Speaker Ryan, Sen Rubio may have been targets of damaging Russian social-media campaigns

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Two high-profile Republican members of Congress may have been targets of Russian social-media campaigns to discredit them as recently as this past week, an expert in Kremlin influence-peddling told the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 30. “This past week we observed social-media accounts discrediting US Speaker of the House Paul Ryan,” Clint Watts told the committee in a rare open hearing with cybersecurity, intelligence and Russian-history experts that leaders billed as a “primer” on Russian influence-peddling.

Watts, an expert in terrorism forecasting and Russian influence operations from the Foreign Policy Research Institute, also said that in his opinion, Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) “anecdotally suffered” from Russian social-media campaigns against him during his presidential bid. Speaker Ryan’s office was not aware of the report about an effort against him, according to a spokeswoman. The revelations widen the scope of politicians who have become the subject of Russian smear campaigns carried out on social media, a central part of the Kremlin’s alleged strategy of spreading propaganda in the United States and undermining its democratic institutions.


Speaker Ryan, Sen Rubio may have been targets of damaging Russian social-media campaigns