IRAN, RUSSIA TO INTERFERE IN US ELECTION?

A top US intelligence official warned that Iran and Russia are attempting to interfere with the presidential election, with Iran already spreading false information to American voters.

“We have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran, and separately by Russia,” Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said at a hastily called news conference Wednesday evening in Washington. “This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to convey misinformation.”

The voter information obtained was publicly available, and no hacking was involved, according to a U.S. official who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive matter. Iran has been sending threatening emails to Democratic voters that purport to be from the right-wing Proud Boys group, according to the official.

Ratcliffe, who was joined by FBI Director Christopher Wray, said Iran intended to harm President Donald Trump’s re-election effort. Iran views Trump as an arch-enemy since he quit the multinational nuclear accord with the Islamic Republic, expanded economic sanctions, and ordered the killing of one of its top generals.

Local media in Florida first reported on Tuesday that Democratic voters were receiving hate mail threatening violence in messages that claimed to be from the Proud Boys. The emails read, “Vote for Trump or else!” in the subject line.

Although voter registration material is available publicly, the emails falsely asserted that they had the voter's personal information because local election systems had been compromised by hackers. “You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply,” read one of the emails reviewed by the cyber research firm Proofpoint. “I would take this seriously if I were you.”

In September, Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. found social media accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency — the Kremlin-linked troll farm that used a coordinated operation on social media in an effort to help the Trump campaign in 2016 — that was attempting to build an audience on the American left ahead of the 2020 vote. Last month, Microsoft Corp. reported that Russia and Iran had attempted to hack into political targets ahead of the Nov. 3 election.