As a sophisticated Artificial Intelligence-driven fake video reaching the highest level of the Democratic Party's presidential ticket surfaced, US officials have sounded the alarm about foreign interference in Tuesday's election and beyond.
Iran is backing Vice President Kamala Harris and Russia is rooting for former President Donald Trump, while China is involved in Congressional elections, they said.
The US Intelligence agencies said that Moscow "manufactured a video falsely accusing an individual associated with the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a US entertainer."
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency statement did not state who the persons in the video were.
But, according to the reports from ABC TV network, quoting the FBI, Harris's husband is a lawyer who specializes in the entertainment business. Doug Emhoff was named one of the individuals in the manipulated video.
"This Russian activity is part of Moscow's broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans," said the agencies
Earlier, the ODNI had said that "Russian influence actors" had targeted the Democratic Party's vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz.
They created and "amplified" fake content about "illegal activity committed by the Democratic vice-presidential candidate during his earlier career," the agency said.
The review by the intelligence agencies of the electronic media associated with the video found that "several indicators of manipulation that are consistent with the influence efforts and tactics Russian actors have used," it said.
Meddling in US politics would continue after the closely contested election, sowing doubts about its legitimacy, according to an official from the ODNI who briefed reporters last month.
The Intelligence Community (IC) continues to assess that Russia prefers the former president and Iran prefers the Vice President, said the official.
The official said that in such a disputed post-election environment, foreign actors likely will continue employing tactics similar to those currently being used to erode confidence in the integrity of the election and election process and further polarize Americans.
In the most brazen example of interference, Iranian agents allegedly hacked into Trump's campaign and leaked the material they stole to several media outlets and Democratic Party operatives.
In September, the US charged three hackers connected with Iran's Revolutionary Guard in connection with the hacking.
While media outlets like Politico refused to run stories based on the leaked information given to them, last week a Political Action Committee that supports Democrats and is virulently anti-Trump posted on its website some of the documents from the Trump campaign and related entities.
The group, American Muckrakers, leaked research on vice presidential hopefuls, including Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the minutes from Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Trump's notes when making calls to donors.
The group didn't comment on the origin of the leaked documents.
According to the ODNI official, Cuba was also involved, along with Russia and China, in trying to influence Congressional, state, and local elections.
They "are supporting or denigrating" candidates based on their evaluation of how "an individual candidate's foreign policy positions affect their national security interest," the official said.
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