Russian Twitter bots pushing conspiracy theories tweet at President Trump in an effort to get him to spread the stories through the media, a cyber security expert told a Senate panel on Thursday.

“I can tell you right now, today, gray outlets that are Soviet-pushing accounts, tweet at President Trump during high volumes when they know he’s online and they push conspiracy theories,” Clinton Watts told the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Moscow’s influence in the 2016 presidential election.

“So if he is to click on one of those or c​ite​ one of those​, it just ​proves Putin correct, that we can use this as a lever against the Americans,” Watts said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow’s methods are effective because the president or his associates relayed those stories during the campaign against his opponents, Watts said, mentioning Trump’s allegations of election rigging, voter fraud and that former President Obama wasn’t a citizen.

“Part of the reason active measures work and it does today in terms of Trump Tower being wiretapped is because they parrot the same lines,” said Watts, a senior fellow at George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security. “So Putin is correct. He can say that he’s not influencing anything, because he’s just putting out a stance.”

He suggested the Department of Homeland Security create a website to refute fake news stories and conspiracy theories.

“If it goes on too long, it gets into mainstream media,” Watts said.

Meanwhile, earlier, House Speaker Paul Ryan said it was common knowledge Russia was trying to meddle in the election and he and other lawmakers warned “heads up, be on the watch out.”

“Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and I sent a letter to the secretaries of state before the election saying, `Heads up, be on the watch out, something is happening. Guard your data.’ So we all knew this before the election. We all knew, Russia was trying to meddle with our election,” Ryan said on “CBS This Morning” in an interview that aired on Thursday.

He was referring to Senate Majority Leader McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Schumer and House Minority Leader Pelosi.

Ryan said Russia is also trying to interfere in elections in other countries and it’s the country’s responsibility to thwart those efforts.

“So the nation, the world super power, the American government needs to do everything we possibly can not only to undercut what they are trying to do but to uncover what they are trying to do and help our allies prevent this from happening,” he said.

Asked about the investigations into Russia’s involvement in the election going on in the Senate and House, Ryan said he doesn’t believe Trump administration aides colluded with Moscow.

“I have no knowledge of that. I do not believe that’s the case,” Ryan (R-Wisc.) said. “I can’t speak for the FBI, but I’ve never seen any suggestion or any evidence that that’s the case.”

FBI Director James Comey testifed at a House Intelligence Committee on March 20 and confirmed his agency is investigating whether Trump associates colluded with the Russians during the election.

Ryan also said Rep. Devin Nunes, the chair of the House panel, briefed him about information he got from a source showing Trump’s associates were caught up in “incidental” surveillance.

“He briefed me about it. Didn’t know the content of it. Only knew the nature of it and that he was going to brief others,” Ryan said. “I told him to add it to his investigation.”

The speaker said Nunes (R-Calif.) told him a “whistleblower-type” person gave him new information about the Obama administration that was part of the probe.

“Nunes said he just came into possession of new information that he thought was valuable to this investigation and that he was going to inform people about it.”