U.S. intel officials reveals Russia is behind attempts to smear Gov Tim Walz

U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russia was behind recent false claims against Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz that circulated widely on social media. Here are the key points:

Russian Disinformation Campaign

• U.S. intelligence assesses that Russian influence actors created and amplified content alleging inappropriate activity by Walz during his earlier career
   
• Last week, posts on X (formerly Twitter) accused Walz of wrongdoing when he was a high school teacher and football coach
   
• A video purporting to show a former student making allegations against Walz was shared by an account promoting QAnon conspiracy theories
   

Debunking the Claims

• The Washington Post interviewed the actual former student, who confirmed the alleged incident never occurred and that he was not the man in the video
   
• Other posts making unverified accusations were quickly debunked by users and fact-checkers, who noted inconsistencies in supposed evidence
   

Russian Tactics

• The intelligence official stated the video showed “several indicators of manipulation” consistent with Russian influence operations
   
• This aligns with a pattern of Russian actors trying to undermine the Democratic presidential ticket through fabricated allegations
   
• A tactic they employ involves staged direct-to-camera videos aimed at going viral
   

Broader Context

• This incident is part of Russia’s last-minute attempts to sway the 2024 election in favor of Donald Trump
   
• It follows a similar Russian-staged video earlier this year falsely claiming Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a hit-and-run accident
   

The Harris-Walz campaign strongly condemned these foreign efforts to interfere in U.S. elections

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