Ratcliffe, appearing alongside FBI Director Chris Wray, said at a hastily arranged news conference Wednesday evening that Iran was responsible for the email campaign, made to look like it came from the Proud Boys, as well as spreading disinformation about voter fraud through a video linked in some of the emails.
"This data can be used by foreign actors to attempt to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos and undermine your confidence in American democracy," Ratcliffe said.
"We have already seen Iran sending spoof emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President (Donald) Trump," Ratcliffe added. "You may have seen some reporting on this in the last 24 hours, or you may have even been one of the recipients of those emails."
Ratcliffe did not explain what he meant by his statement that the emails -- which were sent to registered voters from "info@proudboys.com" and warned recipients to "Vote for Trump or else!" -- were intended to damage the President.
Democrats and a group of former intelligence officials have accused Ratcliffe, a former Republican congressman tapped to lead the intelligence community this year, of selectively declassifying intelligence in the run-up to the election to help Trump's campaign, and Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee criticized him after the news conference.
"DO NOT listen to Ratcliffe. Partisan hack," the committee's Twitter account said Wednesday evening.
Asked about Ratcliffe's comments that the emails were aimed at damaging Trump, a senior intelligence official told CNN: "The intelligence community has assessed Iran's intentions are consistent with Bill Evanina's previous statements on this matter and tonight's announcement was made with specific regard to its current activities."
Evanina, the intelligence community's top election security official, had said in August that Russia, Iran and China were all aiming to interfere in the 2020 election.
"The Iranians are following US politics closely and understand the background of the Proud Boys recently coming up in the presidential debate and know that sending the emails they did would cause blowback in the media that would be damaging to Trump because of these perceived violent Trump supporters threatening Democrats," the official added.
A source in a Florida election office told CNN that during an FBI briefing Wednesday, agents told them the Proud Boy email threats about voting for Trump came from a nation state -- and they are seeing them across the country. The source said the agents told them these emails "were not the work of a Florida guy in his basement."
Russia has not taken the same actions, Ratcliffe said, but has obtained some voter information, just as Moscow did in 2016.
Ratcliffe and Wray took no questions, but said they are ready to respond to foreign election interference.
"We are prepared for the possibility of actions by those hostile to democracy," Ratcliffe said.
The intelligence official said that the news conference was arranged quickly because of early voting and the fact that millions of people are already voting "so it is important for them to remain vigilant."
Andrew McCabe, a former deputy FBI director and CNN analyst, said the news conference shows how far the US government has come from the 2016 election, when it failed to react strongly to Russia's foreign interference in the run-up to the election. He added that he wanted to learn more about the intelligence that Iran intended to hurt Trump.
"There should be really solid analysis underpinning that judgment and I just don't think we've gotten enough of that detail from the information that was shared with the press this evening," McCabe said.
Just before the news conference began, the top two members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence -- Sens. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, and Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat -- released a joint statement warning about foreign interference in the election.
"As we enter the last weeks before the election, we urge every American -- including members of the media -- to be cautious about believing or spreading unverified, sensational claims related to votes and voting," the statement read. "State and local election officials are in regular contact with federal law enforcement and cyber security professionals, and they are all working around the clock to ensure that Election 2020 is safe, secure, and free from outside interference."
The Wednesday evening news conference came just one day after elections officials in Florida and Alaska contacted law enforcement because registered voters had reported receiving threatening emails that said, "Vote for Trump or else!" The emails came from an address that appeared to be affiliated with a far-right group, though an analyst who reviewed one email obtained by CNN said it had been sent using foreign internet infrastructure.
The Iranian-backed emails targeted Democrats and said "we will come after you" unless they switch parties and vote for Trump. This type of message could suppress Biden's turnout and damage his standing in key states like Florida, where the emails were first spotted this week.
Along with Russia and China, Iran was named as one of three foreign adversaries seeking to interfere in the 2020 race in an unprecedented statement from Evanina, the intelligence community's top election security official, on August 7.
"We assess that Iran seeks to undermine US democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections. Iran's efforts along these lines probably will focus on on-line influence, such as spreading disinformation on social media and recirculating anti-U.S. content," the statement, issued on behalf of the entire intelligence community, said.
"Tehran's motivation to conduct such activities is, in part, driven by a perception that President Trump's reelection would result in a continuation of US pressure on Iran in an effort to foment regime change," it added.
The same statement said that the US intelligence community assesses "Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia 'establishment.'"
"This is consistent with Moscow's public criticism of him when he was Vice President for his role in the Obama Administration's policies on Ukraine and its support for the anti-Putin opposition inside Russia ... Some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump's candidacy on social media and Russian television," it added.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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October 22, 2020 at 07:58AM
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