Trump revives US election rigging claims against China months before midterm polls, accuses Beijing of 2020 voting interference, but US intelligence findings tell a different story

President Donald Trump on Thursday (July 16, 206) delivered a national address that revisited conspiracy theories about his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, while urging Republicans to tighten federal voting rules ahead of November’s midterm elections. “We have very important elections coming up,” Trump said, as quoted by news agency AP. “We want those elections to be honest.”

During his speech, Trump reiterated his claims on Chinese interference in US elections, and revived his long-running attacks on election security. In his remarks, he asserted that that U.S. intelligence agencies withheld information about Beijing’s attempts to interfere in American elections despite a U.S. intelligence assessment that found no evidence Beijing affected the 2020 vote that he lost.

“Beijing carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files,” Trump said, as quoted by AXIOS. “Documents show that during this period, dozens of significant CIA and NSA reports about China’s election targeting were kept out of the presidential briefing. These were briefings I would get almost every day,” he further stated.


Trump asserted that members of the intelligence community deliberately suppressed information about the scope of China’s activities. The 25-minute prime-time address underscored Trump's effort to make election security a central political issue ahead of November's midterm elections, when his fellow Republicans will be defending their slender congressional majorities.

Ahead of Trump's speech, some White House officials expressed concern that disclosing the China information could be misleading, sources told Reuters.

What did US intelligence findings say

Trump’s allegations directly challenge a 2021 unclassified assessment by the U.S. intelligence community, which found no evidence that any foreign actor attempted to alter or succeeded in altering “any technical aspect” of the 2020 election, including voter registrations, ballots, tabulations or results.

That assessment was conducted under John Ratcliffe, Trump’s director of national intelligence at the time and now his CIA director. The report also found China had pursued an effort dating to at least 2008 to collect information on U.S. voters, public opinion, political parties, candidates and top government officials, likely aiming to use the material to predict election results, as reported by Reuters.

His comments reopen debate over China’s role in the 2020 election, contradicting the findings of the very agencies he once appointed to lead. Ahead of Trump’s address, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., issued a statement declaring that it has not engaged in any interference in U.S. elections.

"China has all along adhered to the principle of non-interference in other's internal affairs," the statement read, as quoted by by CBS News. "The U.S. election is an internal matter of the U.S. Its outcome is determined by the votes of the American people. China has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the U.S."