ST. PAUL — A senior U.S. intelligence official has found that Russia is behind viral disinformation about Gov. Tim Walz. An account on X spread false claims against the Democratic vice presidential nominee, but a closer look at the posts reveals inconsistencies and inaccuracies.

Despite all of this, the posts have been viewed millions of times and have spread to other social media platforms.

“We found these claims to be completely unsubstantiated,” said Sara Swann, who’s with PolitiFact and did a thorough investigation to debunk the baseless story.

The X account has been deleted since Swann’s fact check. She adds that as more mis- and disinformation spreads online during this election, it’s important to take a moment to cast a critical eye.

“They want you to have an emotional reaction to them,” she said. “I always tell people to take a minute, to take a pause, and really question whether something is true or not and to rely on news sources like PolitiFact that debunk these claims.”

The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.

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We need to stress these are false allegations, but what do they claim?

This pro-Trump X account claimed to have insider knowledge that Tim Walz had “an inappropriate relationship with a minor” when he was a public school teacher. But we found these claims to be completely unsubstantiated.

You’ve investigated them and the supposed evidence shared by the account. What did you see that didn’t add up?

One of the first things we...

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