Senior Trump officials warn of foreign interference on Super Tuesday

The leaders of eight federal agencies on Monday jointly urged the public to be vigilant of foreign influence operations around the presidential primaries ahead of Super Tuesday, also emphasizing the federal government’s coordination in defending against threats to elections.

In a statement released Monday, the Trump administration officials — who included Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf — noted that they “continue to work with all 50 states, U.S. territories, local officials, political parties and private sector partners to keep elections free from foreign interference.”

The officials cautioned that Americans “must also remain aware that foreign actors continue to try to influence public sentiment and shape voter perceptions,” adding that foreign actors may attempt to “spread false information and propaganda about political processes and candidates on social media” in order to create doubt in the election system.

“We remain alert and ready to respond to any efforts to disrupt the 2020 elections,” the officials said. “We continue to make it clear to foreign actors that any effort to undermine our democratic processes will be met with sharp consequences.”

The statement was also co-signed by Defense Secretary Defense Mark Esper, acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell, FBI Director Christopher Wray, U.S. Cyber Command Commander and National Security Agency Director Gen. Paul Nakasone, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs.

The officials emphasized that the level of “coordination” between federal agencies and state and local election officials was “stronger than it’s ever been.”