Russia blamed for bomb threats targeting US election

Moscow up to ‘mischief’, says Georgia after two polling stations forced to temporarily closed

Russia has been blamed for a series of bomb threats that disrupted voting in a key US election swing state.
Two polling stations in Georgia were temporarily closed after five received bomb threats that state officials described as “mischief” of “Russian origin”.
State and federal authorities were on high alert as millions of Americans headed to vote in a close-run contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The White House and Capitol in Washington were fortified in anticipation of political violence, while some states put the National Guard on standby to quell protests.
The Capitol was closed for public tours after police arrested a man who “smelled like fuel” seen carrying a torch and a flare gun through security.
Police in Philadelphia said they had received reports of “people physically blocking the entrance to a polling location”.
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, said a series of bomb threats in the Atlanta area were not credible and blamed Russian interference.
“They’re up to mischief it seems,” he said. “They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election.”
The FBI also warned that two viral videos purportedly from the agency, urging Americans to “vote remotely” because of terror threats and voter fraud, were “not authentic”.
Speaking from Palm Beach, where he cast his own ballot, Trump said there would be “no violence” after the result, and promised to concede the contest to Ms Harris if she wins and “if it’s a fair election”.
“If I lose an election, if it’s a fair election, I’m going to be the first one to acknowledge it,” he said. “And … I think it’s been fair.”
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former lawyer, told The Telegraph he had seen no sign of cheating, but added: “I know anything is possible with crooked Democrats.”
Trump also said he had run the best campaign of his life and was confident of victory. He said he would not stand for a fourth time if he lost, and would leave politics “sad and very fulfilled”.
Asked whether he would call for calm among his supporters should he lose, Trump said: “I certainly don’t want any violence. Of course there’ll be no violence – my supporters are not violent people.”
Ms Harris, speaking ahead of an appearance at Howard University, her alma mater, said she had not been distracted by personal attacks by her opponent during the campaign.
She told a local radio station in Philadelphia her presidential run was “about uplifting people and giving them access to opportunity”.
More than 75 million Americans voted early in this year’s election, with some swing states including Michigan expecting record turnout. State officials said they were planning to keep polling stations open to keep up with demand after early queues surpassed expectations.
Both campaigns raced to get their supporters to the polls, expecting a close result in several of the key battlegrounds.
In Pennsylvania, a Trump-supporting campaign group founded by Elon Musk sent an “emergency squad” to correct the mail-in ballots of Republicans whose votes had been rejected.
Mr Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who served as one of Trump’s top lieutenants after the 2020 election, told The Telegraph:  “I am as confident as I have ever been [of a Trump win] … except I am very nervous.”