An FBI raid on a house about an hour outside Washington this month renewed focus on U.S. efforts to combat foreign interference in the 2024 election.
FBI agents raided the Huntly, Virginia, home of Russian American Dimitri Simes, with agents taking items from the 131-acre estate over several days and loading them into trailers.
When VOA traveled to the property last week, agents were still on site. VOA saw around six vehicles, including some with covered license plates.
Simes hosts a political talk show on Russian state channel Channel One and until 2022 led the Center for the National Interest, a foreign policy think tank in Washington. In 2016, he provided informal foreign policy advice to the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, according to reports.
He told Russian state media he was out of the country at the time of the raid and had not been officially notified.
A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed to VOA that the bureau conducted “court-authorized law enforcement activity” but declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation.
Broad investigation
U.S. media later reported that the Department of Justice has launched a broad criminal investigation into Americans who have worked with Russia’s state television, including Simes and former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter.
An FBI spokesperson told VOA the agency had no updates on the investigation. VOA also contacted the Department of Justice for comment and updates late Friday, but as of publication had not received a response.
According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Russia is the “predominant threat” to November’s elections.
In a July assessment, the office said it “continues to observe a range of foreign actors conducting or planning influence operations targeting U.S elections this November.”
Citing Russia, Iran, and China as threats, the office said it anticipated that there would be efforts “to promote influence narratives seeking to undermine democratic institutions, foment discord, and/or change public opinion.”
The report noted that Iran has stepped up its efforts. “Tehran relies on vast webs of online personas and propaganda mills to spread disinformation and have notably been active in exacerbating tensions over the Israel-Gaza conflict,” the report found.
U.S. intelligence officials on August 19 said they were confident Tehran was behind a hack of the Trump 2024 presidential campaign. Earlier this month, Microsoft said it had seen increased influence campaigns linked to Iran, and Google flagged Iranian hacking attempts that targeted both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.
In July, before Biden withdrew from the race, U.S. intelligence officials said in a report that Russia continues to try to boost the campaign of Trump by disparaging Biden.
Russian state media cited Simes as saying he didn’t know what was behind the search of his home. Simes said that he left the U.S. in 2022, a few months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
“I have not been to the United States since October 2022. So, there is absolutely nothing that could be there that is connected to my current professional life or my other activities,” he told the Kremlin-backed network Sputnik.
Simes and the Center for the National Interest were featured several times in the 2019 Robert Mueller report into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Both were cleared of wrongdoing.
In 2016, Simes provided informal advice to the Trump campaign on foreign policy, including advising on a speech Trump gave on the need for greater cooperation with Moscow, The Guardian reported.
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