CNN: FBI Traced Suspected Russian ‘Fake News’ Push On Election Day

The FBI's J. Edgar Hoover Headquarters, acros the street from the Deparment of Justice, in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
The FBI's J. Edgar Hoover Headquarters, across the street from the Justice Department in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
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FBI agents monitored social media on Election Day for what they believed were Russian government-backed efforts to spread disinformation, CNN reported Friday.

Citing two unnamed sources familiar with the investigation, CNN reported that FBI analysts identified social media accounts they believed were pushing fake news articles on Election Day, and that “the suspicion was that at least some were part of a Russian disinformation campaign.”

One unnamed person briefed on the investigation told CNN the FBI’s operation was “right on the edge of Constitutional legality” because “we were monitoring news.”

The effort was part of a larger push to monitor cyber threats on Election Day, according to the report, with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence holding regular calls with the White House’s situation room.

Top officials ultimately congratulated each other after the day’s vote went uninterrupted, according to the report.

One unnamed Obama White House official disagreed, however: “What they did worked!”, the official told CNN they recalled saying.

Read CNN’s full report here.

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Notable Replies

  1. Gee, when he or she sees this, Yukky must feel like I used to when the radio announcer mentioned the name of my school as a snow-day closure. Makes it worth sitting through those boring indoctrination sessions, right?

  2. Now just trace the payments made to those posting the fake news back to the Drumpf Crime Family, and life is good.

  3. Well hell most conserative sites push fake news!

    Wonder if Kelly will last longer than Donald? Puls I’m guessing Donald already know everything he says is a lie. I think the hard part will be to make him understand he doesn’t fool most people and that as president it matter, unlike being a cheesy game show host of bankrupt developer back by Russians that cover the bills.

  4. Are you seriously suggesting that Trump actually paid a subcontractor or a vendor?

  5. It might seem like a ludicrous hypothesis, but I wouldn’t be surprised about anything, anywhere, about the Drumpfster’s…

    Not the sharpest knives in the drawer…

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