President Trump Alleges U.S. Election System Shortcomings in Primetime Address

President Trump delivered a primetime address Thursday evening alleging the U.S. election system falls catastrophically short. The White House released a trove of newly declassified documents on election security in conjunction with the address.

A White House official stated in a pre-speech briefing that none of the newly released information would allege votes were switched or voting machines hacked. President Trump used part of the speech to urge lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act, which includes requirements to show proof of citizenship to register to vote.

The legislation remains stuck in limbo with some Senate Republicans skeptical.

President Trump alleged the Chinese government acquired 220 million U.S. voter registration files from 2020 to 2023. He called the alleged acquisition the largest compromise of election data in history and stated the files included voters' names, addresses, phone numbers, and party affiliations.

He further alleged intelligence agencies kept China's access to the data secret and never disclosed it to him or Congress. A 2020 intelligence report declassified almost four years ago found China obtained multiple states' voter data to conduct public opinion analysis on the 2020 U.S. general election.

The U.S. intelligence community assessed in March 2021 that no foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process. The National Intelligence Council assessed shortly after the 2020 election that China stayed on the sidelines, deciding neither a Trump nor Biden presidency would be advantageous enough to risk getting caught meddling.

The National Intelligence Council assessment noted a minority view from one intelligence official that China tried to denigrate President Trump through social media posts and official statements. It found Russia tried to influence the 2020 election by promoting the Trump campaign and Iran tried to undercut the Trump campaign.