good afternoon everyone we launched election threats task force to respond to a dangerous increase in violent threats against the public servants who administer our elections we did so because countless Americans were enduring terrible threats simply for doing their civic duty and we did so because threats to election workers constitute threats to our democracy itself in just a few minutes the task force here will meet to discuss its continuing work in advance of the upcoming election but before we begin I want to address the tragic shooting that occurred this morning at a high school in Winder Georgia we are still gathering information but the FBI and ATF are on the scene working with State local and federal barers I'm devastated for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy the justice Department stands ready to provide any resources or support that the ler Community needs in the days ahead before I get to the work of the task force I also want to announce two major law enforcement actions that the justice department is taking that are separate from the important work of this task force but are part of our broader effort to protect our elections from unlawful interference of any kind first this morning we unsealed an indictment in the southern district of New York of Constantine Kalashnikov and Alena afanasova two Russian based employees of RT a Russian State controlled media out they are charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and to violate the foreign agents registration act that law enacted nearly a century ago was enacted sure that the American people were informed when a foreign power engages in political activities or seeks to influence public discourse the American people are entitled to know when a foreign power is attempting to exploit our country's free exchange of ideas in order to send around its own propaganda the company never disclosed to the I'm sorry that is what we alleged to happen in this case in the wake of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 RT which was then known as Russia Today Was dropped by its American Distributors the company ceased its formal operations in the United States and the European Union the UK and Canada banned RT's broadcasting but as RT itself has boasted government of Russia continued to use RT to direct disinformation and propaganda in the wake of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine artist editor-in Chief said the company had built quote an entire Empire of covert projects designed to shape public opinion in Western audiences we allege that as part of that effort RP and its employees including the defendants implemented a nearly $10 million scheme to fund and direct a Tennessee based company to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government to implement this scheme the defendant directed the company to contract with us-based social media influencers to share this content on their platforms the subject matter and content of many of the videos published by the company were often consistent with Russia's interest in amplifying US domestic divisions in order to weaken us opposition to core russian interests particularly ongoing war in Ukraine the company never disclosed to the influencers or to their millions of followers its ties to R and the Russian government instead the defendants in the company claimed that the company was sponsored by a private investor but that private investor was a fictitious Persona the charges and sealed this morning do not represent the end of the investigation it remains active and ongoing in a separate enforcement action the justice department is seizing 32 internet domains that the Russian government and the Russian sponsor actors have used to engage in a covert campaign to interfere and influence the outcome of our country's elections as alleged in our court filings President Vladimir Putin's Inner Circle including including Sergey kov directed Russian public relations companies to promote disinformation and state sponsored narratives as part of a program to influence the 2024 US presidential election an internal planning document created by the Kremlin states that is the goal of the of the campaign is securing Russia's preferred outcome in the election the online infrastructure used by the Russian public relations company known as the social design agency or SDA and related actors included what are sometimes referred to as cyber squatted domains these websites were designed to appear to American readers as if they were major US News sites like Washington Post for Fox News but in fact they were fake sites they were filled with Russian government propaganda that had been created by the Kremlin to reduce international support for Ukraine bolster to Russian policies and interests and influence voters in the United States and in other countries internal documents of the Kremlin describe the content as quote bogus stories disguised as newsworthy events close quote this malign influence campaign has been referred to as dble ganger the Russian public relations company drove viewers to these websites by deploying influencers and paid social media advertisements they also created fake social media profiles posing as US citizens post comments on social media platforms with links to the sites according to sda's records it actively sought to quote eliminate the possibility of detection of a Russian footprint both of the schemes I just discussed may clear the ends to which the Russian government including at its highest levels as will to go to undermine our Democratic process but the enforcement actions I discussed also make clear that the justice department will aggressively counter such efforts and the same is true of the entire United States government today our colleagues at the state and treasury departments are announcing parallel actions in both of these matters unfortunately we know that Russia is not the only foreign power seeking to to interfere in our elections as the US intelligence Community noted two weeks ago we have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle that includes recently reported activities by Iran to compromise former president Trump's campaign and to avoid an election outcome that it regards as against its interests those recently reported Iranian activities also include efforts to obtain access to individuals who themselves have access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties the Justice Department's message is clear we have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our demograph our democratic system of govern we will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia and Iran as well as China or any other foreign malign actor interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy now I will turn back to the topic of today's meeting just as we are dedicated to combating foreign threats to our elections we are equally dedicated to confront domestic threats against the public servants who administer our elections since the 2020 election we have seen an unprecedent Spike and threats against the public servants who do administer our elections election officials workers and volunteers and communities across the country have been targeted with heinous acts and threats of violence the following are a few examples of successful enforcement actions that the justice department has taken over the past year in New Mexico County Commissioners and other elected officials were targeted with a series of shootings that the department has alleged in court papers were organized by an unsuccessful candidate for the state legisl who claimed that the election had been quot rigged against him at least three of the shootings occurred while the intended victims or their children or their family members were at home in February two Shooters who we alleged were recruited by the candidate pled guilty to carrying out the attacks in March the candidate himself was charged from the 13 count superseding indictment in Arizona a man sent a state election official a bomb threat warning that if she did not resign within two days quote explosive device impacted in her personal space would be detonated in March the man was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for making that in Maricopa County Arizona an elections official a county attorney and their families were threatened by a defendant who called for quote a mass shooting of pole workers and election officials PR believe had quote suspect results his revolting comments included quote dead children burned into the memories of people the county attorney who had been targeted later reported that he his wife and for children had been assigned Round the Clock protection and issued body armor in response to the and the elections official who was targeted said in a victim impact statement that quote while I am person directly threatened by this case the impact of such threats is felt by a much larger Community the thousands of committed election workers who operate our Democratic processes when threats are made against any election worker impact andat throughout the entire community that defendant was senten to three and a half years in recent months our enforcement actions have continued in July we secured the plea of an Alabama man repeatedly threatened to kill Amica Maricopa County election workers and officials in one particularly chilling message he said quote you better not come in my church bu business or send your kids to my school you are stupid if you think you are safe his s in is scheduled for next also in July the justice department secured a 14mon sentence from a man who sent a death threat to a Michigan election work in a voicemail he said quote 10 million plus Patriots will surround you and least expect it and he added we'll kill you last less than two weeks ago we charged and arrested a Colorado man for allegedly threatening the lives of election officials judges and law enforcement officials in both Colorado and Arizona as I have said before and I will reiterate again today these cases are a warning if you threaten to harm or kill an election worker or official or volunteer the justice department will find you and we will hold you accountable in a democracy people vote argue and debate often loudly in order to achieve the policy outcomes they desire and the justice department will continue to relentlessly protect the rights of all Americans to peacefully Express their opinions beliefs and ideas but the promise of our democracy is that people will not employ violence to achieve their preferred outcomes the public servants who administer our elections must be able to do their jobs without fearing for their lives that is why this task force has been marshalling a full resources of the justice department to aggressively investigate and prosecute threats targeting election workers officials and volunteers and we will continue to do so in the months ahead and the task force will build on Partnerships with state and local election officials and law enforcement officials task protecting them since March the task force has participated in more than 25 convenings engaging engagements trainings tabletop exercises including both both with our law enforcement partners and with our partners in the election Community Nationwide over the next several weeks T Force Representatives will be on the ground meeting with election workers and in early November both in advance of and after election day the FBI will be hosting Federal Partners at its headquarters Command Center to address events issues and potential crimes related to the elections in real time election officials and administrators do not need to navigate this threat environmental law we are here to support them to make sure they can safely carry out their critical work protecting our democracy and protecting our elections was a founding purpose when the justice department was established in 187 the department answered that charge then and we will answer that charge today as we confront those who would use violence or threats of violence to attack those who administer our elections now the deputy attorney general thank you very much Mr Attorney General