Whistleblower video alleging Arizona vote rigging is part of Russian disinformation campaign

In the days leading up to the Nov. 5 general election, a video targeting Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes went viral on X. 

The video appears to show an anonymous aide of Fontes’ testifying that Fontes has coordinated with other state leaders, including Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, to manipulate the election in favor of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The person claims supporters of Donald Trump would be removed from the voter rolls.

The video was shared online by the Moscow-based Foundation to Battle Injustice. But some people commented on the video claiming it was fake. VERIFY looked into the claim seen in the video. 

Is the video appearing to show a whistleblower coming forward about election fraud in Arizona real?

No, the video appearing to show a whistleblower coming forward about election fraud in Arizona isn’t real. It’s a product of a Russian disinformation campaign and has been debunked by state and federal authorities. 

The video posted to X isn’t real; it was produced and shared by the Foundation to Battle Injustice, a Russian organization associated with a group known for producing fake videos to foster distrust in the 2024 election.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes called the video fake in interviews with several news outlets. He described the video to Scripps as a “stupid, ham-handed attempt” by foreign adversaries to influence the election. In an interview with AZFamily, he called it “completely false, fake and fraudulent.” VERIFY reached out to Fontes’ office for further comment but did not hear back at the time of publication. 

On Nov. 4, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed that Russian actors manufactured the video.

Russian actors “manufactured and amplified a recent video that falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona, which involved creating fake overseas ballots and changing voter rolls to favor Vice President Kamala Harris. The Arizona Secretary of State has already refuted the video’s claim as false,” the agencies said in a joint statement.

The ODNI report identifies Russia as the most active threat against the U.S. election system.

Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, shared the video on X and is the one conducting the interview in the video. Terada served two years in a U.S. prison for money laundering in connection to cocaine smuggling and is now seen in Russia as “an example of U.S. injustice,” according to a report on Russian disinformation from Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub. Terada’s X account was suspended after publishing the video.

“This fake interview between Terada and ‘a former aide to Adrian Fontes’ is a blatant attempt by Russia to spread doubt in the integrity of the U.S. election,” wrote Darren Linvill, co-founder of the Media Forensics Hub, on X.

The ODNI stated Russian influence actors are “manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences … These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials.”

Clemson University’s report links the Foundation to Battle Injustice to Storm-1516, a Russian group previously credited for creating a fake video showing Haitian people illegally voting in Georgia, a video falsely implicating Vice President Kamala Harris in a decade-old hit-and-run, an impersonation video used to maliciously accuse Tim Walz of sexual abuse, and a fake video of ballots being destroyed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

According to Microsoft, which tracks cybersecurity threats, Storm-1516 “consistently launders narratives through videos seeding scandalous claims from fake journalists and nonexistent whistleblowers and amplifying that disinformation via inauthentic news sites.” 

The National Intelligence Council, which reports to the ODNI, warned that foreign bad actors are prepared to “exploit opportunities to exert influence in the U.S. general election … We expect these actors to at least conduct information operations denigrating U.S. democracy through Inauguration Day.”