U.S. intelligence officials are watching for possible political “interference” from Russia and China in the wake of the indictment of Donald Trump, a report by CNBC on Wednesday claims.
The suggestion that either power could be looking to influence proceedings in the U.S. mirrors previous allegations Russia somehow influenced American voters into putting Donald Trump into office, a conspiracy theory often referred to as RussiaGate.
According to CNBC, intelligence officials within unnamed agencies are watching “very closely” to see if either China or Russia makes any attempts to subvert U.S. democracy in the wake of Trump’s formal arrest and indictment.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in Palm Beach, Fla., after being arraigned earlier in the day in New York City. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
One unnamed official is even cited as claiming there is “continuing talk” of Trump and the indictment in “Russian and Chinese hacker channels”, though no detail about who these alleged hackers are nor what these discussions actually consist of is offered.
However, Bret Schafer, who heads up a team examining, said “Russian, Chinese and Iranian information manipulation efforts” at the German Marshall Fund think-tank, told the publication that his team could see no evidence of any such interference at this point.
“We haven’t seen Russia or China, at least through overt channels, amplifying outright disinformation about President Trump’s indictment and arrest,” he said before claiming that there had been “opportunism” from “state-backed actors” who have argued that the incident shows that “rule of law is collapsing” in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the outlet claims the CIA declined to comment on the issue, while the FBI did not so much as respond.
Suggestions foreign powers, especially Russia, could be using darks arts to cause chaos within the American political sphere using Donald Trump as a catalyst harken back to RussiaGate aired in 2016.
A largely debunked conspiracy theory, RussiaGate alleged — among other things — the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to somehow hack their way into the White House.
Despite the fact this conspiracy theory have since been widely dismissed as false, the suggestion either Russia or some other hostile actor could somehow hold undue influence over elections has been used as justification for censorship throughout the West.
For example, ahead of the country’s general election last year, the Swedish government launched a new spy agency assigned “to identify and handle misinformation” from foreign sources.
Although the head of the new agency claimed that it would not be a “Ministry of Truth” he also claimed that “narratives of how Sweden is functioning or not functioning” that existed were in fact “aimed at destabilising or undermining trust in government agencies.”