“Individual states maintain the authority to approve or deny a request from outside parties to observe their elections,” the spokesperson said. “We understand that the Russian embassy intended to approach local authorities for assistance in observing elections.”

Gaddie said Russia is trying to “screw with people’s heads.”

“The United States has always had completely successful, legitimate transitions of government after elections,” Gaddie said. “You have got a domestic candidate who is engaged in what are frankly un-American and unpatriotic efforts to undermine the legitimacy of our elections.”

Gaddie said the Russian requests were an effort to destabilize an information and communication environment.

He also described the effort as “humorous.”

During Wednesday evening’s presidential candidate debate, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton accused Trump of favoring Russian President Vladimir Putin over American military and intelligence experts after the Republican nominee refused to accept the U.S. government’s assertion that Moscow has sought to meddle in the U.S. election.

She charged that Putin was backing Trump because Putin would “rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”

Trump denied any relationship with Putin and said he would condemn any foreign interference in the election. But he declined to back the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was involved in the hacking of Democratic Party organizations. The Clinton campaign has said the FBI also is investigating Russia’s involvement in the hacking of a top adviser’s emails.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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