US President Donald Trump has ordered a new investigation into alleged Chinese interference in US elections, and announced the declassification of intelligence documents that he says reveal major vulnerabilities in the country’s voting systems.
Speaking from the White House on Thursday, Trump claimed that China had carried out what he described as “the largest compromise of election data in history.” He alleged that Beijing accessed information from 220 million US voter files before the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
He began his primetime address by casting doubt on US election security, claiming it was “very low.”
Trump said he has directed the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI to investigate the allegations and determine the full extent of the reported data breach.
Trump says election systems ‘exposed to manipulation and corruption’
The President argued that the case shows that “the American electoral system is exposed to manipulation and corruption.” He said federal officials are in the process of notifying states whose election data may have been compromised.
Trump also reiterated his call for stricter election security measures, urging Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which would impose voter photo ID requirements, require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and expand federal access to voter registration data.
During the address, Trump criticized television networks that decided not to air the speech live, saying they should lose their licenses.
ABC and NBC decided not to air Trump’s speech live on their main broadcast channels, instead airing it on a streaming platform. CNN made this address available online and on its subscription service. This decision limited the reach of the speech compared to traditional television broadcasts.
The White House has published documents related to the claims on its website. The allegations are expected to intensify debate about election security and foreign interference in the United States.
Democrats, China hit back at Trump’s allegations
Trump’s claims were immediately criticized by political opponents and raised concerns within his own administration.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, rejected the allegations, saying “Trump’s shocking ‘bombs’ about China are completely bogus.” He argued that US intelligence agencies have unanimously concluded that China did not attempt to alter any votes in the 2020 election.
Reuters also reported that some White House officials were concerned that releasing the intelligence could be misleading.
Meanwhile, China rejected the allegations, with embassy spokesman Liu Chang saying, “China has never interfered in the US presidential elections and never will.”
The comments threaten to escalate tensions in US-China relations, at a time when Trump is looking to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year to discuss trade ties.
Trump alleges intelligence officials withheld China’s findings
Trump claimed that members of the US intelligence community deliberately concealed information about China’s alleged election-related activities.
However, their claims conflict with a 2021 intelligence community assessment, which found no evidence that any foreign actor altered or successfully attempted to alter “any technical aspect” of the 2020 presidential election, including voter registration, ballots, vote tabulation, or results.
The assessment was conducted under John Ratcliffe, who was director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term and now serves as CIA director.
Among the documents released by the administration was a CIA report that described Chinese efforts to gather information on Joe Biden’s campaign.
The report also said Beijing “does not currently intend to covertly intervene to influence the outcome of the election,” while noting that China could decide to do so at a later stage.
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Edited by: Shawn Sinico