplification of smaller cyber intrusions" could sow distrust in the results of the election.
- President Trump has been among the most high-profile figures to stoke fears of election-night fraud, warning in an interview with "Axios on HBO"Â that "lots of things can happen" with voting by mail if the presidential race isn't decided on election night.
- Election experts say there's a good chance that the presidential race won't be decided on election night because of the large volume of mail-in voting, but this does not mean that widespread fraud or an inaccurate count are anticipated.
Go deeper:The lines are blurring between foreign and domestic disinformation
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.