CNBC's Ylan Mui reports on new information from U.S. intelligence on foreign election interference from Russia, China and Iran. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: [ Ссылка ]
Russia is trying to “undermine” presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s candidacy, while China and Iran are against President Donald Trump’s reelection, a leading U.S. intelligence official said Friday.
The analysis of the three U.S. adversaries’ alleged interference efforts came in a statement from William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, who said he released the information to help Americans “play a critical role in safeguarding our election.”
While many foreign actors have views on who should hold the White House, “We are primarily concerned about the ongoing and potential activity by China, Russia, and Iran,” Evanina said.
He warned that “foreign states will continue to use covert and overt influence measures in their attempts to sway U.S. voters’ preferences and perspectives, shift U.S. policies, increase discord in the United States, and undermine the American people’s confidence in our democratic process” ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
“We are all in this together as Americans,” Evanina said in the statement. “Our election should be our own. Foreign efforts to influence or interfere with our elections are a direct threat to the fabric of our democracy.”
At a press conference Friday evening, Trump himself pushed back on the findings of his own intelligence agencies.
“It could be,” Trump began when a reporter asked if he believed the assessment that Russia was attempting to meddle in the election against Biden.
But he quickly added: “I think that the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump.”
When the reporter noted that the statement from U.S. intelligence in fact says the opposite, Trump shot back, “Well, I don’t care what anybody says.”
“Nobody with any common sense would say” that Russia wanted him to win, Trump said.
Asked what he planned to do about the alleged interference, Trump said, “Well, we’re going to look at it very closely.”
The alleged preferences of Russia, China and Iran reflect how Trump and Biden have talked about them on the campaign trail.
Trump in nearly every recent speaking appearance has criticized Beijing for its handling of the coronavirus, which first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The virus has since grown to a pandemic that has taken an immense toll on the United States: More than 4.88 million cases and at least 160,111 deaths from Covid-19 have been reported in the U.S., according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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