Senator Mark Warner and Representative Jim Himes said US intelligence officials had briefed them on an alleged Russian disinformation campaign targeting Democratic Party candidates ahead of the US congressional midterm elections. The lawmakers spoke on October 21 following a classified intelligence briefing.
According to Reuters, the lawmakers said the activity described to them resembled information operations that US intelligence agencies had linked to Russia during previous election campaigns.
Warner and Himes said the alleged activities involved spreading false and misleading material, including content created with artificial intelligence tools.
Among the politicians reportedly targeted by such disinformation were Senate candidate James Talarico and incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff.
The contents of the classified briefing and the underlying intelligence were not made public. As a result, the origin of individual messages and the extent of coordination behind the alleged campaign cannot yet be independently established.
Warner and Himes expressed concern about the potential impact of foreign information operations on public confidence in US elections.
Himes stressed, however, that the lawmakers had no credible evidence of foreign governments successfully penetrating US election systems in a way that could change voting results.
According to participants in the briefing, US intelligence officials also discussed potential influence operations by China.
The statements therefore concern alleged efforts to influence voters through information campaigns. They should not be conflated with technical interference in vote counting, for which the lawmakers presented no evidence.
The information made public so far establishes that US lawmakers described the intelligence agencies' assessments, but does not permit independent verification of every operation attributed to Russia.