FBI Director: Antifa is an Ideology, Not an Organization

But one area where foreign threats were addressed was in the presidential election and Russia’s attempts to interfere in the campaign.

Wray sought to make clear the scope of the threats the country faces while resisting lawmakers' attempts to steer him into politically charged statements.

When asked whether extremists on the left or the right posed the bigger threat, he pivoted instead to an answer about how solo actors, or so-called “lone wolves”, with easy access to weapons were a primary concern.

"We don’t really think of threats in terms of left, right, at the FBI. We’re focused on the violence, not the ideology,” he said later.

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The FBI director said racially motivated violent extremists, such as white supremacists, have been responsible for the most lethal attacks in the US in recent years.

But this year the most lethal violence has come from anti-government activists, such as anarchists and militia-types, Wray said.

Wray also affirmed the intelligence community's assessment of Russian interference in the November election, which he said was taking the form of foreign influence campaigns aimed at sowing discord and swaying public opinion as well as efforts to denigrate Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

He said that the US had not yet seen targeting of election infrastructure like in 2016, but efforts to sow doubt about the election's integrity are a serious concern, he said.

“What concerns me the most is the steady drumbeat of misinformation and sort of amplification of smaller cyber intrusions,” Wray said.

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“I worry that they will contribute over time to a lack of confidence of American voters and citizens in the validity of their vote."

“I think that would be a perception,” Wray added, “not a reality. I think Americans can and should have confidence in our election system and certainly in our democracy. But I worry that people will take on a feeling of futility because of all of the noise and confusion that's generated."

Trump has resisted the idea of Russian interference aimed at benefiting his campaign and has been eager, along with other administration officials, to talk about intelligence officials' assessment that China prefers that Trump lose to Biden.

He responded on that front Thursday evening, tweeting: “But Chris, you don’t see any activity from China, even though it is a FAR greater threat than Russia, Russia, Russia. They will both, plus others, be able to interfere in our 2020 Election with our totally vulnerable Unsolicited (Counterfeit?) Ballot Scam. Check it out!”

Though intelligence officials said in a statement last month that China prefers that Trump lose, they appeared to stop short of accusing Beijing of directly interfering in the election in hopes of swaying the outcome. 

(Writers: Eric Tucker, Ben Fox) 

Source: https://apnews.com/bdd3b6078e9efadcfcd0be4b65f2362e