All articles tagged with #election meddling
Moldova’s president warns of unprecedented Russian interference in elections amid broader regional tensions, with recent incidents including Ukraine arresting a Russian spy and escalating conflicts involving Israel and Iran.
A special prosecutor has been appointed to determine if Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones should face criminal charges for his involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state. This comes after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was barred from prosecuting Jones due to a conflict of interest. Jones was one of 16 state Republicans who signed a certificate declaring Trump as the winner in Georgia, and he sought a special session of Georgia’s Legislature to overturn Biden’s narrow win. The special prosecutor's appointment follows indictments of Trump and others for illegal attempts to overturn the election, with Jones denying any wrongdoing and welcoming the news of the special prosecutor's appointment.
Groups aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, such as the Senate Majority PAC and Majority Forward, have been involved in meddling in several Republican primaries by using other groups to conceal their involvement until after the primaries. They have targeted swing states by boosting candidates supported by former President Trump, likely viewing them as more prone to lose to their Democrat Senate candidate in the general election. This controversial approach has drawn scorn from Republicans, while Democrats have defended the tactic as a strategy that has brought them multiple victories.
New Hampshire Attorney General and the FCC have traced AI robocalls impersonating President Joe Biden back to a Texas company and its owner, Walter Monk. The calls, which reached roughly 20,000 people ahead of the New Hampshire presidential primary, encouraged Democrats not to vote. Authorities have issued a cease and desist order against the Texas company, and telecommunications company Lingo Telecom, which provided the voice service for the calls, has been instructed to stop behavior violating voter suppression laws. Concerns about deep-fake election meddling have been raised, and investigations are ongoing to identify other individuals or companies responsible.
The FCC issued a cease-and-desist order to a Texas telecom company, Lingo Telecom, for carrying out fake Joe Biden robocalls using AI technology. The New Hampshire attorney general also named Life Corporation as the source of the robocalls and accused them of violating voter suppression laws. Both companies have been asked to cease their activities, and the FCC is warning other telecom providers to be cautious of suspicious phone traffic from Lingo. This incident highlights growing concerns about the use of AI to spread misinformation and meddle in elections.
The White House accuses Beijing of attempting to influence Taiwan's presidential election through disinformation and economic pressure, with a focus on shaping the information environment and coercing the island. The administration warns China against intimidation tactics and expresses confidence that these efforts won't affect the election results, while also highlighting the potential for military pressure or coercion from Beijing after the election.
Lawyers on both sides of Donald Trump's trial for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election have expressed interest in drawing attention to Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Trump's defense argues that his skepticism about foreign influence in the 2020 race was justified based on the intelligence community's assessment of Russian interference in 2016. Prosecutors, on the other hand, want to present evidence of Trump's history of spreading misinformation about voter fraud and refusing to accept election outcomes. The admissibility of evidence related to the 2016 race will be determined by the judge.
A lawyer representing a fired county election employee charged with participating in Donald Trump's election meddling efforts in Georgia admitted to leaking videos that showed lawyers Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis turning on Trump. The admission came during an emergency court hearing requested by Atlanta prosecutors, who are seeking to stop leaks to journalists before trial. The leaked videos, which caused a news firestorm, led to a renewed request to seal off access to documents shared between law enforcement and defendants. The lawyer defended his actions, stating that the videos provided missing context and countered the vilification of his client in the press. The judge expressed concerns about pretrial discovery and the dissemination of evidence but did not indicate any punishment for the lawyer's actions. A ruling is expected soon.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in a plane crash, representing the criminal trajectory of the Russian state. From a street vendor to running the Wagner Group, a government-funded private military apparatus, Prigozhin's portfolio included elite catering and election meddling in the U.S.
Donald Trump and 18 allies, including Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and Jeffrey Clark, have been indicted in Georgia for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Prosecutors have accused them of engaging in a "criminal enterprise" to keep Trump in power, using a statute typically associated with mobsters. The indictment outlines numerous acts, such as pressuring officials to find enough votes for Trump, harassing election workers, and attempting to persuade lawmakers to ignore the will of voters. The indictment also includes a plot to steal data from a voting machine company. This comes just two weeks after Trump was charged in a conspiracy to overturn the election by the Justice Department special counsel.
Turkey's upcoming presidential election has been marred by allegations of election meddling through the use of deepfakes and other AI-generated material, with the main opposition candidate accusing Russia of backing President Erdogan to drive a wedge between Turkey and NATO. The race has already seen one candidate drop out after claiming he was the victim of a faked "character assassination" online. Experts have raised concerns about the potential for bad actors to utilize AI technology to interfere in upcoming elections, including the creation of misleading deepfake images and videos.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the main opposition leader in Turkey's presidential elections, has claimed that his party has concrete evidence of Russia's responsibility for the release of "deep fake" online content ahead of Sunday's presidential elections. Kilicdaroglu, who is leading President Erdogan in most opinion polls, has also stressed that Turkey has close economic links with Russia and signalled that he would pursue a fine balance in foreign policy over relations with Moscow. He also said he would push for another peace initiative between Russia and Ukraine once he wins the Sunday vote.
Turkey's main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has accused Russia of creating deepfake videos targeting former presidential candidate Muharrem Ince, who withdrew from the race following the circulation of a fabricated sex tape. Kilicdaroglu pointed fingers at Russia for meddling in the election, while Ince accused his former party of smearing him. Kilicdaroglu did not provide evidence to support his accusations, but a CHP member previously described unconfirmed reports of Russian meddling. Erdogan's personal ties with Putin have come under scrutiny due to an opaque mutual deal between Ankara and Moscow.
President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet for two days of discussions on a range of topics, but both men face Chinese-manufactured crises at home that they may be keen to escape. Trudeau faces allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections, while Biden faces accusations that his family received payments through a Chinese energy company. China denies all allegations of interference. Trudeau's close adviser, Telford, will speak on the week of April 10 on what she and the prime minister knew about Chinese interference and what they did to stop it.
A grand jury in Atlanta investigating ex-President Donald Trump's alleged meddling in the 2020 election heard a taped telephone call he made to Georgia's Republican House leader seeking to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the state, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The existence of the recording, or that it was played for the 23-member special grand jury during its eight-month investigation, has not been previously reported. The grand jury also examined a previously disclosed call Trump made to then-Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger falsely claiming that the November election results were fraudulent.