Trump Confirms U.S. Conducted Cyber Attack on Russia
HOLMES: A first time official admission from U.S. president, Donald Trump, he has said that the U.S. conducted a covert cyber attack, on Russia, in 2018. This confirmation, of sorts, came during an interview with "The Washington Post" columnist, the target, he, says was a troll farm from the U.S. that blamed from interfering in the 2016 and 2018 elections. CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now, joining from Warsaw in Poland. As the president is telling, it how did this alleged attack work?</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This was on a run up to the 2018 midterms and, of course, we know from back then, maybe the Democratic, Party but some of the administration, who are saying that they believe the U.S. was, once again, under something of an attack by this Internet Research Agency, by the troll agency, which, as you mentioned, was already active, in 2018, aiming to sow discord among the U.S. electorate. If you remember, at that time, the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, came out and said, he believes the United States was under attack. The Democrats were calling for President Trump to do something. And as he has now admitted, he seems to have said that the cyber attack against the Internet Research Agency, should go forward. This was very much a landmark case in all of this, because it was the first time the United States can do this under the unified cyber command and they say, they say the attack was largely very successful, that it managed to get the research agency off line, as they put it and obviously put an end to some of those trolling activities, that were once again shaping up. The U.S. still reeling from what happened in 2016, that some believe, that the Mueller report certainly believes, that in 2016, the Internet research agency was very much active in the U.S. electorate, trying to sow discord there and then, as well.</s>HOLMES: Very quickly, we've only got a few seconds but how active is the agency now?</s>PLEITGEN: That's one of the things. It is still quite active. The interesting thing about the Internet research agency. It has change its name and changed its legal status within Russia. But it is still doing the same things hesitant before. One of the things, that we have seen and some of us have seen, they seem to have gotten more sophisticated in their methods and seem to be using different platforms, now than they have in the past. In 2016, a lot of it was via Facebook groups, now, they seem to have gone more toward things like Instagram, rather than Facebook but by and large, the activity still seems to be the same. Michael, one of the things we have to keep in mind, the Internet research agency or what was the Internet research agency and the new way it is doing things now, it is part of a larger media empire, by a businessman who is close to Vladimir Putin. Certainly, the money is still, very much there for them to continue the activities, Michael.</s>HOLMES: Carrying on, as it were. Fred Pleitgen in Warsaw, appreciate it, thank you. Still to come, more medical personnel, under pressure, because of the coronavirus, of course. But black nurses, in the U.K., facing another scourge at the same time, racism. Also, when we come back, how one of the first states to reopen its economy, is responding to an alarming spike in coronavirus cases. Stay with us, we will be right back.