Russia, Iran Meddled in November's Election; China Did Not: U.S. Intelligence

sought to push Trump’s candidacy. 

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin clearly concluded he had gotten his money’s worth from his 2016 influence activities,” Pillar said. “Aspects of Trump administration policy toward Russia, such as some sanctions, that could be described as hardline, do not negate that fact and are still outweighed by how, in the Russian view, the many ways in which Trump divided and weakened America made his presidency a net gain for Russia.” 

According to the declassified report, Russia’s efforts in the 2020 U.S. election were somewhat different than in 2016, when Russian cyber actors sought to gain access to U.S. election infrastructure. 

Instead, Putin authorized “influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party,” while offering support for Trump, the report said. 

“A key element of Moscow’s strategy this election cycle was its use of proxies linked to Russian intelligence to push influence narratives — including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden,” it added. 

That effort, according to intelligence officials, included making use of “some close to former President Trump and his administration,” though the report itself did not divulge any names. 

Iranian Efforts  
As for Iran, the ODNI report said Tehran “carried out a multi-pronged covert influence campaign intended to undercut former President Trump’s reelection prospects — though without directly promoting his rival.” 

Both Russia and Iran also used their influence operations in an attempt to sow existing divisions in U.S. society and to undermine confidence in the democratic process. 

In addition, the report warned a range of other foreign actors, including Lebanese Hezbollah, Cuba and Venezuela took steps to influence the outcome of the presidential election.  

“Foreign malign influence is an enduring challenge facing our country,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said in a statement Tuesday.   

“Addressing this ongoing challenge requires a whole-of-government approach grounded in an accurate understanding of the problem, which the Intelligence Community, through assessments such as this one, endeavors to provide,” she added. 

A separate report Tuesday, from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, reaffirmed earlier findings that foreign adversaries failed to impact the tallying of ballots. 

“We … have no evidence that any foreign government-affiliated actor prevented voting, changed votes, or disrupted the ability to tally votes or to transmit election results in a timely manner; altered any technical aspect of the voting process; or otherwise compromised the integrity of voter registration information of any ballots cast during 2020 federal elections,” the report said. 

The second report also rejected claims made after the November 2020 U.S. election that foreign governments, including Venezuela, Cuba and China, were in any way in control of critical election infrastructure to manipulate the election’s outcome. 

Such claims “are not credible,” the Justice Department and DHS concluded. 

Some key lawmakers, though, reacted to the reports by warning it is more critical than ever for the U.S. to maintain its guard. 

“The problem of foreign actors trying to influence the American electorate is not going away,” Democratic Senator John Warner, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “Given the current partisan divides in this country, [it] may find fertile ground in which to grow.” 

Jeff Seldin is VOA national security reporter. VOA’s Masood Farivar contributed to this report. This article  is published courtesy of the Voice of America (VOA).