DOJ outlines Russia’s disinformation campaigns designed to interfere with U.S. election

Attorney General Merrick Garland outlined sophisticated disinformation campaigns undertaken by Russia to interfere with the U.S. presidential election. He warned that Russia is pumping lies into the U.S. via fake news outlets and real social media influencers. Amna Nawaz discussed more with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
Amna Nawaz:
Now to the day’s other top story, foreign efforts to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.
Geoff Bennett:
In the press conference this afternoon, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland outlined what he called sophisticated disinformation campaigns undertaken by Russia and other adversaries, promoting lies via fake news outlets and real social media influencers.
And Garland issued this warning:
Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General:
The Justice Department’s message is clear. We have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic system of government. We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia and Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor, to interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy.
Amna Nawaz:
Joining us now from the White House is National Security Council spokesman retired Rear Admiral John Kirby.
Admiral Kirby, welcome back. Thanks for joining us.
John Kirby, NSC Coordinator For Strategic Communications:
Thank you so much for having me.
Amna Nawaz:
So, these efforts, I think it’s safe to say, are a long way from Russian intelligence packing and dumping e-mails like they did with the DNC back in 2016.
Just before we dig into some of the specifics today, big picture and briefly, what does all of this say to you about how Russian election interference has evolved over the years?
John Kirby:
Well, they have gotten more sophisticated. They have gotten more organized. And, quite frankly, they have gotten more funding, support right at the top of the Kremlin.
We believe Mr. Putin is witting of this scheme — or these schemes, I should say. There’s more than one. But they have gotten a lot more clever. And, unfortunately for them, we have gotten pretty clever too. We have gotten pretty smart as well. And we were able to detect and monitor these threats and, as you saw today, take action to hold them accountable.
Amna Nawaz:
So, one of these schemes, as you put it — let’s kind of break it down here. The Department of Justice has charged two employees of a Russian state-controlled media outlet, R.T., saying that they poured $10 million into an effort to distribute content with hidden Russian government messaging.
What kind of messaging are we talking about and where might people have seen that?
John Kirby:
Well, a great example of the messaging, for instance, was blaming Ukraine and the United States for the terrorist attack that happened in Moscow several months ago that we all know it was conducted by ISIS.
Even ISIS acknowledged that they conducted that attack on that concert hall. So that was one example.
Another example was continuing to put out information to undermine Ukraine’s fight for its own democracy and for its sovereignty. So, it’s messaging and disinformation. It’s propaganda that tries to undermine public support for what Ukraine is trying to do to defend itself and a range of other things that Russia wants to do to sort of portray the United States as some sort of evil actor in the world.
So there’s a series of initiatives that they’re undertaking, again, to undermine faith and confidence in democracy writ large, certainly undermine faith and confidence in America’s democracy.
Amna Nawaz:
One of the other schemes laid out was related to the Department of Justice seizing 32 Internet domains that they say were used to spread Russian propaganda with the aim…
John Kirby:
Yes.
Amna Nawaz:
… of influencing voters in the U.S. and foreign elections, including the U.S. 2024 presidential election.
I just want to show for viewers here the Web sites were designed to look like U.S. information and news sites, like these that you’re seeing right now that look exactly like Washington Post articles, but they are not.
John Kirby:
Right.
Amna Nawaz:
Admiral Kirby, can these kinds of sites be taken down faster than they can keep going up? Is it safe to assume this information is still out there?
John Kirby:
Well, we’re certainly going to keep having conversations with tech companies about making sure they’re aware of these threats and these actors out there.
We have to rely on them to take the decisions that they deem are appropriate to their own policies and procedures. But we’re certainly going to keep having that conversation with tech companies.
But I think what you’re seeing here — and I’m glad you mentioned the Social Design Agency and what they have been doing as well — is, on one hand you have got them using R.T., a former propaganda outlet, now just a full-on covert influence organization, to work through funding companies, even a company here in the United States to get them to push information out in the vein of a legitimate media outlet.
And thy also working at a tactical level with social media influencers. Many of them, as the attorney general laid out, are simply made up. They’re a fictional persona. But they’re going at it from a media outlet perspective, and they’re going at it from an individual social media user perspective.
Amna Nawaz:
Well, when it comes to influencing, especially the 2024 presidential election, Attorney General Garland said that they’re seeking a preferred outcome here. What is that preferred outcome? What do you see this Russian propaganda working towards?
John Kirby:
They are working towards undermining U.S. policies, the kinds of U.S. policies that this administration has been laboring so hard to pursue around the world, shoring up alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, supporting Ukraine, obviously, making sure that…
Amna Nawaz:
But does that — is that to say that they’re working to undermine the Democratic candidate, in this case Kamala Harris?
John Kirby:
I don’t have specific evidence that I can speak to about undermining a particular candidate, but we have seen in the past where Mr. Putin certainly has shown a proclivity for one particular candidate.
But, again, I don’t want to get ahead of where we are right now. Where we are right now is, we know that they are using these tools, these vehicles, this funding to sow discord and try to increase this unity here in the United States.
Amna Nawaz:
Wouldn’t it help people, though, to spot some of this disinformation if they knew if it tends to lean one way or the other?
John Kirby:
Well, look, that’s one of the things that we did today, why the attorney general went public. That’s why we here at the White House laid it out, the State Department, the Treasury.
I mean, part of the aim of educating the American people is to disclose what we’re seeing out there and the kinds of content that they’re putting out there. And as I said in my opening statement today in the Briefing Room, it can’t just be the government doing this.
We need the help of American citizens to bear a hand here and to carefully and scrupulously take a look at what you’re digesting, the news, information that you’re getting online or elsewhere to try to make sure that you’re getting the absolute best, credible, most accurate information that you can.
Amna Nawaz:
It is also worth pointing out people start voting in this election very soon, within days. And the last day of voting, Election Day, is just over 60 days away.
A lot of this content has already been out there for a while, has had millions of views. Are these steps and actions coming too late to have an impact?
John Kirby:
Well, we certainly hope not.
I mean, I would just tell you that the timing today was driven by the scope of the investigation that the attorney general talked about. And he made it clear it’s an ongoing investigation. So there may be additional actions here coming. I don’t know.
But it was driven really by the status of the investigation. That was what was really on our minds. And as soon as we could package all that information up and get it out into the public domain, we wanted to do that.
Amna Nawaz:
That’s the National Security Council spokesman, Admiral John Kirby, joining us from the White House tonight.
Sir, thank you. Good to see you.
John Kirby:
Thank you.