China would prefer Donald Trump not to be reelected in the US presidential election on November 3, and has "stepped up its influence efforts" ahead of the ballot, US intelligence services said on Friday. Iran is also trying "to weaken President Trump," while Russia uses "several levers especially to denigrate" its Democratic rival Joe Biden, according to William Evanina, director of the National Center for Counter-Intelligence and Security (NCSC ).
This senior official, who oversees the monitoring of foreign interference in American political life, issued a press release to take stock of the threat within three months of the election. "It seems difficult for our opponents to interfere or manipulate the results on a large scale," he said at first, while expressing "concerns" about the influence campaigns carried out according to him under cover by China, Russia and Iran.
Moscow is back on track as in 2016
“We believe that China prefers that President Trump - considered unpredictable by Beijing - not win a second term. China has stepped up its efforts to influence the political environment ”ahead of the ballot, said Evanina, while the standoff between Beijing and Washington grows harder every day. Likewise, "we believe that Iran is trying to weaken America's democratic institutions, President Trump and divide the country ahead of the 2020 election", especially through "an online influence campaign, which spreads false news and anti-American content, ”he said.
Conversely, he continued, "we believe that Russia uses several levers mainly to denigrate former Vice President Biden", who had defended the Russian opposition when he was a member of the administration of Barack Obama. “Kremlin-linked actors are seeking to support President Trump's candidacy on social media and on Russian television,” he noted. According to the American intelligence services, Moscow had already campaigned for Donald Trump in 2016.
The heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee considered that making this information public was "the best way to combat" foreign interference. But "we encourage the political leaders of both parties not to use this information as a political weapon, because it would serve the interests of our adversaries", added the elected Republican Marco Rubio and his colleague Democrat Mark Warner.
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