Trump accuses US intelligence of hiding China election interference

During his address to the nation, Trump said he was ordering the immediate declassification of information that allegedly proves the existence of major vulnerabilities in the US electoral system and Chinese influence.

According to him, the documents cover five problem areas, ranging from the theft of voter data to the concealment of evidence of fraud.

In particular, he claims that information about Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election was withheld from him.

"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," Trump said.

According to him, everything that was "of importance" was kept out, and intelligence analysts allegedly admitted that they had "deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing to withhold information regarding Chinese activities."

Key points from what Trump said:

• China obtained 220 million records on US voters;

• Data belonging to tens of millions of voters in 18 states was purchased or stolen by hackers from China;

• In 2018, China worked to influence the results of the US midterm elections and later the results of the 2020 presidential election;

• China tried to create the impression that your president was not all that great, although in reality, he was doing an excellent job;

• China identified American journalists who covered the US president negatively and paid them large sums of money to write even more negative articles about the president;

• The Chinese government wanted me to lose the 2020 election because I imposed tariffs on them;

• Beginning with the 2020 election cycle, China carried out what is considered the largest theft of election data in history;

• US adversaries, including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, have the ability to disrupt US election infrastructure.

Where Trump may be wrong

Western media outlets covering the speech have widely noted that US intelligence concluded long ago that China sought to expand its global influence through cyber operations and influence campaigns. However, intelligence officials did not conclude that Beijing had tried to influence the outcome of the election.

In particular, in a March 2021 assessment by the National Intelligence Council, intelligence officials concluded with high confidence that Beijing did not try to influence the election result because Chinese officials did not consider a Trump or Biden victory beneficial enough to justify the risk of being caught interfering.

The assessment also concluded that China did not interfere with election infrastructure, including vote-counting systems.

Trump's administration

Several months ago, media reports said that Donald Trump had increasingly begun asking aides and allies whether US Vice President JD Vance had what it takes to become the Republican presidential nominee and lead the country after him.

Answering his own question, Trump reportedly said he was not so sure about Vance.

Donald Trump left instructions for JD Vance in case something happened to him, and Vance became his successor.