WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump, in a primetime address on July 16, announced the declassification of information that he said reveals large-scale Chinese hacking of American voter information.
“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,” he said, adding that tens of millions of Americans’ voter files were “bought, stolen, or hacked by China.”
All told, China acquired 220 million U.S. voter files, according to the president.
An accompanying transparency report from the White House stated that China gained access to voter roll data across 18 states.
Trump further said that members of the intelligence community sought to suppress data on China’s influence on American elections.
In addition, Trump detailed the findings of an investigation from the Department of Homeland Security that he said showed that 278,000 noncitizens registered on American voter rolls.
“These disclosures reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it. It is not defensible,” Trump said.
The president outlined the declassification and release of multiple groups of documents, including assessments he said reveal “a cyber threat aimed at the very heart of our democracy”—vulnerabilities in election databases and other systems, including electronic voting machines.
Citing reporting from the CIA, the president outlined what he described as a multi-year influence campaign by China during his first term aimed at American companies and journalists.
The president said intelligence reports outlining Chinese influence operations directed at the election were withheld from daily presidential briefings during his first term.
He said he was instructing the Justice Department, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and other top officials “to investigate how and why such crucial information was hidden, to fire those involved in the cover-up, and to file criminal charges if appropriate against these people.”
The president ended his speech with an appeal to Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, election integrity legislation that has passed the House but continues to flounder in the Senate.
The legislation would require photo identification at the polls as well as proof of citizenship for those registering to vote.
“No country could be great without fair and honest elections,” Trump said.
Earlier in the evening, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced that the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security were launching a website with a map outlining the Trump administration’s election integrity measures.
Trump delivered his speech less than four months ahead of what’s expected to be a tough midterm battle for Republicans.
Speculation swirled ahead of the address, with Democrats voicing concerns that the president’s remarks could be the basis for actions that impact those upcoming races.
Minutes before the speech, former Vice President Kamala Harris took to social media to defend the outcome of the race that elevated her to the vice presidency.
“The 2020 election was not stolen,” she wrote.
Ahead of the speech, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) wrote on social media that he had been briefed on its contents.
“This may be the most important Oval Office address since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The time for complacency with China is over,” Moreno wrote.
NBC and ABC said they won’t be airing Trump’s July 16 speech on television. Both made the speech available through online channels.
