Former Intelligence Director James Clapper: Why Wouldn’t Russia Interfere in 2020 Election?

James Clapper has warned Russia will interfere in the 2020 election because of how successful it was in 2016. He suggested the country may be interfering already.

The former Director of National Intelligence argued on Monday that Russia would involve itself in the 2020 presidential election during an appearance on CNN.

New Day host Alisyn Camerota asked Clapper, who is now a CNN contributor, about Russia possibly using recent unrest in American cities to affect events using social media.

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“You think you can see already evidence as we saw in 2016 that some of this unrest, some of this online ginning up of discord, you see Russian fingerprints?” Camerota asked.

“Absolutely, and compounding that, of course, is […] disinformation they are spreading about the pandemic,” Clapper said.

“And particularly how disproportionately minorities are affected by the pandemic.”

“And there’s no question the Russians are exploiting this. Why shouldn’t they? They had huge success in 2016. Why not do it again in 2020?” he said.

U.S. intelligence has already issued similar warnings about Russian efforts to influence this year’s elections.

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Darragh Roche

Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media