CNN:

US intelligence has assessed that Russian operatives were behind a fake video purporting to show someone destroying mail-in ballots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that circulated on social media Thursday.

“The IC (Intelligence Community) assesses that Russian actors manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an individual ripping up ballots in Pennsylvania, judging from information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities,” said a joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The agencies said that the video is part of an ongoing Russian effort to “raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans” in the final days of the 2024 campaign.

CNN reported earlier Friday that US investigators suspected that Russian operatives were behind the fake video, according to two sources briefed on the matter.

The Board of Elections in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia, was quick to debunk the video on Thursday. “The envelope and materials depicted in this video are clearly not authentic materials belonging to or distributed by the Bucks County Board of Elections,” the board said in a statement.