US intelligence director says Iran was behind threatening emails to FL Democratic voters demanding they vote for Trump; voter info was likely publicly available
prompting investigations in both states. Cybersecurity experts say the origin is unclear and may be the product of a foreign disinformation effort. https://www.npr.org/... Jason Koebler / @jason_koebler : SCOOP: Included in the threatening ‘Proud Boys’ emails sent to voters was a video suggesting a larger, more organized disinfo campaign. Method showed in video won't work, designed to sow fear and distrust of the system https://www.vice.com/... Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / @lorenzofb : SCOOP: Some emails allegedly from “Proud Boys” far-right group also included a video of hackers using voter registration data to print absentee ballots. The video is highly suspicious a voting security expert called it “just bullshit fear mongering.” https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/... Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : New: some of those threatening voter emails also included an elaborate video. Shows an alleged hacker breaking into a database of voter information, and using it to fill out a ballot. But it is highly suspicious, and voter fraud scheme unlikely to work https://www.vice.com/... Yashar Ali / @yashar : I think it's important to always be skeptical and want to learn more but also don't treat Iran as some fair actor in all of this...you'll be doing their bidding Iran LOVES to do stuff like this and while this isn't sophisticated, Iranian intelligence is among the best at cyber. https://twitter.com/... Yashar Ali / @yashar : U.S. government concludes Iran was behind threatening emails sent to Democrats The deceptive campaign made use of a Internet domain associated with the far-right Proud Boys https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Joe Lockhart / @joelockhart : Iran endorses Trump. Russia endorses Trump. Saudi Arabia endorses Trump. Hillary Clinton has no chance of winning. https://twitter.com/... Rep. Dean Phillips / @repdeanphillips : Interfering in an American election is an act of aggression and must result in consequences if we hope to protect the integrity of our electoral system. The Trump Administration is responsible for defending us against threats both foreign and domestic, and I hope it will. https://twitter.com/... Hayes Brown / @hayesbrown : Okay so they say both Russia and Iran have obtained Democratic voter lists. And both plan on using this information to influence the election. But it's definitely Iran behind the Proud Boys email. Okay. https://www.nbcnews.com/... Greg Mitchell / @gregmitch : Ratcliffe of course IDs Iran as interfering in election for Biden, and refuses to label Russia for Trump. He's a total tool so take this accordingly. Evan Hill / @evanchill : Fifteen million hacked Florida voter records have been posted on a Russian forum, and voters in the state are now receiving (apparently faked) threatening messages from “Proud Boys” sent through an Estonian IP: https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/...
NBC NewsKevin Collier
Context & Ripple Effects
The initial attribution was contested: cybersecurity experts flagged the origin as unclear and called the video embedded in the 'Proud Boys' emails — showing hackers printing absentee ballots — highly suspicious, noting the depicted method would not work and appeared built to sow fear and distrust of the system rather than enable actual fraud.
State election officials opened investigations into the threatening emails, while Florida Democratic voters who received them became direct targets of an intimidation operation using their own registration details.
The intelligence director's Iran attribution forced the 'Proud Boys' framing off the table, recasting the incident from domestic political harassment into foreign electoral interference.
Second-order effects
Once CISA and the FBI showed the voter data came from unsecured state election websites, the pressure shifted onto states to harden publicly accessible voter-registration portals — the weak link the APT exploited.
Experts' debunking of the fake ballot-printing video pushed fact-checkers and platforms to treat embedded media in political email campaigns as suspect content requiring verification, not evidence.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, Iranian election interference matures from crude spoofed-email intimidation in 2020 toward sustained intrusion operations against campaign infrastructure by 2024, with joint FBI-ODNI-CISA attributions becoming the standard US response.
Repeated demonstrations that harvested public voter data can be weaponized for intimidation raise structural questions about how much voter-registration information states expose online.
The trend: Foreign election interference is evolving from one-off disinformation stunts toward persistent intrusion campaigns against election and campaign infrastructure, with US agencies racing to attribute each operation publicly.
Ratcliffe's assertion that Iran wanted to hurt Trump by sending anti-Biden emails makes no sense but neither does idea that Iran would send any anti-Biden emails when they hate Trump. How sure are officials Ratcliffe is not 100% lying and that the emails came from Iran at all? ht…
New: we've published a redacted version of the interference video that allegedly Iran sent to U.S. voters while posing as the Proud Boys. Idea is to show what a foreign interference operation looks like. Spoke to multiple people whose data was included https://www.vice.com/...
Two officials told me Ratcliffe made an analytical leap saying Proud Boys email spoofing was intended to harm Trump and said it was aimed at undermining public confidence. A third official said the claim was backed by specific intelligence. https://www.wsj.com/...
I've concluded this hastily arranged press conference was a desperate attempt by @DNI_Ratcliffe to change the subject. Iran's emails tell Dems to vote FOR Trump. Also, you know who can get voter registration information? You can. Basically anyone; all you need is to pay a fee. ht…
Ratcliffe then says Iran has been inciting social unrest and trying to damage Trump, despite WaPo reporting that Iran was targeting *Democrats* and threatening them if they didn't vote for Trump. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Ratcliffe could have said: -Iran is trying to undermine confidence in the election. -Iran has also been trying to hack the Trump campaign for more than a year. Instead Ratcliffe said: Iran's Proud Boys disinfo campaign was designed to harm Trump. https://twitter.com/...
NEW: Someone calling themselves “Proud Boys” is sending threatening emails to Florida voters who are registered as Democrats. We obtained one of the emails and talk to one of the people who got them. Scoop by @misstessowen and me. https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Voters in Alaska and Florida have reported receiving emails threatening them to “vote for Trump or else!” — prompting investigations in both states. Cybersecurity experts say the origin is unclear and may be the product of a foreign disinformation effort. https://www.npr.org/...
SCOOP: Included in the threatening ‘Proud Boys’ emails sent to voters was a video suggesting a larger, more organized disinfo campaign. Method showed in video won't work, designed to sow fear and distrust of the system https://www.vice.com/...
SCOOP: Some emails allegedly from “Proud Boys” far-right group also included a video of hackers using voter registration data to print absentee ballots. The video is highly suspicious a voting security expert called it “just bullshit fear mongering.” https://www.vice.com/... http…
New: some of those threatening voter emails also included an elaborate video. Shows an alleged hacker breaking into a database of voter information, and using it to fill out a ballot. But it is highly suspicious, and voter fraud scheme unlikely to work https://www.vice.com/...
I think it's important to always be skeptical and want to learn more but also don't treat Iran as some fair actor in all of this...you'll be doing their bidding Iran LOVES to do stuff like this and while this isn't sophisticated, Iranian intelligence is among the best at cyber. h…
U.S. government concludes Iran was behind threatening emails sent to Democrats The deceptive campaign made use of a Internet domain associated with the far-right Proud Boys https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Interfering in an American election is an act of aggression and must result in consequences if we hope to protect the integrity of our electoral system. The Trump Administration is responsible for defending us against threats both foreign and domestic, and I hope it will. https:/…
Okay so they say both Russia and Iran have obtained Democratic voter lists. And both plan on using this information to influence the election. But it's definitely Iran behind the Proud Boys email. Okay. https://www.nbcnews.com/...
Fifteen million hacked Florida voter records have been posted on a Russian forum, and voters in the state are now receiving (apparently faked) threatening messages from “Proud Boys” sent through an Estonian IP: https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/...