Haaretz: “An Israeli public relations company headed by a settler leader boasted Wednesday that it was behind the Likud initiative to place 1,200 hidden cameras in Arab polling stations on Election Day. The firm added that it was to thank for the historically low turnout among Arab voters.”
From the company’s statement: “Thanks to us placing observers in every polling station we managed to lower the voter turnout to under 50 percent, the lowest in recent years!”
Wired: “Plenty of people are following the final days of the midterm election campaigns. Yale law researcher Rebecca Crootof has a special interest—a small wager. If she wins, victory will be bittersweet, like the Manhattan cocktail that will be her prize.”
“In June, Crootof bet that before 2018 is out an electoral campaign somewhere in the world will be roiled by a deepfake—a video generated by machine-learning software that shows someone doing or saying something that in fact they did not do or say. Under the terms of the bet, the video must receive more than 2 million views before being debunked.”
“A conservative group that creates undercover ‘sting’ videos infiltrated the campaign of Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat in a tight race with Rep. Dave Brat in Virginia’s 7th District,” the Washington Post reports.
“The campaign said a young woman working for Project Veritas posed as a Democratic volunteer and spent every day over the past several weeks in Spanberger’s suburban Richmond campaign office, performing basic office tasks — and peppering her office mates with questions that eventually raised red flags.”
“A cadre of conservative House lawmakers allied with President Trump has been privately exchanging articles from right-wing outlets that depict Khashoggi as allied with terrorists — false and distorted claims that have begun to flare into public view as conservative media figures have amplified them,” the Washington Post reports.
“Khashoggi, a dissident journalist, is believed to have been killed and dismembered by Saudi operatives.”
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) — who’ll be out Tuesday with his second book, Them: Why We Hate Each Other — and How to Heal — tells Axios about new artificial intelligence algorithms that can create convincing fake images, audio and video and potentially disrupt our politics.
Said Sasse: “I had a conversation last month with one of the most senior U.S. intelligence officials, who told me that many leaders in the intelligence community worry that we’re on the verge of a deepfakes ‘perfect storm.'”
“The tussle between two Republicans vying for a chance to capture the House District 69 seat has taken an unpleasant turn,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.
“Raymond Blacklidge (R) filed a report with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office accusing his rival, Jeremy Bailie (R), of stealing his campaign fliers from the doors of dozens of St. Pete Beach homes. And, Blacklidge said, his rival then replaced them with Bailie’s own campaign materials.”
Blacklidge’s wife posted a video to Facebook showing Bailie removing the flyers.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) tells the AP that “every month for the last 18 months, her office has discovered on average between three and five fake Facebook profiles pretending to be hers.”
“It’s unclear who creates the pages, which are often designed to mislead American voters about the ambitious Democratic senator’s policies and positions.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), known for her outspoken criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, “was hit with a bizarre impersonation attempt by someone hoping to get inside information on American sanctions targeting Russia,” according to emails and an audio recording obtained by the Daily Beast.
Shaheen “was contacted through her staff last November by an individual who said he worked for the foreign ministry of Latvia, a tiny Baltic nation supportive of efforts to reign in Russian aggression. The man said he was trying to set up a phone call between the senator and Edgars Rinkevičs, the Latvian foreign minister.”
“But before the call could take place, Shaheen’s office contacted the Latvian embassy to confirm Vaiders’ bona fides. The embassy responded that outreach attempt was fake.”
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) set up a fake health news website to attack his opponent in his re-election bid, STAT reports.
“It has headlines and bylines, an original story 834 words long, and links to 10 articles from other outlets concerning health policy and drug pricing in New Jersey. But readers expecting journalism from the upstart HealthNewsNJ.com may be in for a surprise: It’s fake news.”
At least one person in WKRG-TV‘s viewing area received a robocall seeking more damaging information about Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore (R).
Here is the text of that voicemail message:
Hi, this is Bernie Bernstein, I’m a reporter for the Washington Post calling to find out if anyone at this address is a female between the ages of 54 to 57 years old willing to make damaging remarks about candidate Roy Moore for a reward of between $5000 and $7000 dollars. We will not be fully investigating these claims however we will make a written report. I can be reached by email at albernstein@washingtonpost.com, thank you.
The Washington Post issued a statement: “The Post has just learned that at least one person in Alabama has received a call from someone falsely claiming to be from The Washington Post. The call’s description of our reporting methods bears no relationship to reality. We are shocked and appalled that anyone would stoop to this level to discredit real journalism.”
Rep. Bob Brady’s (D-PA) “longtime political strategist has become the latest target in a widening federal probe of a $90,000 payment the congressman made to a primary challenger in 2012 to convince the man to drop out of the race,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“Ken Smukler, whom prosecutors have accused of helping to secretly funnel some of that money to the rival campaign, is expected to be indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday.”
Said Brady: “He didn’t do nothing wrong. I don’t know what this is all about.”
Wired: “Over the past year, the Kremlin’s strategy of weaponizing leaks to meddle with democracies around the world has become increasingly clear, first in the US and more recently in France. But a new report by a group of security researchers digs into another layer of those so-called influence operations: how Russian hackers alter documents within those releases of hacked material, planting disinformation alongside legitimate leaks.”
“In President Trump’s oft-changing world order, Roger J. Stone Jr., the onetime political consultant and full-time provocateur, has been one of the few constants — a loyalist and self-proclaimed ‘dirty trickster‘ who nurtured the dream of a presidential run by the developer-turned-television-star for 30 years,” the New York Times reports.
“But two months into the Trump presidency, Mr. Stone, known for his pinstripe suits, the Nixon tattoo spanning his shoulder blades, and decades of outlandish statements, is under investigation for what would be his dirtiest trick — colluding with the Russians to defeat Hillary Clinton and put his friend in the White House.”
Washington Post: “Reporters were kept out, and only a few select staffers, family members and outsiders were allowed to participate in the private GOP policy retreat. But at least one unauthorized person made it inside, and while it is unclear to what degree the country’s top leaders were in physical danger, their circle of trust was undoubtedly breached.”
“A person secretly recorded closed sessions on national security and health care that were attended by many dozens of GOP lawmakers. They had gathered for a private discussion of some of the thorniest legislative issues of the moment, as well as a question-and-answer session with Pence.”
Ambassador John Bolton claimed that hacks during the election season could have been “a false flag” operation — possibly committed by the Obama administration itself, Politico reports.
Said Bolton: “It is not at all clear to me just viewing this from the outside, that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC computers was not a false flag. So the question has to be asked, why did the Russians run their smart intelligence service against Hillary’s server, but their dumb intelligence service against the election?”
“Just wanted you to know that I am thinking of you and wishing the best. For what it’s worth, I thought the move you pulled was kind of badass.”
— Jared Kushner, in a 2013 email to David Wildstein obtained by the Washington Post, amid growing evidence that Wildstein had ordered the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge to payback Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) political enemies.
“An automated army of pro-Donald Trump chatbots overwhelmed similar programs supporting Hillary Clinton five to one in the days leading up to the presidential election, according to a report published Thursday by researchers at Oxford University,” the New York Times reports.
“The chatbots — basic software programs with a bit of artificial intelligence and rudimentary communication skills — would send messages on Twitter based on a topic… Their purpose: to rant, confuse people on facts, or simply muddy discussions.”
“A poll worker in Texas was injured Tuesday when he tried to move a Donald Trump campaign sign and cut his hand on box-cutter blades that had been attached to it,” the Huffington Post reports.
“The tampered sign was discovered Tuesday morning blocking an official polling sign at Collin County College in Plano, according to NBC Dallas. A precinct official had ordered the sign to be moved.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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