![]() While some voters may have found the emails intimidating, Littlewood said the effort was primarily a disinformation campaign designed to sow chaos and confusion ahead of the Nov. “My understanding from looking at these emails is that they were intimidation focused on encouraging people to reregister as Republicans and to vote for President Trump,” Littlewood said in an interview with VOA. Jesse Littlewood, vice president of Common Cause, a government watchdog, took issue with Ratcliffe’s assertion that the allegedly Iranian-backed email campaign was aimed at hurting Trump. ![]() Trump later walked back his comments, saying he denounced all forms of white supremacy. The extremist outfit was thrust into the national spotlight when Trump, during the first presidential debate last month, exhorted them to “stand back and stand by,” after being challenged by Democratic challenger Joe Biden to disavow them. The Proud Boys describe themselves as a drinking club of “western chauvinists.” But extremism watchdogs say that is a guise for what is at its core a misogynistic, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant group. Ratcliffe said that the campaign was designed in part to hurt President Donald Trump, apparently by insinuating a tie between Trump and the Proud Boys. The motive behind the campaign remains unclear. In Alaska, several Democratic voters reported receiving the email, while in Arizona and Pennsylvania only one voter each reported being targeted. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights said it had received more than 100 complaints about the message. accusations as “baseless.”ĭemocratic voters in Florida appear to have been the main target of the spoofing attack, though their exact number remains unclear. Iran’s foreign ministry rejected the U.S. Iran has used “spoofed” emails to intimidate voters, Ratcliffe said. ![]() Iran and Russia have obtained American voter registration data, the officials said. voters using publicly available voter records, FBI Director Christopher Wray and John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, disclosed late Wednesday. The effort was a cyber campaign by Iran to intimidate U.S. “These are things that we've seen, unfortunately pretty often by bad actors seeking to influence elections through these means.”īut as others in Florida and at least three other states – Alaska, Arizona and Pennsylvania – reported receiving similar messages Tuesday, it became apparent this was part of a larger effort. “It was one of those things that we said, ‘Well, you know, it's odd,’” Ragan recalled in an interview. I would take this seriously if I were you … good luck."Īnother person on the staff of Ragan’s boss, Florida State House candidate Kayser Enneking, received the same email, Ragan said, as did at least a dozen friends and acquaintances in Florida.Īt first, Ragan said, he and others didn’t make much of it. We will know which candidate you voted for. “Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. “You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you,” the email read. Under the subject line “Vote for Trump or else!” the email sender claimed to know Ragan was a registered Democrat and pressed him to switch party affiliation and vote for Trump. On the social media platform Parler, Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader, denied his group was behind the threatening operation. The email came from - a domain previously owned by the Proud Boys, a far-right group that backs President Donald Trump’s reelection but has denied any involved with the controversial message. Ragan, the campaign manager for a candidate for the Florida state legislature from the Gainesville area, shared a copy of the email with VOA. Several University of Florida students reported receiving them beginning in the morning, according to local media reports.īennett Ragan, a recent University of Florida graduate, said in an interview with VOA that the email hit his spam box twice, the first at 3 p.m. What the FBI and national intelligence officials described as fake “Proud Boys” emails targeting voters in Florida and several other states came in waves on Tuesday.
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