Warner and Himes Say Russia Is Targeting Democrats With Misinformation Before the Midterms

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees, told reporters on Wednesday that a classified election security briefing showed Russia running a misinformation campaign against Democrats running in next month's midterm elections. Both men said the classified material limited what details they could share.

What the briefing showed

Warner said Russia was going after Democrats in the same way US intelligence agencies tracked in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 elections. "The state of play, I would argue, is that, you know, Russia, similar to prior occasions, is going after Democrats," he said.

Warner pointed to news reports that James Talarico, a Democrat running for the US Senate in Texas, and Senator Jon Ossoff, who is seeking re-election in Georgia, are being hit in particular by fake advertisements created with AI. Himes said Moscow was throwing a wide mix at voters. "The Russians are kind of throwing everything out there," he said. "Chaos, you know, don't trust your voting machines." He called the conduct "the same old, same old."

Himes said there was no reason to believe China has not also carried out extremely targeted influence efforts, as in the past. Warner said China has been more selective, often focusing on local races or smaller issues, and Iran is probably looking more at disruption in Europe.

The lawmakers said they received one classified report on Tuesday, Oct 20, from the office of Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton. They also said intelligence leaders have not sent Congress some legally required pre-election reports on foreign meddling, including assessments due 120, 60 and 30 days before the election.

Preparing for Election Day

Both lawmakers said they assume President Donald Trump and his allies will allege fraud in the midterms, or claim foreign interference, to justify interfering with the election. They have told Clayton and other intelligence leaders that those leaders must be reachable by phone at once on and after Election Day if such a claim is made.

Himes gave a sample case. If the president announced at noon on Election Day that Iran had carried out an operation, Himes said he would go on television as a member of the Gang of Eight and say he had received no such briefing and had no reason to believe it was accurate. "Now, does that end the crisis? No, but that's the first step," he said.

Himes drew a line between influence campaigns and an attack on election systems. Influence work targets what voters read and believe. Interference, he said, means messing with voter rolls or voting machines, which is very difficult. He said lawmakers have never seen an operation to actually interfere that way and are not seeing the capability or the intent to do it now.

Responses

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told NPR that President Trump has done more than any other president to ensure free and fair elections and that his administration is prosecuting election crimes and strengthening election infrastructure security. Reuters reported that the White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and that the Russian embassy also did not immediately respond. Moscow has denied meddling in US elections in the past.

Warner and Himes sit on the Gang of Eight, the senior lawmakers who oversee the intelligence agencies. Their comments came as Trump has in recent weeks eased economic sanctions on Russia and increased pressure on Ukraine to end its war with Russia, Reuters reported.