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INTELLIGENCE BRIEF // FIVE ELECTION LIES
Briefing No. 112
November 10, 2026Table of Contents
Russia hijacked Hollywood, China invented American voters, and AI helped turn a fabricated scandal into an answer.
A Note from Eric: The Election Is Over. The Spies Aren't Finished.
We just weathered one of the most exhausting and consequential political elections I can remember. Records were broken, political landscapes shifted, and pundits exhausted their supply of adjectives, throwing around words like “tsunami” to describe the results.
If you're a Republican, you're probably running for your bunker to duck and cover from the political fallout. But there is little time to waste before the necessary reforms to your party must begin. If you're a Democrat, resist the urge to gloat. It's time for common sense to return to politics. Otherwise, your new constituency may prove to be renters rather than permanent tenants.
My theory about 2028 remains simple. The party that moderates toward the middle, embraces common-sense reforms, offers a credible path to economic prosperity and lower inflation, and presents a political face unmarked by chaos and corruption will have an important advantage. Neither party owns the middle, and neither has earned the permanent loyalty of American voters.
But while Americans fought over the future of Washington, foreign intelligence operatives were conducting a different kind of political campaign.
They manufactured witnesses who never testified, celebrities who never spoke, and American voters who never existed. They fabricated television reports, invented scandals, and even persuaded some of America's most popular artificial intelligence systems to repeat their lies.
During my years hunting spies for the FBI, I learned that an effective adversary rarely needs to invent your weaknesses. It finds the divisions that already exist and exploits them. Artificial intelligence has made that process faster, cheaper, and more convincing.
We have not seen credible public evidence of widespread foreign compromise of America's voting infrastructure. But the information Americans encountered before casting their ballots was another matter entirely.
This week, we're investigating five documented examples of foreign influence operations and domestic political deception that reveal what may be coming in 2028.
And our first story begins in Hollywood.
1. Hollywood Was Hijacked by Russian Spies
Imagine opening your social media feed and watching Julia Roberts, Robert De Niro, or Cher deliver a furious political warning. They appear to condemn certain candidates, accuse politicians of horrific misconduct, and urge Americans to vote against them.
Their faces are familiar. Their voices sound authentic. Some videos even bear the CNN logo.
There's just one problem. None of them actually said those things.
Russian-linked operatives had hijacked Hollywood.
The operation, known as Matryoshka or Operation Overload, turned recognizable American celebrities into unwitting messengers of Russian propaganda. Using genuine footage, manipulated or synthetic audio, and counterfeit news branding, operators created political videos designed to look like authentic celebrity statements.
One fabricated Julia Roberts video repurposed footage from a Gucci advertisement. Other clips featured manipulated appearances by Sarah Jessica Parker, Alyson Hannigan, and additional familiar faces. The celebrities appeared to denounce politicians, make inflammatory allegations, and encourage viewers to share the videos.
Some videos falsely linked certain politicians to crimes against children. Others fabricated accusations of corruption. Counterfeit CNN branding suggested the material was backed by an established news organization.
Then the Russian bot networks went to work.
Bloomberg examined 130 fabricated videos and doctored newspaper pages circulated over approximately one month. Automated accounts inflated apparent popularity, making fringe propaganda look like a viral political phenomenon.
Now think about the deception. A familiar actor delivers a shocking revelation on what looks like a legitimate news broadcast. Thousands of accounts appear to be sharing it. Before anyone verifies the source, the accusation is part of the conversation.
The operators manufactured the message, its messenger, and the illusion of public approval.
I spent years hunting spies who relied on false identities, planted information, and carefully cultivated credibility. This is familiar tradecraft with a technological upgrade. A foreign operator once needed substantial resources to recruit an influential messenger. Now that operator can manufacture one.
The Spy Hunter's Lesson: A familiar face, convincing voice, and trusted news logo are no longer evidence that something is real. Verify the original source before sharing an explosive political video.
2. China's Fake Influencers
China didn't need a Hollywood celebrity. Its operators found something potentially more useful: Americans who didn't exist.
Researchers at Graphika uncovered China-linked Spamouflage accounts posing as American voters while spreading divisive political messages. Some questioned election legitimacy or circulated competing political narratives.
One fake persona reportedly had approximately 14,700 followers. Other accounts repurposed established audiences to spread messages favorable to Chinese interests. Researchers cautioned that much of the apparent engagement came from suspicious network activity; fortunately, there is no established evidence these operations changed votes.
The Spy Hunter's Lesson: The passionate American patriot agreeing with everything you believe online might be an invented persona. Check an account's history before trusting the flag in its profile.
3. Iran's Imaginary American Activists
An example of a fake Iranian influence operation instagram account. Source: Meta.
Iran went looking for American political influence by inventing Americans.
Meta dismantled an Iran-based operation involving four Facebook accounts and 31 Instagram accounts. Operators posed as activists, students, and graphic designers living in American cities, and distributed political content, including AI-generated material expressing anti-Republican views.
Approximately 79,400 Instagram accounts followed at least one of the network's accounts. Operators tried to engage real journalists and political figures, and routed activity through North American infrastructure to hide their origins.
The method is striking: counterfeit Americans inserting themselves into authentic political debates.
The Spy Hunter's Lesson: A convincing biography, thousands of followers, and an American hometown do not prove someone is who they claim to be.
4. The Russian Lie That Fooled American AI
A fabricated video appeared online in October showing a man impersonating a former student of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. It falsely accused Talarico of sexual misconduct. The real former student denied making the allegation.
Researchers linked the operation to Storm-1516, a Russia-linked influence network associated with fabricated accusations against Senate candidates Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Troy Jackson in Maine.
Then came the extraordinary twist. Apparently Google's Gemini and Microsoft's Copilot repeated the false allegation in some responses.
Essentially, a foreign-planted lie had resurfaced through American AI products in the form of an apparently credible answer. This is particularly dangerous as AI chatbots have begun to replace search engines.
The Spy Hunter's Lesson: Artificial intelligence can repeat fabricated intelligence. Always independently verify AI-generated responses through links to source material.
5. The Deepfake Attack Ads
Foreign adversaries weren't the only ones manufacturing political reality. The technologies exploited by foreign influence networks are also available to domestic political organizations.
In Kentucky's Republican congressional primary, opposition political action committees deployed AI-generated attack advertisements against Republicans Thomas Massie and Ed Gallrein. One depicted Massie holding hands with Democratic Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. Another placed Gallrein on a fictional battlefield.
The Spy Hunter's Lesson: Political deception deserves scrutiny regardless of whether it originates in Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, or Kentucky.
As I say in my new book Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime: we need to hunt the threat before the threat hunts us.
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Spy Hunter's Tip: The 90-Second Deepfake Test
Before sharing an explosive political video, stop and investigate. Find the original recording rather than trusting an isolated clip. Check whether independent journalists or fact-checkers verified the accusation. Look for a statement from the person supposedly speaking. Be especially suspicious of sensational revelations immediately before an election.
Never assume an AI assistant independently authenticated a claim simply because it sounds confident.
The rule I learned hunting spies still applies: Verify before trusting what you see.
The Last Word
We cannot establish that these influence operations changed the outcome of the midterms. But they reveal how artificial intelligence can manufacture evidence, impersonate trusted voices, and exploit political divisions.
By 2028, these techniques will become even more convincing. Our adversaries would welcome a country in which Americans cannot agree on what is real.
To protect ourselves from a future where trust is uncertain, we need to learn to recognize deepfakes.
Stay safe out there and keep thinking like a spy hunter.
Praemonitus Praemunitus!
Forewarned is Forearmed!
~ Eric
