“U.S. government concludes Iran was behind threatening emails sent to Democrats” October 2020 I think it was an inside job that they blamed on the Proud Boys and Iran.One of the people quoted in the article was Ariane Tabatabai.The analysis of who was behind the “Proud Boys” emails and video was conducted by a former CIA agent with the Alethea disinformation Group.Ellen Nakashima is a co-author of this article. Ellen is a national security state stenographer/propagandist. She usually blames the Russians.“U.S. officials on Wednesday night accused Iran of targeting American voters with faked but menacing emails and warned that both Iran and Russia had obtained voter data that could be used to endanger the upcoming election.”“The disclosure by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe at a hastily called news conference marked the first time Iran has been accused of targeting specific voters in a bid to undermine democratic confidence – just four years after Russian online operations marred the 2016 presidential vote.”“The claim that Iran was behind the email operation, which became news Tuesday as Democrats in several swing states reported receiving emails demanding that they vote for President Donald Trump, came without specific evidence, and other U.S. officials, speaking privately, stressed that Russia still remained the major threat to the 2020 election.”“The emails claimed to be from a pro-Trump group called the Proud Boys, but evidence had mounted that they in fact were the work of another, hidden actor. U.S. officials said that was Iran, a nation that increasingly had clashed with the president in recent years.”“Officials, however, also stressed that the integrity of the election was intact. “We are not going to tolerate foreign interference in our elections or any criminal activity that threatens the sanctity of your vote or undermines public confidence in the outcome of the election,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray, standing next to Ratcliffe.”“When we see indications of foreign interference or federal election crimes, we’re going to aggressively investigate and work with our partners to quickly take appropriate action.” Riiiiight. 🙄“Ratcliffe said the data “can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos and undermine your confidence in American democracy.”“Ratcliffe accused Iran of using the data to send “spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump.”“But some U.S. officials were skeptical of Ratcliffe’s assertion that the Iranians were trying to damage the president. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who receives classified briefings on foreign election threats, told NBC’s Rachel Maddow: “From the briefing, I had the strong impression it was much rather to undermine confidence in elections and not aimed at any particular figure.”“The emails were engineered by someone working at the behest of the Iranian government, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. The operation appeared to exploit a vulnerability in the group’s online network.”“The messages advised that the group was “in possession of all your information” and instructed voters to change their party registration and cast their ballots for Trump.”“You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you,” warned the emails, which by Tuesday night were said to have reached voters in as many as four states, three of them hotly contested swing states in the coming presidential election.”“Analysts said targeting Democratic voters may have been an effort by Iran to prompt complaints about a far-right group associated with Trump. “If it became apparent that the threats were coming from the Trump campaign or his allies, it would reflect poorly on the president himself,” said Ariane Tabatabai, Middle East fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.”“Ratcliffe confirmed that Iran was also distributing a video “that implies that individuals could cast fraudulent ballots, even from overseas.” The video, which was reviewed by The Washington Post, shows Trump making disparaging comments about mail-in voting, followed by a logo with the name of the Proud Boys.”“It then documents what was made to appear as a hack of voting data in an effort to produce a fraudulent ballot. The video was also posted on a Twitter account that has since been suspended.”“This video, and any claims about such allegedly fraudulent ballots, are not true,” Ratcliffe said at a Wednesday news conference. “These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries.”I’m guessing the video was real so they created a fake cover story which included the Proud Boys. This thread is about the video.“Relations between Tehran and Washington have grown far tenser under the Trump administration, which withdrew from the nuclear deal that Iran reached with the United States and other world powers. The U.S. has applied escalating pressure on Iran through sanctions and other actions, including the targeted killing in January in Iraq of Iran’s most powerful military commander, Qassem Soleimani.”Soleimani was used during the January 6 color revolution and election hacking narratives.“In August, the U.S. intelligence community’s top counterintelligence official, William Evanina, issued an assessment that “Iran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections.” Its efforts, he wrote, “probably will focus on online influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content.”Evanina is a former dirty FBI agent. He covered-up Hunter Biden’s laptop. He is featured in this ditty.“By suggesting the group had gained access to privileged data, and also possibly penetrated electronic systems to detect how people were voting, the emails and video content attributed to Iran seemed designed to create the appearance of an election breach.”“Such a move may serve to undermine confidence in the integrity of the democratic process without posing a genuine risk to the election, said cybersecurity and disinformation experts.”“In recent years, Iranian information operations have continued to push boundaries using bold and innovative approaches. However, this incident marks a fundamental shift in our understanding of Iran’s willingness to interfere in the democratic process,” said John Hultquist, senior director of analysis for Mandiant Threat Intelligence.”“While many of their operations have been focused on promoting propaganda in pursuit of Iran’s interests, this incident is clearly aimed at undermining voter confidence.”Mandiant is FireEye which is CIA In-Q-Tel. They were involved in SolarWinds which was the hack of the 2020 election.Mandiant“The domain enlisted for the misleading operation, , was recently dropped by a hosting company that uses Google Cloud services, according to Google Cloud spokesman Ted Ladd. Without a secure host, the domain stood vulnerable to exploitation, cybersecurity experts said.”“Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said her organization had received at least one report that a similar email had reached a voter in Arizona.”“The Arizona secretary of state’s office was looking into the matter, said a spokeswoman, Sophia Solis.”“Clarke said her organization, after putting out a call on social media, had received 104 complaints of emails with the same pattern. One research group, Proofpoint, said its analysis showed one of the batches had more than 1,500 emails.”Kristen Clarke, J6 and the Proud Boys narrative“Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys and the Florida state director of Latinos for Trump, denied involvement, saying the group operates two sites, and was increasingly migrating away from the domain used in the email campaign.”“Two weeks ago, I believe, we had Google Cloud services drop us from their platform, so then we initiated a url transfer, which is still in process,” he said in an interview. “We kind of just never used it.”

“U.S. government concludes Iran was behind threatening emails sent to Democrats” October 2020 I think it was an inside job that they blamed on the Proud Boys and Iran. ... One of the people quoted in the article was Ariane Tabatabai. ... The analysis of who was behind the “Proud Boys” emails and video was conducted by a former CIA agent with the Alethea disinformation Group. ... Ellen Nakashima is a co-author of this article. Ellen is a national security state stenographer/propagandist. She usually blames the Russians. ... “U.S. officials on Wednesday night accused Iran of targeting American voters with faked but menacing emails and warned that both Iran and Russia had obtained voter data that could be used to endanger the upcoming election.” ... “The disclosure by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe at a hastily called news conference marked the first time Iran has been accused of targeting specific voters in a bid to undermine democratic confidence – just four years after Russian online operations marred the 2016 presidential vote.” ... “The claim that Iran was behind the email operation, which became news Tuesday as Democrats in several swing states reported receiving emails demanding that they vote for President Donald Trump, came without specific evidence, and other U.S. officials, speaking privately, stressed that Russia still remained the major threat to the 2020 election.” ... “The emails claimed to be from a pro-Trump group called the Proud Boys, but evidence had mounted that they in fact were the work of another, hidden actor. U.S. officials said that was Iran, a nation that increasingly had clashed with the president in recent years.” ... “Officials, however, also stressed that the integrity of the election was intact. “We are not going to tolerate foreign interference in our elections or any criminal activity that threatens the sanctity of your vote or undermines public confidence in the outcome of the election,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray, standing next to Ratcliffe.” ... “When we see indications of foreign interference or federal election crimes, we’re going to aggressively investigate and work with our partners to quickly take appropriate action.” Riiiiight. ... “Ratcliffe said the data “can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos and undermine your confidence in American democracy.” ... “Ratcliffe accused Iran of using the data to send “spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump.” ... “But some U.S. officials were skeptical of Ratcliffe’s assertion that the Iranians were trying to damage the president. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who receives classified briefings on foreign election threats, told NBC’s Rachel Maddow: “From the briefing, I had the strong impression it was much rather to undermine confidence in elections and not aimed at any particular figure.” ... “The emails were engineered by someone working at the behest of the Iranian government, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. The operation appeared to exploit a vulnerability in the group’s online network.” ... “The messages advised that the group was “in possession of all your information” and instructed voters to change their party registration and cast their ballots for Trump.” ... “You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you,” warned the emails, which by Tuesday night were said to have reached voters in as many as four states, three of them hotly contested swing states in the coming presidential election.” ... “Analysts said targeting Democratic voters may have been an effort by Iran to prompt complaints about a far-right group associated with Trump. “If it became apparent that the threats were coming from the Trump campaign or his allies, it would reflect poorly on the president himself,” said Ariane Tabatabai, Middle East fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy.” ... “Ratcliffe confirmed that Iran was also distributing a video “that implies that individuals could cast fraudulent ballots, even from overseas.” The video, which was reviewed by The Washington Post, shows Trump making disparaging comments about mail-in voting, followed by a logo with the name of the Proud Boys.” ... “It then documents what was made to appear as a hack of voting data in an effort to produce a fraudulent ballot. The video was also posted on a Twitter account that has since been suspended.” ... “This video, and any claims about such allegedly fraudulent ballots, are not true,” Ratcliffe said at a Wednesday news conference. “These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries.” ... I’m guessing the video was real so they created a fake cover story which included the Proud Boys. This thread is about the video. ... “Relations between Tehran and Washington have grown far tenser under the Trump administration, which withdrew from the nuclear deal that Iran reached with the United States and other world powers. The U.S. has applied escalating pressure on Iran through sanctions and other actions, including the targeted killing in January in Iraq of Iran’s most powerful military commander, Qassem Soleimani.” ... Soleimani was used during the January 6 color revolution and election hacking narratives. ... “In August, the U.S. intelligence community’s top counterintelligence official, William Evanina, issued an assessment that “Iran seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections.” Its efforts, he wrote, “probably will focus on online influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content.” ... Evanina is a former dirty FBI agent. He covered-up Hunter Biden’s laptop. He is featured in this ditty. ... “By suggesting the group had gained access to privileged data, and also possibly penetrated electronic systems to detect how people were voting, the emails and video content attributed to Iran seemed designed to create the appearance of an election breach.” ... “Such a move may serve to undermine confidence in the integrity of the democratic process without posing a genuine risk to the election, said cybersecurity and disinformation experts.” ... “In recent years, Iranian information operations have continued to push boundaries using bold and innovative approaches. However, this incident marks a fundamental shift in our understanding of Iran’s willingness to interfere in the democratic process,” said John Hultquist, senior director of analysis for Mandiant Threat Intelligence.” ... “While many of their operations have been focused on promoting propaganda in pursuit of Iran’s interests, this incident is clearly aimed at undermining voter confidence.” ... Mandiant is FireEye which is CIA In-Q-Tel. They were involved in SolarWinds which was the hack of the 2020 election. ... Mandiant ... “The domain enlisted for the misleading operation, , was recently dropped by a hosting company that uses Google Cloud services, according to Google Cloud spokesman Ted Ladd. Without a secure host, the domain stood vulnerable to exploitation, cybersecurity experts said.” ... “Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said her organization had received at least one report that a similar email had reached a voter in Arizona.” ... “The Arizona secretary of state’s office was looking into the matter, said a spokeswoman, Sophia Solis.” ... “Clarke said her organization, after putting out a call on social media, had received 104 complaints of emails with the same pattern. One research group, Proofpoint, said its analysis showed one of the batches had more than 1,500 emails.” ... Kristen Clarke, J6 and the Proud Boys narrative ... “Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys and the Florida state director of Latinos for Trump, denied involvement, saying the group operates two sites, and was increasingly migrating away from the domain used in the email campaign.” ... “Two weeks ago, I believe, we had Google Cloud services drop us from their platform, so then we initiated a url transfer, which is still in process,” he said in an interview. “We kind of just never used it.”