Page 10 - Self Defense Classes News Today

I had not seen any support of hillary. we had seen a lot of anti-hillary, but this support of hillary, save american muslims, that could help or hurt her. the russians seem to be the divide any way they could, race, religion, political party and organized events, even duped americans into launching support groups. a new one, north carolina, the russians reached out and set up free legal help for immigrants in the state while also organizing anti-immigrant protests, free self-defense classes for ...

Arm, seeking to stoke racial tensions and disrupt the u.s. political system. cnn has confirmed the social media accounts connected to black fist are among the pages facebook identified as coming from russians, according to a source familiar with the matter. links to those accounts appear on the black fist website. and black first, which portrayed itself as an activist group seeking to empower black americans, was likely developed inside the russian factory in st. petersburg, russia. >> they conv...

This report. >> reporter: in january of this year, well after the presidential election, new york martial arts instructor says he was contacted by a group called black first, saying it would pay him to hold free self-defense classes for members of the black community. did you ever think this was weird? >> yeah. a lot of times i thought it was weird. >> reporter: weird, but the money was good. $320 a month, paid direct through paypal and google wallet to teach just four classes, and black fist wo...

Very easily. some of the things are stretchy. at the end of the day. training people. >> look at what black fist said about its self-defense classes, they are by black, for black. let them gnome that black power matters. the contact also wanted these videos and photos of blacks learning self-defense. wasnt the only one, personal trainers and classes promoted in other cities, los angeles, lansing, michigan, according to event bright and other pages where classes were being publicized, there were ...

We now know the meddling in u.s. politics by russia continued after novembers election. there is no reason to believe its still not happening right now. pamela. >> fascinating, fascinating report. our thanks to drew griffin. im not going to bring in and ran the agencies operations in russia. he is also a cnn security analysts, steve, just to want get your reaction, the russians using social media to try make racial tensions worse, does this fit in with your experience dealing with russia. the le...

An african american american advocacy group and hired black americans to further their cause. cnn senior investigative correspondent drew griffin reports, drew. >> reporter: cnn learned a group associated with russia tricked personal trainers, boxing instructors, and paid them to hold free self-defense classes, the classes aimed at african american activists. in january of this year, well after the presidential election, new york marshal arts instructor says he was contacted bay group called bla...

In st. petersburg, russia. >> they convinced you. >> very easily. very easily. some of the things were, you know, sketchy, but at the end of the day, still fitness. its just training people. >> reporter: look at what black fist said about its self-defense classes. they are by black for black and them know that black power matters. his contact also wanted these, videos and photos of blacks learning self-defense. he wasnt the only one. personal trainers in classes promoted in other cities, los ang...

Classes and black fists would pro moat it. what was also weird, no one from black fist ever showed up to meet him. his only communication was in text and far-away sounding phone calls from this man named taylor. >> yeah, hello. this is taylor. i wanted to confirm the self-defense classes that we talked about last time. >> reporter: the digital trail suggests the contact on the phone was part of a russian propaganda arm seeking to stoke racial tensions and disrupt the u.s. political system. cnn h...

Election metdsling. the daily beast reports retweeted messages from a russian troll account, most notably don jr. and kellyanne conway, up to a week before the election. next hour we will speak with one of the reporters who broke that story. and this comes as cnn has learned some of the intricate plotses that the russians used, the tactics that they used to try to disrupt the united states population. drew griffin explains. >> reporter: in january of this year, well after the presidential elec...

Russian or anything like that. no, sir. it messed me up. >> reporter: all part of a sophisticated campaign that included facebook ads, twitter posts and efforts to organize at least two big rallies, one against police brutality. u.s. investigators believe it was directed from this so-called troll factory in st. petersburg, russia. >> as a way to suppress votes and stoke fear. a level of sophistication that i dont think we appreciated at the time. >> reporter: investigators say the russian factor...