President Trump personally signed off on a U.S. Cyber Command operation that took Russian internet troll farm Internet Research Agency offline during the 2018 midterm elections, NBC News reports. Trump reportedly signed off on both the larger campaign and approved the operation “in particular.” According to The Washington Post, the operation “blocked Internet access” to the IRA, making it the Cyber Command’s first offensive internet campaign against the country and its efforts to interfere in U.S. elections. “They basically took the IRA offline,” a source told the newspaper. “They shut them down.” President Trump recently gave U.S. Cyber Command new authorities to increase its “offensive capabilities.” Last year, Trump continued to deny the Russians interfered in the 2016 election—despite the intelligence community asserting otherwise.
