A 25-second clip from an appearance by Hillary Clinton at the 2018 OZY Fest, a festival about “people, ideas and culture” produced by OZY Media, is being recirculated across various social media platforms. In the clip, Clinton speaks about Russian interference during the 2016 election.
The video is being associated with claims there was interference in the 2020 election that may have had something to do with former President Donald Trump losing the election to sitting President Joe Biden. Trump supporters have long claimed without evidence Trump actually won the election.
The clip has gone viral across social media. This video on TikTok has more than 1,700 likes and is being re-shared across the instant messaging app Telegram.
This TikTok video has been shared more than 500 times showing the same clip.
THE QUESTION
Was Hillary Clinton talking about election interference as part of a plan to defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 election?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, a clip from the original video is being shared widely out of context. Hillary Clinton was speaking about the possibility of Russian interference during the 2018 midterm elections.
WHAT WE FOUND
Hillary Clinton spoke at OZY Fest in 2018 where she was joined in conversation with Laurene Powell Jobs. Jobs is a businesswoman and widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs. The festival is produced and hosted annually by OZY Media, a media and entertainment company.
During the conversation, which was recorded live on July 21, 2018, Jobs speaks with Clinton about the Helsinki Summit, where former President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Jobs asked Clinton about the meeting, and specifically addressed the role Russia played in the 2016 presidential election.
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller issued a report on election interference, confirming Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was “sweeping and systemic.”
Jobs asked Clinton if Americans were worried Russia would make another attempt to interfere with the midterm elections.
“People are concerned. I think several of the intelligence professionals including [Former Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coats have said the Russians are still at it. They are still looking for ways to steal information about voter registration, for example. There are some tech experts in Silicon Valley, with whom I have met, who say maybe what they will do this next time is to really disrupt the actual election, shut down the servers you send results to, interfere with the operation of voting machines because still too many of them are linked to the internet,” Clinton said.
The video being shared across closed messaging apps, widely on TikTok, and also across Facebook and Twitter, only shows a 25-second clip of Clinton’s statement, starting at: “They are still looking for ways to steal information about voter registration, for example. There are some tech experts in Silicon Valley, with whom I have met, who say maybe what they will do this next time is to really disrupt the actual election, shut down the servers you send results to, interfere with the operation of voting machines because still too many of them are linked to the internet.”
Posts of the abridged clip from Clinton are falsely associating her statements with the 2020 election cycle. The online posts claim the video is proof the 2020 election was rigged to elect Joe Biden, and Biden did not win the election naturally.
One tweet with the video said: “Hilary just told us that Silicon Valley was consulted on how to steal the 2020 election.” There is no evidence to support the claim, and is an example of how this particular clipped video of her statements were taken out of context.
According to a Nov. 2020 report from the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double-checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result.”
“While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too. When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections,” the statement concluded.
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