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Trump Points to China For Election Interference in 2020

President Donald Trump addressed the nation Thursday night to announce the release of documents he claims detail a Chinese effort to interfere in the 2020 election. He also alleged a cover-up by intelligence agencies.

Sandra RhodesJul 17, 20263 min read

2020 Presidential Election Donald Trump People’s Republic of China

When President Donald Trump hit the podium for his primetime address, he had one thing on his mind — call out China for meddling in the 2020 Presidential Election.

Trump spoke to the nation Thursday night when he claimed China wanted to stop him from being re-elected.

The president announced the release of documents that he claims detail a Chinese effort to interfere in the 2020 election. He also alleged a cover-up by intelligence agencies.

“Newly declassified documents show that over a period of years starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China 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.

“That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences, and other sensitive data that would be needed to register to vote, and engage in other nefarious activities,” he continued. “This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare. The intelligence even shows that China assigned a data exploitation unit specifically to this new project.”

Trump added U.S. intelligence agencies worked to “actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China’s sinister election meddling —covering it up from both the President and the American People.”

“U.S. spy agencies began learning about the compromise of voter registration files in 2020, when they discovered that tens of millions of voters’ data in 18 states had been bought, stolen, or hacked by China,” Trump said. “Yet those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information hidden. They did not disclose it to me as president, and to the best of our knowledge, they did not inform Congress.”

Watch:

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2078076789096677679?s=20

Trump criticized members of the intelligence community for allegedly keeping the information hidden.

Trump pointed out he was repeatedly told, “This is the most secure election in the history of our country.”

“The cover-up of this colossal security breach is even more disturbing in light of additional information showing that China engaged in other election-related activities to undermine my first administration and our 2020 campaign,” he continued. “They did not want Donald Trump to win, and for good reason.”

Trump said the damning documents show the CIA explicitly stated that in mid-2018, the Chinese Communist Party had adopted a policy to leverage any domestic and foreign elements opposed to Trump in an effort to reduce his support, force his resignation, or prevent his re-election.

“Also in mid-2018,” Trump said, quoting the newly released documents, “China was working to influence the results of the U.S. mid-term elections, and later, the results of the 2020 Presidential Elections. Separately, in mid-2019, the Chinese Government’s strategy against the United States was focused on undermining domestic confidence in the U.S. president.”

These strategies included using Chinese contracts with major U.S. companies to influence American business leaders to turn against Trump, the president said.

He also claimed the Chinese government sought American journalists who were already covering him negatively and pay them “large sums of money” to write even more negative stories.

It is not clear if such payments actually occurred.