Russian Group Was Behind AI-Generated Video of Man Falsely Accusing James Talarico of Sexual Assault: Report

AP Photo/LM Otero

An AI-generated video of a man falsely accusing Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico of sexual assault was the work of a covert group in Russia.

Earlier this week, a man identifying himself as Zyon Lewis posted a video on X/Twitter claiming he was assaulted by his middle school teacher in 2012. The teacher, Lewis continued, was Talarico.

According to a Thursday report from The New York Times, the video was completely fake and the Russians were behind it. The report read:

Several groups of researchers who track Russian disinformation operations attributed the claim to Storm-1516, a covert group that in 2024 peddled a similarly unfounded accusation against Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee.

The attack followed a flurry of Russian posts on social media in recent weeks and provided the latest indication that Moscow is once again targeting an American election with online influence operations. In recent weeks, Russia has ramped up those efforts, according to a U.S. official familiar with classified intelligence assessments on the matter.

The video first appeared Tuesday; and the account, the report noted, was recreated in September. It has since been suspended.

The Talarico video wasn’t the only instance of the Russians looking to spread disinformation ahead of the midterms. According to the Times, “most of the Russian content so far” has targeted Democratic candidates in races across the country. Still, a U.S. official told the Times that “intelligence assessments do not specify that Russia is explicitly seeking to harm one political party more than the other.”

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