Washington DC: US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused China of carrying out what he described as the largest breach of American election data in history, claiming Beijing obtained millions of US voter records during the 2020 election cycle. He also announced plans to declassify intelligence that he said would reveal “shocking vulnerabilities” in the country’s election system.
Speaking during a televised prime-time address from the White House, Trump alleged that the People’s Republic of China orchestrated a years-long operation to compromise US election data.
“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 US voter files,” Trump said.
The president claimed the alleged breach created an unprecedented threat to US election security and accused members of the so-called “deep state” of concealing the incident from the public.
“This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare,” Trump said, adding that his administration would declassify intelligence related to the alleged operation.
Trump’s latest remarks revive his long-standing allegations that the 2020 presidential election was compromised by widespread fraud. However, those claims have repeatedly been rejected by US courts and election officials.
Following the 2020 election, more than 60 lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies failed to produce rulings establishing fraud that could have altered the election outcome. Multiple recounts, post-election audits, and investigations by Trump’s own Justice Department also found no evidence of widespread voter fraud sufficient to change the results.
