Report Suggests Wisconsin Voters Targeted by Collusion Between Trump Campaign, Russian Fake News Operation

MADISON, Wis. — One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross today called for a response from Gov. Scott Walker to a bombshell revelation that the campaign of Donald Trump may have directed an effort by a hostile foreign power to influence Wisconsin voters. According to a news report, the ongoing federal investigations into collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia is investigating whether the Trump campaign helped guide Russian backed fake news attacks against Hillary Clinton that targeted key demographics and voting precincts in Wisconsin.

“While Hillary Clinton may not have campaigned in Wisconsin in the fall of 2016 it sure looks like the Russians were, potentially with the help or at the direction of Republican Donald Trump’s campaign operation,” said Ross.

He noted that Scott Walker has been an eager surrogate for Donald Trump in Wisconsin, appearing with him at high dollar fundraising events, campaigning on his behalf and attacking his political opponents in the media.

Yet Wisconsin’s Governor remained silent on the Trump-Russia scandal, even with this latest revelation, that the Trump campaign may have directed an effort by a hostile foreign power to influence Wisconsin voters.

Walker has also demurred in responding to Trump’s election commission’s controversial and possibly improper request for sensitive personal information about registered voters, including portions of social security numbers, birth date, voting history and any information about individual’s partisan political preference.

According to the story:

Congressional and Justice Department investigators are focusing on whether Trump’s campaign pointed Russian cyber operatives to certain voting jurisdictions in key states – areas where Trump’s digital team and Republican operatives were spotting unexpected weakness in voter support for Hillary Clinton, according to several people familiar with the parallel inquiries.

It goes on to note that:

By Election Day, an automated Kremlin cyberattack of unprecedented scale and sophistication had delivered critical and phony news about the Democratic presidential nominee to the Twitter and Facebook accounts of millions of voters. Some investigators suspect the Russians targeted voters in swing states, even in key precincts.

A member of the Senate Committee investigating the alleged Trump campaign – Russian collusion commented:

The Russians appear to have targeted women and African-Americans in two of the three decisive states, Wisconsin and Michigan, “where the Democrats were too brain dead to realize those states were even in play,” Warner said.

Twitter’s and Facebook’s search engines in those states were overwhelmed, he said, meaning they couldn’t discern fake news from real news.

“On your news feed, you suddenly got … ‘Hillary Clinton’s sick’ or ‘Hillary Clinton’s stealing money from the State Department,’” said Warner.

Ross concluded, “Scott Walker has been an eager surrogate for Donald Trump and intimately involved with his campaign in Wisconsin, appearing with him at high dollar fundraising events, campaigning on his behalf and attacking his political opponents in the media. We’re owed answers about these serious allegation about meddling with the election in Wisconsin from the governor of Wisconsin.”

One Wisconsin Now is a statewide communications network specializing in effective earned media and online organizing to advance progressive leadership and values.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.