However, senior officials declined to discuss Russia's efforts to seize upon the President's attempts to sow mistrust and doubt about the mail in voting process. Still, the comments from senior US intelligence officials on Wednesday highlight just how isolated Trump is with his rhetoric about election security and voting misconduct. His conspiratorial claims about widespread fraud and "rigged elections" have now been rejected by top US officials from his own administration, state officials from both parties, and nonpartisan voting experts. In an email to CNN hours after the briefing, Trump campaign spokesperson Thea McDonald declined to address why the President's theories about voting were publicly rejected by top US intelligence officials. "We continue to drive intelligence collection dissemination to those who need it, including policymakers, to make the best decisions and judgments everyone can make," the senior intelligence official said.

Source: CNN August 26, 2020 19:52 UTC