Russia has already gone after Biden aggressively, likely hacking into Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company whose connection to Hunter Biden has been the focus of conspiratorial narrative by Trump and his allies. Moscow’s disinformation efforts in support of Sanders once again focused on Iowa, whose caucus earlier this month was beset by technical difficulties (which, to be clear, have not been connected to foreign hacking).
“We saw Russia amplifying conspiracy theories suggesting that delays in reporting returns were part of an effort to deny Senator Sanders a clear win,” says Jessica Brandt, head of policy and research for the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a bipartisan nonprofit that tracks and counteracts Russian disinformation. “We also saw them highlighting theories purporting murky ties between other candidates and the company that created the caucus app.”
That’s not to say the activity tracked by ASD is what led directly to the intel briefings being reported on this week. In fact, it seems unlikely: Sanders told The New York Times Friday that he was briefed a month ago, which would be before the Iowa fallout. But it does speak to what experts say is Russia’s ultimate goal, which is less about Sanders and more about promoting chaos. The point has always been to find democracy’s loose seams, and pull.
