Russian trolls and bots reactivated 'like sleeper cells' to target Democrats: Report

Daniel Chaitin

November 06, 10:37 AM November 06, 10:37 AM

A report was published Sunday warning that Russian trolls and bots are back — and they are targeting Democrats.

Social media research companies have detected these resurgent Russian campaigns, using accounts made to appear like they are run by disaffected Americans, on smaller platforms such as Gab, Parler, and Gettr, according to the New York Times. The scope of the effort appears to be smaller than in 2016, but the report stressed, citing researchers, they are "no less pernicious."

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This network of accounts began to reactivate in August and September, "called to action like sleeper cells," the report noted. Democrats, including President Joe Biden, are largely the ones who are disparaged in posts from these accounts. The report said posts have specifically zeroed in on tight races, including Senate contests in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Arizona.

The report, which was published just two days before Election Day, added that the posts also complain about U.S. support given to Ukraine as the country continues to fight against a Russian invasion, aim to gin up conservative anger, and sow doubt in the electoral process.

The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency sent a bulletin last month warning of foreign actors who spread "false claims and narratives" via “dark web media channels, online journals, messaging applications, spoofed websites, emails, text messages and fake online personas.”

Republicans are favored to win the House, and in recent weeks, their chances of taking control of the Senate have improved. The GOP needs only a net gain of one seat to dominate the upper chamber, which is currently split with a 50-50 tie that is broken by Vice President Kamala Harris.

True the Vote leaders jailed for contempt of court

Ryan King

October 31, 10:56 PM October 31, 10:56 PM

Leaders of the True the Vote, a Texas group that peddled claims rampant fraud dogged the 2020 election, were arrested Monday after a judge deemed them in contempt of court.

Catherine Engelbrecht and former board member Gregg Phillips, who founded the group, were marshaled into a holding cell after they failed to comply with a judge's demand that they divulge the name of the person who helped them tap into election software company Konnech’s computer systems.

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“We need to know his name,” said Konnech lawyer Dean Pamphilis, per the Texas Tribune. “We haven’t heard any testimony that his confidentiality status has anything to do with this case. It’s a complete red herring they’ve manufactured to keep us from the truth.”

Engelbrecht and Phillips have claimed that their source was an FBI informant, though they have not yet presented evidence to back that up, according to the Washington Post. They were reportedly given until 9 a.m. Monday to name the person and declined to do so, prompting U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, a Reagan appointee, to hold them in contempt.

"We will be held in jail until we agree to give up the name of a person we believe was not covered under the terms of the judge’s [order]," Engelbrecht said in a statement.

Konnech is suing Engelbrecht and Phillips for defamation over claims that the company allowed the Chinese government to access the personal information of roughly 2 million U.S. election workers — something the company adamantly denies.

Last month, the founder and chief executive of the company, Eugene Yu, was arrested on suspicion of theft. Prior to his arrest, True the Vote accused Yu, an immigrant, of essentially conducting intelligence work for China. Some of the justifications for his arrest appeared to echo some of True the Vote's accusations, the Washington Post reported.

His legal team is seeking to get the charges dropped.

Both Engelbrecht and Phillips have long championed claims of election denialism. They served as executive producers on 2000 Mules, a heavily disputed documentary by conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza that claimed Democratic-linked groups tapped "mules" to dump false ballots into drop boxes illegally. The claims have been roundly dismissed by election experts and officials.

Phillips had also boosted claims that he had proof over 3 million illegal votes had been cast in the 2016 election — an assertion amplified by former President Donald Trump in a bid to diminish his popular vote loss in that election.