Donald Trump accuses China of meddling in US elections
The US president says he will declassify reports alleging Chinese interference in US elections. He says Beijing obtained 220 million US voter records, calling it
The US president says he will declassify reports alleging Chinese interference in US elections. He says Beijing obtained 220 million US voter records, calling it a major threat to democracy. China has denied the claim. US President Donald Trump has ordered a new investigation into alleged Chinese interference in US elections, announcing 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 obtained access to information from 220 million US voter files before the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden. Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Dozens of court cases have found no proof of large-scale electoral fraud. Critics accuse the US president of trying to cast doubt over the upcoming midterm elections in November, in which his Republican Party could lose majorities in one or both houses of Congress. What did Trump say during his speech? He began his primetime address by casting doubt on US election security, claiming it "falls catastrophically short." But the 24-minute speech did not include evidence of vote manipulation or of the election outcome being altered. He also did not mention the possibility of any outside influence on the elections he won in 2016 and 2024.
Trump said he had ordered the director of national intelligence and the FBI to investigate the allegations and determine the full extent of the reported data breach. As he spoke, the White House launched a website with documents presented without context that included selectively released pieces of investigation files, intelligence analysis and correspondence. In his speech, Trump did not mention the elections he won Image: Ronda Churchill/AFP/Getty Images Trump says election systems 'exposed to manipulation and corruption' The president argued that the case demonstrates that "the US electoral system is exposed to manipulation and corruption." He added that federal authorities are in the process of notifying states whose election data may have been compromised. Trump also renewed his call for stricter election security measures, urging Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which would introduce 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 chose not to broadcast the speech live, saying they should lose their licenses. Trump accused the media outlets that did not broadcast the speech of being "part of a plot." ABC and NBC chose not to air Trump's speech live on their main broadcast channels, instead carrying it on streaming platforms. CNN made the address available online and on its subscription service.
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