Video of Donald Trump’s Ballots Being Destroyed ‘Fake’, Russia Responsible: US

Washington, United States:

Russian actors were behind a viral video that falsely showed mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in the swing state of Pennsylvania, US officials said on Friday, amid heightened alert over foreign influence operations targeting the upcoming election.

The video, which has been viewed millions of times on platforms like Elon Musk-owned X, purports to show a man sifting through ballots from the state’s Bucks County and tearing up those cast for Trump.

On Thursday, the Bucks County Board of Elections declared the video “fake” and said the envelope and other material seen in the footage is “clearly not authentic material” belonging to or distributed by them.

In a joint statement Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the video was part of a Russian disinformation operation.

“Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video falsely portraying an individual tearing up ballots in Pennsylvania,” the statement said.

“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US elections and to stoke division among Americans,” it added.

The statement said Russia was expected to create and release more such content in an effort to “undermine confidence” in the integrity of the November 5 election.

The video emerged as US authorities braced for a wave of disinformation in the final days of a nail-biting election between Republican candidate Trump and Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

The video, also debunked by AFP’s fact-checkers, was linked to a Kremlin-targeted disinformation network known as Storm-1516, according to researchers including Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub.

Linvill, who has closely studied the network, said the account on

Storm-1516 has previously produced fake videos to discredit Harris’ campaign and her running mate Tim Walz, disinformation researchers say.

Last month, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center said Russian agents are ramping up disinformation operations to smear Harris’ campaign by spreading conspiracy-laden videos.

In addition to Russia, Iran and China are also “fomenting divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine American confidence in the American democratic system,” the ODNI warned in a memo earlier this week.

“Foreign influence efforts will increase in the run-up to Election Day, especially through social media posts – some of which are likely to be generated or enhanced by AI,” the report said.

“These actors likely believe that undermining confidence in elections weakens the legitimacy of our democracy and therefore reduces the United States’ ability to implement effective policies contrary to its interests,” the report said.

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