In a primetime address from the White House on Thursday, Donald Trump accused China of interfering in the 2020 presidential election and alleged 'shocking vulnerabilities' in US voting systems — claims that China's foreign ministry called 'entirely fabricated' and Democrats described as 'deeply alarming'.
Trump, who lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud and foreign meddling. In the half-hour speech, delivered three months before the midterm elections, he said he had declassified hundreds of intelligence files supporting his allegations that Beijing tried to sway the election in Biden's favour.
“Trump accuses China of meddling in 2020 election and pushes for voting restrictions ahead of midterms.”
The US intelligence community has previously concluded China did not interfere. A 2021 report by the US National Intelligence Council said it had 'high confidence' that China deployed no interference efforts in 2020.
Trump alleged that China was behind the 'illicit acquisition' of 220 million voter files, including personal information, and that voter data in 18 states was 'bought, stolen or hacked by China'. He accused those responsible for sounding the alarm of not disclosing the discovery to government officials or Congress. However, a lot of voter data is publicly available, and Trump did not present any evidence that China had used the information to alter voting systems or influence outcomes.
Hundreds of pages of heavily redacted intelligence documents were released by the White House during the address. Journalists were not permitted to ask questions.
In response, China's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the allegations were 'malicious smears' that have 'long been proven to be groundless'.
Democratic governors signed a joint letter describing Trump's claims as 'deeply alarming'. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said: 'Let's be clear — in America, voters choose their leaders, not the other way around. Democrats will fight like hell to make sure every American voter can cast their ballot freely, without obstruction or interference from Donald Trump.'
The address is part of Trump's push for Congress to pass a bill that would ban mail-in voting and make photo-ID and proof of citizenship mandatory — a move that critics say would suppress turnout. Trump has made the claim of a rigged election more than 100 times this year, according to Channel 4 News.
With the midterms looming, Democrats accused Trump of sowing doubts about election security to undermine the November vote.
