A top-secret CIA assessment has reportedly concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “probably directing” a disinformation campaign designed to damage Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 U.S. election. Citing two unnamed sources who reviewed the assessment, The Washington Post reported that the first line of the document states: “We assess that President Vladimir Putin and the senior most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia’s influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S. vice president, supporting the U.S. president and fueling public discord ahead of the U.S. election in November.” The highly classified report was reportedly published internally at the end of August, and builds upon intelligence gathered by the FBI and the NSA.
The Post reports that the document also warns that Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach—who has been working publicly with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani for several months—has been spreading disparaging information about Biden inside the U.S. through his long list of influential contacts. President Trump last week attacked FBI Director Christopher Wray after he testified to Congress that the Bureau saw Russian interference in the election.
Read it at The Washington Post
