RUSSIA, IRAN INTERFERING IN U. S. ELECTION: FBI.

U.S. intelligence warns against interference

WASHINGTON • U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday that Russia and Iran have both tried to interfere with the 2020 presidential election.

“We have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran, and separately, by Russia,” Ratcliffe said during a hastily arranged news conference.

“We have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump.”

Ratcliffe, who was joined by FBI Director Christopher Wray, was referring to emails sent Wednesday and designed to look like they came from the pro-trump Proud Boys group, according to government sources.

U. S. intelligence agencies previously warned that Iran might interfere to hurt Trump and that Russia was trying to help him in the election.

Outside experts said that if Ratcliffe was correct, Iran would be trying to make Trump look bad by calling attention to support and threats by the sometimes violent group.

The emails are under investigation, and one intelligence source said it was still unclear who was behind them.

EMAILS DESIGNED TO INTIMIDATE VOTERS, INCITE SOCIAL UNREST.

Some of those emails also contained a video, debunked by experts, that purported to show how fake ballots could be submitted.

Ratcliffe said that claim was false. Most voter registration information is public.

In a joint statement, Marco Rubio, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Mark Warner, the panel's top Democrat, said that “our adversaries abroad seek to sow chaos and undermine voters' belief in our democratic institutions, including the election systems and infrastructure that we rely on to record and properly report expressions of the voters' will.”

Just before Ratcliffe and Wray announced the threat to the Nov. 3 election, the Washington Post reported that Trump is considering firing Wray after the election.

Trump has faulted Wray for not providing fuel for the president's contention that anti-trump bias drove the FBI'S investigation into whether anyone involved in his 2016 campaign colluded in Russia's interference.