US President Donald Trump has again claimed he has evidence of interference in the 2020 presidential election, this time alleging China obtained 220 million voter records.
In a speech from the White House on Thursday evening, US President Donald Trump revisited widely debunked claims of interference during the 2020 US presidential election that 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.
In his latest accusation of fraud, 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.
He said he would order an investigation into alleged Chinese interference in US elections, and would “declassify” intelligence documents he claims reveal major vulnerabilities in voting systems.
Trump said voter data in 18 states was “bought, stolen or hacked by China” and accused “those responsible for sounding the alarm” of not disclosing the discovery to government officials or Congress.
Democrats, meanwhile, accused Trump of attempting to sow doubts about the security of the upcoming November midterms, which will decide control of Congress for the remainder of his presidency.
“Let’s be clear – in America, voters choose their leaders, not the other way around,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer posted on social media after the speech.
“Democrats will fight like hell to make sure every American voter can cast their ballot freely, without obstruction or interference from Donald Trump,” he added.
The president’s comments contradict previous US intelligence assessments. A 2021 report by the US National Intelligence Council said it had “high confidence” that China did not interfere in the 2020 presidential election.
“We assess 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 stated.
It said this was probably because China “did not view either election outcome as being advantageous enough for China to risk blowback if caught”.
Trump delivered the White House address after the release of a new poll from Washington Post-Ipsos, which indicated his approval rating had dropped to 37% with many voters pessimistic about the cost of living and the ongoing war with Iran.