WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump declassified intelligence on Thursday he claimed showed Chinese interference in U.S. elections. The move revived his long-running attacks on election security ahead of the November midterm elections.
In a 25-minute address, Trump asserted that China had illicitly acquired 220 million U.S. voter files. He accused members of the U.S. intelligence community of deliberately suppressing information about Beijing's activities.
His allegations directly contradict an unclassified 2021 U.S. intelligence community assessment. That report found no indications any foreign actor attempted to alter or succeeded in altering any technical aspect of the 2020 presidential election.
The Chinese embassy denied the accusations. A spokesperson stated, "China has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the U.S."
Many of the declassified documents appeared to undermine the President's claims. One CIA document concerned Venezuela's election, not America's. Another stated, "We assess that vote tabulation systems would be difficult to manipulate on a wide enough scale to compromise election results."
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the claims "totally bogus." He said intelligence agencies unanimously agreed China did not try to change a single vote in 2020.
Major television networks, including CNN and two of the three major networks, declined to broadcast the prime-time address on their primary platforms.
The speech comes as President Trump pressures Senate Republicans to advance the SAVE America Act, which would impose new voter ID and citizenship requirements. Voting-rights advocates argue such measures would suppress legitimate votes.