Top lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee tell Axios their biggest fear in the immediate days after Tuesday's election is a "perception hack" that throws the country into a constitutional crisis.
Why it matters: Networks of disinformation, both foreign and domestic, will have a long runway to undermine the integrity of our elections. Those aims could potentially be boosted if President Trump joins in on questioning the credibility of the system.
- "This is a really dangerous moment; the only antidote is a landslide," Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) tells Axios.
What we're hearing: The chief concern within the committee, top members say, is that America's foreign adversaries, namely Russia and Iran, will sow enough doubt in the credibility of the election that they will succeed in substantiating partisan claims that the election is fraudulent.
- "They don't have to change votes," King says. "They don't have to wipe registration rolls. All they have to do is raise doubt. All they have to do is raise enough questions so that those who are prepared to call the election fraudulent or unfair or rigged have some evidence upon which to make that claim."
- A senior Republican committee aide added that those doubts will likely come in the form of viral disinformation posts on Twitter and Facebook: "By the time we realize that it’s fake, it’s way too late. Half of our country will be locked into believing one thing, and half the country is locked into believing another, and then one side will think that the other party stole the election."
This becomes an even bigger problem if the president himself amplifies these messages, lawmakers say. ...