U.S. intelligence on November 1 accused "Russian influence actors" of making a video purportedly showing a Haitian immigrant claiming to have voted multiple times in the U.S. state of Georgia.
Three intelligence agencies -- the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) -- issued a joint statement about the video.
The video shows someone claiming to be a Haitian immigrant talking about how he’s intending to vote multiple times in two Georgia counties for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Georgia is one of seven battleground states in the November 5 presidential election between Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on October 31 that the video is “obviously fake” and was likely produced by "Russian troll farms…attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election."
He said his office became aware of the video purporting to show a Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs claiming to have voted multiple times on October 31.
"This is false and is an example of targeted disinformation we've seen this election. It is likely foreign interference attempting to sow discord and chaos on the eve of the election," he said in a statement.
Intelligence officials echoed that in their joint statement, saying the video was manufactured by “Russian influence actors” and was part of “Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans.”
Russian influence actors also manufactured a video falsely accusing an individual associated with the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a U.S. entertainer, the statement said.
The statement said its conclusion was based on information available to the intelligence community "and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities."
The U.S. intelligence community for months has assessed that Russia's influence operations are aimed at fanning divisive narratives and promoting support for Trump, an accusation that Russia has denied.
The ODNI, FBI, and CISA last week assesses that Russian actors manufactured and amplified a video that falsely depicted an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania. It said local election officials had already debunked the video’s content.
"This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates," the three agencies said in a joint statement on October 25.
"In the lead up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the [intelligence community] expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.”