Trump lawyers have identified Russian interference as the “patient zero” of the widespread election denial conspiracy that has been spreading ever since the 2020 election ended. The lawyers have concluded that Russian-backed media outlets, hackers, and other agents were responsible for initiating the false and baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud that have been echoed by far-right media and Trump allies. The lawyers’ conclusion supports the U.S. intelligence community’s findings that Russia was behind a campaign to sow distrust about the election process and to undermine public confidence in the legitimacy of the results.
