Suspicions arise that Russian operatives could be responsible for the fabricated video depicting Pennsylvania ballots being damaged, according to confidential sources.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and intelligence community are analyzing the video and consider it a component of a persistent Russian attempt to manipulate influence during the last stages of the American presidential election campaign, sources disclosed.
The Board of Elections in Bucks County, situated north of Philadelphia, refuted the video on Thursday. According to their statement, "The envelope and accompanying documents depicted in this video are evidently not genuine materials handled or disseminated by the Bucks County Board of Elections."
Bucks County carries significant weight in determining the winner between former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania.
The video emerged on X in the afternoon on Thursday and was shared by certain users as supposed proof of electoral fraud.
However, the video was concocted by Russian misinformation operatives, as per Darren Linvill, an expert in Russian disinformation campaigns at Clemson University.
Linvill declared to CNN, "The video bears the hallmarks of many previous ones from the Russian disinformation campaign called Storm-1516. More crucially, it appeared for the first time from an account that has previously initiated Storm narratives and regularly disseminates campaign content."
This serves as the latest evidence of suspected foreign interference activities in the waning days of the US presidential campaign. Russia, Iran, and China are all reportedly endeavoring to undermine trust in US elections by intelligence officials. Russian actors have targeted Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign, Iranians have sought to undermine President Donald Trump, while China has largely focused on lower-level races.
The same Russian network, Storm-1516, was also responsible for a sham video shared on X this month that attempted to smear Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine, as per Linvill and Microsoft experts. US intelligence agencies also assigned the activity to Russia.
Patricia Poprik, the chair of the Bucks County Republican Party, disclosed to CNN that she had been inundated with texts and calls about the video.
Poprik mentioned, "We chose to issue a statement because so numerous people were contacting us beyond Pennsylvania."
Poprik conceded that a significant number of Republican voters already harbor doubts about the security of mail-in voting, and she sought to alleviate their concerns. "It's just causing fear among voters and it's not what we want," she stated, "I personally voted by mail. I consider it safe."
The Bucks County GOP's effort to debunk the video is noteworthy due to the fact that it occurs as other prominent conservative voices throughout the nation have continued to propagate misinformation.
The initial post of the video has since been deleted, but it has persistently been reposted across various social media platforms 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 is managing.
The accounts identified as the source of the video all disseminated it around the same time, approximately 3:00 p.m. ET on Thursday. Many of the accounts frequently promote QAnon-conspiracy theories alongside pro-Trump and anti-Harris content.
CNN's Tim Lister contributed reporting.
The ongoing analysis of the video by the Federal Bureau of Investigation highlights its role as a tool in Russia's persistent attempt to influence politics during the American presidential election campaign. Recognizing the video's inauthenticity, the Bucks County Board of Elections stressed that the materials depicted in it are not genuine.
