Washington: Phoney bomb threats that appeared to originate in lots of instances from Russian e-mail domains focused polling areas throughout a number of US states on Tuesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) mentioned. “Not one of the threats have been decided to be credible up to now,” the FBI mentioned in a press release, including that election integrity was among the many bureau’s highest priorities. No less than two polling websites focused by the hoax bomb threats within the election battleground state of Georgia have been briefly evacuated on Tuesday.
These two areas in Fulton County each re-opened after about half-hour, officers mentioned, and the county is in search of a courtroom order to increase the placement’s voting hours previous the statewide 7 p.m. deadline.
Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger blamed Russian interference for the Election Day bomb hoaxes.
“They’re as much as mischief, it appears. They do not need us to have a easy, truthful and correct election, and if they will get us to struggle amongst ourselves, they will depend that as a victory,” Raffensperger advised reporters.
The Russian embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
FBI didn’t present particulars
The FBI didn’t elaborate on which states obtained the threats, although one official advised Reuters that Georgia alone obtained greater than two dozen, most of which occurred in Fulton County. A senior official in Raffensperger’s workplace, talking on the situation of anonymity to talk freely, mentioned the Georgia bomb hoaxes have been despatched from e-mail addresses that had been utilized by Russians making an attempt to intrude in earlier U.S. elections.
The threats have been despatched to US media and the 2 polling areas, the official mentioned. “It is a probability it is Russia,” the official mentioned.
US Presidential Elections
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump are locked in a good race to win the White Home. Opinion polls recommend the competition is just too near name.
The phoney bomb threats mark the most recent in a string of examples of alleged interference by the Russians within the 2024 election.
On November 1, US intelligence officers warned that Russian actors manufactured a video that falsely depicted Haitians illegally casting ballots in Georgia. Intelligence officers additionally discovered that the Russians created a separate phoney video which falsely accused somebody related to the Harris presidential ticket of taking a bribe from an entertainer. US intelligence officers have additionally accused Russia of interfering in earlier US presidential elections, particularly the 2016 race which Trump received towards Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
(With inputs from company)
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