President Donald Trump used a primetime televised address from the White House on Thursday to accuse China of interfering in the 2020 election, allege vulnerabilities in American voting systems, and call for passage of a stalled elections bill, drawing denials from Beijing and rebukes from Democrats who said he was working to undermine confidence in November’s midterms.
Trump spoke for roughly 25 minutes from the East Room, flanked by members of his top team. Journalists could not ask questions. He said he had declassified hundreds of intelligence files supporting his claims that Beijing tried to sway the 2020 race in Joe Biden’s favor, and the White House released hundreds of pages of documents during the address, many heavily redacted. The BBC reported it was reviewing those files.
The president accused China of the “illicit acquisition” of 220 million voter files containing personal information. He said voter data in 18 states was “bought, stolen or hacked by China” and accused those who discovered the breach of failing to disclose it to government officials or Congress. He did not present evidence that China used the information to alter voting systems or influence election outcomes. Much voter data is publicly available.
Trump’s claims contradict prior U.S. intelligence assessments. A 2021 report by the U.S. National Intelligence Council stated with “high confidence” that China “did not deploy interference efforts and considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the US presidential election.” The report added that Beijing “did not interfere with election infrastructure, including vote tabulation or the transmission of election results,” according to CNBC. The intelligence community assessed that China did not view either outcome as advantageous enough to risk blowback if caught.
Beijing rejects the allegations
China denied the accusations. Foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the allegations were “entirely fabricated” and “malicious smears” that had “long been proven to be groundless,” according to the BBC. Lin said Beijing has no interest in interfering with U.S. elections and has never done so.
Trump claimed the declassified files showed the “deep state” worked to hide the extent of China’s meddling, including an attempt to “manufacture illegal ballots” for Biden, CNBC reported. But he was shown classified intelligence on foreign threats to the 2020 election in early January 2021, and that assessment reached the opposite conclusion. The Guardian reported that Trump attempted to give the impression that his administration had uncovered new findings about vulnerabilities in the election system.
Democrats denounce the address
Democrats attacked the speech before and after it was delivered. Former Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on social media that the 2020 election was not stolen and called the SAVE America Act “voter suppression,” part of a larger conservative agenda to “steal power from the people,” according to The Guardian. The BBC reported that Harris posted moments before Trump’s remarks that the president wants Americans to “lose confidence in our electoral system so you stay home this November.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer posted that “in America, voters choose their leaders, not the other way around,” and pledged that Democrats would “fight like hell” to ensure every American can cast a ballot freely, the BBC reported. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia called the speech “just lies and long-debunked conspiracies” and “a prelude to interfere in our midterms,” The Guardian reported. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona noted that the election Trump was discussing happened under his own presidency, The Guardian reported. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont posted that Americans have “fought and died to defend American democracy” and called on people of all political views to stand against a president “seeking to undermine our Constitution and our basic freedoms,” The Guardian reported. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said the SAVE America Act “isn’t about stopping fraud, it’s about stopping voters,” The Guardian reported. Senator Patty Murray of Washington state said the bill was going “NOWHERE” in the Senate and belonged “in the trash with the rest of Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories,” The Guardian reported.
Trump also alleged that U.S. voting machines are “extremely exposed” to interference by foreign adversaries including Russia, China, and Iran. He claimed a state investigation by Michigan law enforcement uncovered a voter registration fraud scheme by a Democratic-affiliated group but was constrained by the FBI from acting before the statute of limitations expired. “It was pay, play and cheat,” he said, according to the BBC, though he provided no evidence of votes or tabulations being changed or machines being hacked.
The president said the Department of Homeland Security had identified 278,000 non-citizens registered to vote in federal elections. He did not say how DHS conducted that review. He did not claim those individuals had actually voted. Federal law already requires citizenship to vote, and documented instances of noncitizen voting are very rare, CNBC reported.
Trump again called for passage of the SAVE America Act, which requires proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo ID to cast a ballot. The bill remains stalled. A federal court blocked Trump’s attempt to bypass Congress on the bill through executive order last month, and House Republicans this week linked the measure to an unrelated spending bill, passing both largely along party lines, The Guardian reported. Trump has refused to sign other legislation until the bill reaches his desk, CNBC reported.
Several major networks declined to air the speech live. CNN, ABC, and NBC chose not to broadcast it, citing concerns that the content could be politically partisan or inflammatory. CBS, Fox News, and MS Now aired at least large portions. CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins told viewers the network was not taking the speech live given Trump’s “well-documented history of saying blatantly false things about elections,” The Guardian reported. Trump attacked the networks that declined, saying they should have their broadcast licenses revoked. The address came as a new Washington Post-Ipsos poll showed Trump’s approval rating had dropped to 37%, with voters pessimistic about the cost of living and the ongoing war with Iran, the BBC reported. Polls show Democrats are favored to retake the House, and Trump has expressed concern about investigations he could face if Democrats control one or both chambers of Congress, CNBC reported. The party holding the White House historically underperforms in midterm elections.