“I think that I have been very clear about this, as a counterintelligence official here in the U.S. that, from an election perspective, Russia poses the greatest threat. And they have the best tools, capabilities, and intent, right? Democracy really scares Vladimir Putin and the Russian establishment,” Evanina said Thursday. “But I will also say, putting my counterintelligence hat on, the Chinese Communist Party poses the greatest national security risk to our nation. … I think it’s important for your viewers to understand the ultimate goal of Russia and Iran is to sow discord and to be able to destabilize our democracy. Both those regimes, their biggest kryptonite is democracy. So, anything they can do in any manner to destabilize the democracy and continue to sow discord and drive wedges in our society is their ultimate goal.”

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Christopher Wray held a surprise press conference last week warning that Russia and Iran had gained access to U.S. voter registration information.

Ratcliffe announced that “we have confirmed that some voter registration information has been obtained by Iran and separately by Russia. This data can be used by foreign actors to communicate false information to registered voters that they hope will cause confusion, sow chaos, and undermine your confidence in American democracy.” Wray stressed voters should be confident that their votes would count.

“We’re trying to identify if the data taken by Russian and Iran was also available publicly. But right now, all we know is both nations took voter data registration information from places that were election-related infrastructure,” Evanina said Thursday. “The Russian penetration was part of an overall cyberactivity where they’re just doing a lot of penetration and surveillance of critical infrastructure.”

Evanina stressed that “we’re very confident that our adversaries will not be able to manipulate any votes or change any votes at scale.”

After the announcement by Ratcliffe and Wray, the State Department and the Treasury Department leveled new sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian groups that the U.S. said are involved in 2020 election interference.

Last week, the Miami Herald reported that intimidating emails claiming to be from the right-wing Proud Boys group, but were apparently from the Iranians instead, had been sent to hundreds of voters in numerous counties in Florida, seemingly targeting Democrats. The emails said, in part, that “you will vote for Trump on Election Day, or we will come after you.” The DNI’s office said this week it would brief the Republican and Democratic lawmakers representing the Florida counties most targeted.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was one of many Democrats to criticize Ratcliffe’s statements on Iran, saying, “Russia is the villain here, from what we have seen in the public domain. Iran is a bad actor but in no way equivalent.”

“We have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest, and damage President Trump,” Ratcliffe said last week, adding that “we have not seen the same actions from Russia.”

Evanina said Thursday that “I can only comment to the actual effects and impacts of last week with respect to what happened with Iran’s intentions — the Iranians truly believe that the United States government is trying to enact regime change, so, logically, they are anti this administration.”

“The Iranians follow U.S. politics closely and saw the last debate where the Proud Boys were an issue and saw an opportunity here to manufacture blowback on Trump by creating a narrative that violent Trump supporters are sending out threatening emails,” a senior intelligence official told the Washington Examiner last week.

Evanina’s August Intelligence Community assessment said U.S. intelligence agencies “are primarily concerned about the ongoing and potential activity” by China, Russia, and Iran.

“We assess that China prefers that President Trump, whom Beijing sees as unpredictable, does not win reelection,” Evanina said. “China has been expanding its influence efforts ahead of November 2020 to shape the policy environment in the United States, pressure political figures it views as opposed to China’s interests, and deflect and counter criticism of China.” He also said that the Chinese Communist Party recognized that its efforts could impact the election.

“We assess that Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment.’ This is consistent with Moscow’s public criticism of him when he was vice president,” Evanina said in August, warning that “pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is spreading claims about corruption — including through publicizing leaked phone calls — to undermine” Biden’s candidacy.

Evanina’s assessment also said Iran “seeks to undermine U.S. democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country in advance of the 2020 elections.” He said that the Iranian regime’s motivation “is in part driven by a perception that President Trump’s reelection would result in a continuation of U.S. pressure on Iran in an effort to foment regime change.”

Amanda Schoch, the assistant DNI for strategic communications, told the Washington Examiner this week that “the IC has not changed our assessment on Iran’s intent.”

Robert Mueller’s special counsel report concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion,” but it “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.”