https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf
(U) Analysis of the behavior of the IRA-associated social media accounts makes dear
that while the Russian information warfare campaign exploited the context of the election
and election-related issues in 2016, the preponderance of the operational focus, as
reflected repeatedly in content, account names, and audiences targeted, was on sociapy
divisive issues-such as race, immigration, and Second Amendment rights-in an
attempt to pit Americans against one another and against their government. The
Committee found that IRA influence operatives consistently used hot-button, societal
divisions in the United States as fodder for the content they published through social
media in order to stoke anger, provoke outrage and protest, push Americans further away
from one another, and foment distrust in government institutions. The divisive 2016 U.S.
presidential election was just an additional feature of a much more expansive,, target-rich
landscape of potential ideological and societal sensitivities.
(U) The Committee found that the IRA targeted not only Hillary Clinton, but also
Republican candidates during the presidential primaries. For example, Senators Ted
Cruz and Marco Rubio were targeted and denigrated, as was Jeb Bush. 14 As Clint Watts,
a former FBI Agent and expert in social media weaponization, testified to the Committee,
"Russia's overt media outlets and covert trolls sought to sideline opponents on both sides of the political spectrum with adversarial views towards the Kremlin." IRA operators
sought"to impact primaries for both major parties and "may have helped sink the hopes of
candidates more hostile to Russian interests long before the field narrowed."