US intelligence is investigating Russian agents behind fake videos showing the destruction of Pennsylvania ballots

CNN
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The U.S. Secret Service believes Russian agents are behind a fake video purporting to show someone destroying mail-in ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which circulated on social media Thursday.

“The IC (Intelligence Community) believes that Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely shows a person tearing up ballots in Pennsylvania, based on information available to the IC and prior activity by other Russians 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 the video was part of ongoing Russian efforts to “raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans” in the final days of the 2024 campaign.

Earlier Friday, CNN reported that U.S. investigators suspected 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, immediately debunked the video on Thursday. “The envelope and materials depicted in this video are clearly not authentic materials owned by or distributed by the Bucks County Board of Elections,” the board said in a statement.

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

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

However, according to Darren Linvill, an expert on Russian disinformation campaigns at Clemson University, the video was created by Russian agents.

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

According to intelligence officials, it is the latest example of suspected foreign influence operations in the final days of the US presidential campaign, as Russia, Iran and China all seek to question the integrity of the US election. Russian activists have sought to denigrate Harris’ campaign, Iranians have sought to undermine Trump’s campaign, while China has largely focused on voting.

According to Linvill and experts at Microsoft, the same Russian network, Storm-1516, was behind a fake video shared on X this month that attempted to disparage Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. US intelligence agencies also attributed the activities to Russia.

Patricia Poprik, chairwoman of the Bucks County Republican Party, told CNN that she has been inundated with text messages and calls about the video.

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

Poprik acknowledged that many Republican voters were already skeptical about whether mail-in voting was safe, and she wanted to try to reassure them. “It just scares voters and it’s not what we want,” she said. “I voted personally by letter. I think it’s safe.”

The Bucks County GOP’s efforts to help debunk the video are notable because they come at a time when other prominent conservative voices across the country have further amplified the misinformation.

The original post of the video was deleted, but it was continually reposted on various social media sites on Thursday and Friday.

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

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

This headline and article have been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed reporting.