Two senior members of Congress say a classified intelligence briefing confirmed what researchers have been tracking online for weeks: Russia is running a misinformation campaign aimed squarely at Democratic candidates ahead of next month's midterm elections. Senator Mark Warner and Representative Jim Himes, both of whom sit on their chambers' intelligence committees, said the briefing showed no evidence that any foreign adversary could penetrate U.S. election systems or alter results, but described a robust and ongoing effort to distort public perception of the vote.
Warner and Himes requested the briefing from Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton on October 2, seeking more transparency about foreign threats to the midterms, according to Just Security. The two lawmakers told Reuters, as reported by The News Tribune, that they could not detail the specific misinformation material because it remains classified. Himes summed up Moscow's approach bluntly, calling it the same old, same old, and said Russian operatives are throwing everything out there, including efforts to stoke chaos and distrust of voting machines.
Himes was careful to separate that influence activity from any attempt to actually interfere with how votes are cast or counted. He said there was no evidence any country could penetrate U.S. election systems and change results, and that the available information did not suggest capability or intent to interfere with election systems even as a robust influence environment persisted. Warner and Himes also said they were concerned that President Donald Trump could try to contest election results by claiming foreign hacking of voting infrastructure, even though no such evidence exists.
Doppelgänger Casts Democrats as Abandoning Israel
The congressional briefing echoes findings from outside researchers who have tracked a surge in Russian-linked activity this fall. According to The New York Times, a Russian government-backed operation known as Doppelgänger has been stepping up its attempts to sow division in the United States, working to damage Democrats by portraying them as having retreated from support for Israel. The Times reports that Doppelgänger is run by Russia's Social Design Agency, which has been sanctioned by both the United States and the European Union.
The same reporting found that U.S. intelligence assessments did not find evidence of any attempts to take aim at voting machinery itself, reinforcing the distinction lawmakers drew between influence operations and attacks on the voting process. Social media posts tied to the campaign promoted claims that bipartisan support for Israel was collapsing, part of a broader effort to fracture Democratic coalitions ahead of November.
Fake Ads Hit Senate Candidates in Texas and Georgia
Separately, a Russian-linked network dubbed Matryoshka has been flooding social platforms with fabricated videos and doctored news content aimed at Democratic candidates nationwide. A Bloomberg review cited by the Sydney Morning Herald found the network published 130 videos and doctored newspaper front pages targeting the midterms between September 10 and October 9, hitting 29 of the 36 Democratic candidates running for governor and 20 of the 35 vying for Senate seats.```
Two of those targets, identified in news reports cited by Warner, are James Talarico, who is running for U.S. Senate in Texas, and Jon Ossoff, who is seeking re-election to his Georgia Senate seat. News reports cited by lawmakers say fake AI-generated advertisements targeted both men. Separately, Bloomberg's review found a fabricated video falsely alleging Talarico paid OnlyFans models, and another falsely claiming Ossoff owned eight undeclared properties — the outlet noted there is no evidence the IRS discovered any undeclared Ossoff properties. The same report found that tactics have shifted from exploiting divisions across the political spectrum to focusing solely on attacking Democrats, and that Matryoshka posts used automated accounts to make fabricated stories appear popular, with view counts jumping as high as 200,000 within the first hour before quickly plateauing — a pattern researchers flagged as evidence of manipulation.
No Evidence of Tampering With Vote Counts
Officials have repeatedly emphasized that none of this activity amounts to evidence that votes themselves have been altered. Himes told Reuters there was no reason to believe China had not conducted extremely targeted efforts to influence voters as it had in the past. The Chinese embassy responded on Wednesday, calling Himes’s comment a false allegation and serious smear. The Russian embassy, the White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Moscow has in the past denied meddling in U.S. elections, and Beijing has previously denied interfering as well.
That no-evidence finding tracks with the broader historical record. Per The Record, U.S. intelligence officials found no evidence that any foreign adversary successfully interfered in the 2024 presidential election, even though Russia, Iran and China each ran influence campaigns that year. A 2019 bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee review likewise found no evidence that any votes were changed or that any voting machines were manipulated during the 2016 election, according to Just Security's summary of that report.
AI Lowers the Cost of Disinformation
Behind the current wave of fabricated content is a technological shift that researchers say is reshaping the threat landscape. Just Security notes that advances in artificial intelligence are lowering the technical and financial barriers to sophisticated foreign influence operations, while the Brennan Center for Justice has described AI as now a standard feature of both influence operations and cyber operations, increasing their speed and scale. The Council on Foreign Relations has similarly observed that China, Iran and Russia are all still pursuing influence operations that could be made more effective and easier to conduct with the help of artificial intelligence.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence shared a report with Congress in recent weeks warning that foreign adversaries were using artificial intelligence to spread disinformation online, and that report identified Russia as the most active foreign adversary in using digital tools to undermine confidence in election integrity, according to the Sydney Morning Herald's reporting. Even so, Just Security cautions that the foreign activity reported so far involves online influence operations, including fabricated videos, primarily by Russian actors, and that nothing in the public record suggests a foreign government is poised to carry out an election-altering operation this coming November.
A Tense Backdrop in Washington
The briefing lands amid a politically charged backdrop. Reuters/Ipsos polling showed Democrats leading Republicans nationally on the generic congressional ballot by high single digits to low double digits, a lead that has bolstered Democratic hopes of regaining control of the House and possibly the Senate, according to the News Tribune's report. Trump, meanwhile, has eased economic sanctions on Russia in recent weeks even as he has increased pressure on Ukraine to end its fight against Russian forces.
State and local election officials, for their part, say they are navigating an increasingly contentious relationship with the federal government even as they brace for a range of threats. Politico reports that officials have prepared for everything from bomb threats at polling places to large-scale disinformation campaigns and state-backed hacking efforts as the midterms approach. Warner spoke about the growing role of artificial intelligence in these campaigns during an appearance on Capitol Hill, underscoring that lawmakers across both chambers are watching the issue closely as November nears.
