The president said he was declassifying sensitive information that showed China had illicitly acquired 220 million US voter files, including names, addresses and other data used to register to vote.
He asserted that members of the US intelligence community deliberately suppressed information about the extent of China’s activities.
His allegations contradict an unclassified 2021 US intelligence community assessment that found no indications any foreign actor attempted to alter or succeeded in altering “any technical aspect” of the 2020 presidential election vote, including voter registrations, ballots, tabulations or results.
The assessment was conducted under John Ratcliffe, then Trump’s director of national intelligence and now his CIA director.
The report also found China had pursued an effort dating to at least 2008 to collect information on US voters, public opinion, political parties, candidates and top government officials, likely aiming to use the material to predict election results.
Two people familiar with the matter said that US voter data obtained by China was not confidential – voter files are routinely purchased by political consultants – and could not be manipulated.
Ahead of Trump’s speech, some White House officials expressed concern that disclosing the China information could be misleading, sources told Reuters.
Trump’s harsh language about China risked rocking a relationship that has steadied following last year’s costly trade war.
Trump hopes to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in September about improving trade relations.
Before Trump began speaking, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy, Liu Chang, said in response to a request for comment, “China has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the US.”
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.