China carried out what is believed to be the ‘largest compromise of election data in history,’ the president said in a primetime address.
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.”
“That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences.”
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.
That analysis did not include blue states, according to Trump. Those states have fought against the Trump administration’s election security efforts, joining together in a lawsuit to prevent the president from obtaining voter information from them so as to compile a national list of eligible voters.
“These disclosures reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it. It is not defensible,” Trump said.
“Tens of millions of voters’ data in 18 states have been bought, stolen, or hacked by China. Yet those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden.”
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.
“This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare,” he said.
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 cover up of this colossal security breach is even more disturbing in light of the additional information showing that China engaged in other election related activities to undermine my first administration and our 2020 campaign,” Trump said.
“The Chinese government sought to identify U.S. journalists who had reported negatively on the U.S. president and pay them large sums of money to write more negative articles about him—as many as they could.”
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.”
Trump did not confine his speech to U.S. elections.
He pointed to a CIA report that detailed former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s bid to manipulate that country’s 2020 election.
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.
Pushback and Support
Democrats immediately pushed back against the president’s claims.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote on social media that Trump’s address was “just a prelude to interfere in our midterms,” saying that a 2020 assessment had judged that China did not attempt to interfere in the 2020 election.
Warner said that China’s access to voter files did not amount to election interference.
“Any statewide candidate will tell you that information is publicly available to purchase—it’s not some huge breach,” he wrote.
Also on social media, Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) similarly accused the president of seeking to affect the 2026 elections.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote on social media that Trump’s appeal on SAVE America would be lost on his colleagues, describing the bill as “dead on arrival in the United States Senate.”
On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), who chairs the House Select Committee on Intelligence, demanded that CIA Director John Ratcliffe “immediately take decisive action to hold all those involved at the CIA accountable for these egregious betrayals of the American people’s trust,” vowing that his committee would seek to backstop that push for accountability.
Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), a member of the intelligence committee, wrote on social media that “the Chinese Communist Party is one of the greatest adversaries of the United States. Their efforts to influence our elections are apparent and we will not tolerate it.”
Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.), a member of the intelligence committee and the House Budget Committee that advanced a budget reconciliation framework earlier in the day, wrote on social media that the reconciliation resolution gained his support “because it provides the strongest path forward to passing the SAVE America Act.”
“Americans deserve confidence that our nation’s elections are safe and secure from foreign interference, and that only American citizens are voting in American elections,” he wrote.
Speculation swirled ahead of the address, with Democrats voicing concerns that the president’s remarks could be the basis for actions that impact the upcoming midterms.
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.
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Election Integrity
Ensuring the integrity of our elections is fundamental to preserving trust in American democracy. Following the 2020 presidential election, concerns about potential irregularities prompted detailed examinations of voting processes, data security, and registration practices across multiple states. Below, you can download documents and reports addressing key areas of election integrity.
Vulnerabilities in Electronic Voting & Ballot-Counting Systems
China’s Acquisition and Exploitation of American Voter Data
Michigan Voter-Registration Investigation
Noncitizens on State Voter roles
Vulnerabilities in Electronic Voting and Ballot-Counting Systems
For years Americans were blatantly lied to about the security of our election infrastructure, including electronic voting machines and ballot-counting systems. We are releasing a series of previously-classified U.S. Intelligence Community Assessments and other reports proving that our government has long known these machines are extremely exposed to attack. As one assessment states: “We judge that U.S. adversaries, including at a minimum Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, as well as non-state groups, have the capability to compromise U.S. election infrastructure.” The documents also state: “We assess that centralized election-related data repositories, such as voter registration databases, pollbooks, and official election websites, are most vulnerable to exploitation, and adversaries could use access to these systems to disrupt election processes.” Tonight, we are releasing all of these findings, spanning from January 2020 to June 2026. This is a cyber threat aimed at the very heart of our democracy.
Many people have questioned whether it could actually be possible to electronically manipulate vote totals or change election results. Today, we are releasing documents that show the CIA obtained reporting of a specific plot by the Maduro regime in Venezuela to do exactly that—conspiring to digitally rig their own country’s elections in 2020. This reporting included precise details about methods the regime developed to digitally alter vote totals in ways that could not be detected even with an audit. This intelligence underscores why we must take urgent action to ensure that our own systems can never be hacked or compromised.
Vulnerabilities in Electronic Voting & Ballot-Counting Systems
China’s Acquisition and Exploitation of American Voter 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 U.S. voter files. 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. 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.
Members of the Deep State in our 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. Yet those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information hidden.
China’s Acquisition and Exploitation of American Voter Data
Michigan Voter-Registration Investigation
Even when significant evidence of fraud has been detected, it has been buried and covered up. Among the disclosures are FBI files detailing evidence of alleged fraud by a large-scale voter registration operation in Michigan. In 2020, Michigan State Police raided a Democrat get-out-the-vote organization in Muskeegon, and were so concerned by what they found, that they contacted the FBI in Detroit. The documents state that some canvassers admitted to FBI agents that they signed voter registration forms in other people’s names, submitted fraudulent registrations for people who did not exist, and received gift cards tied to the number of applications they produced. The FBI agents working on the case believed that crimes were committed—yet the Biden Department of Justice slow-walked the investigation for years. Director Patel is being directed to ensure that the matter is fully investigated, and to work with the Department of Justice to prosecute those responsible for any crimes.
Michigan Voter-Registration Investigation
Noncitizens on State Voter Rolls
According to a D.H.S. review of state voter rolls and public records, they identified approximately 278,000 non-citizens who are registered to vote in federal elections. Since Democrat states refused to share their voter files, the real number is actually much higher—yet even this limited analysis found more than a quarter of a million foreigners illegally registered to vote.
Put together, these disclosures reveal an election system so broken and vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it. Hundreds of millions of U.S. voter files are in the hands of foreign governments, our machines and ballot-counting systems are exposed to hacking and manipulation, China and other countries have been trying to meddle in our elections, evidence of fraud has been buried, hundreds of thousands of non-citizens and dead people are listed and active on the voter rolls—and yet, we still have elections with no Voter I.D., no Proof of Citizenship, and tens of millions of ballots floating aimlessly through the mail.
