Justice Dept. Official Calls Election Meddling a ‘Clear and Present Danger’

The Justice Department’s top national security official warned on Thursday that foreign interference in the 2024 election posed a “clear and present danger” and said that Russia was ramping up its disinformation efforts in hopes of helping former President Donald J. Trump.

Matthew G. Olsen, the head of the department’s national security division, cited Iran’s recent hacking of the Trump campaign as evidence that some adversaries were also seeking to damage Mr. Trump’s chances of victory, though Tehran tried, unsuccessfully, to hack Democratic campaigns as well.

Mr. Olsen, amplifying warnings issued by the U.S. intelligence community and senior F.B.I. officials, did not suggest that Mr. Trump or any of his associates were working with overseas actors. He also identified North Korea and China as countries posing serious threats to the election.

But Mr. Olsen singled out efforts by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to influence U.S. elections by bankrolling right-wing influencers and impersonating legitimate news sites with the intertwined objectives of bolstering Mr. Trump and degrading U.S. support for Ukraine.

Mr. Olsen’s remarks, which came less than two months before Election Day, follow the indictment last week of two employees of the Kremlin-controlled media organization RT. The employees were accused of providing financial backing to an American company that disseminated content favored by Russia, including pro-Trump commentary and pieces sympathetic to Russia’s position on Ukraine.

“Russia is using its state-run media and other entities to covertly push for its preferred election outcomes, seeking to influence voter preferences in favor of the former president and to diminish the prospects of the vice president,”