By Katie Bernard, The Philadelphia Inquirer The Tribune Content Agency

PHILADELPHIA - Russian actors created and spread a clearly false video circulated online Thursday of a Bucks County election worker tearing up ballots purported to be for former President Donald Trump, federal authorities confirmed Friday.

The video, which the Bucks County Election Board referred to law enforcement Thursday and condemned as dangerous misinformation, showed the hands of a worker as he opened mail ballots and ripped up those cast for Trump. The video had several inconsistencies that made it obvious it was not real - including using the wrong color of envelopes.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a joint statement Friday that they believed it had been created by Russian actors as part of an ongoing effort in Moscow to raise questions about the U.S. elections.

"In the lead-up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the IC expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans," the statement said.

The video circulated on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday. Experts told the Associated Press that the video appeared to be connected to the Russian disinformation group Storm-1516 which has shared other false videos about Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

In an unrelated news conference Friday, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt said the video could easily mislead members of the public unfamiliar with election administration.

"It is conspicuously fake and I saw it last night and anyone who has any experience processing mail ballots or knows a lot about election administration would be able to spot it a mile away. Most people, however, do not," said Schmidt, who has been outspoken in combating election misinformation.

"Even something as simple as that can do great harm in undermining confidence in election results or leading people to believe that their vote won't be counted."