(The Epoch Times)—During a primetime address to the nation, U.S. President Donald Trump said that his administration uncovered profound vulnerabilities in the U.S. election system.
Trump said that these vulnerabilities had been exploited by the Chinese regime to seize American voter data.
“Put together, these disclosures reveal an election system so broken and vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it,” Trump said.
Concurrent with the speech, Trump announced that many previously classified documents spanning from January 2020 to June 2026 that support the claims would be declassified and released to the public.
“This is a cyber threat aimed at the very heart of our democracy,” the president said.
Here are eight key takeaways from the address.
China Obtained 220 Million American Voter Files
According to the president, the files show that China obtained sensitive voter information for 220 million Americans.
According to Trump, intelligence assessments suggest that the Chinese regime, beginning in 2020, 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.”
The information contained in these files 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,” Trump said.
“This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare,” he said.
“Tens of millions of voter 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.”
China Began Policy to Undermine Trump in 2018
In his speech, Trump said that China began a targeted operation to undermine his public standing and electoral prospects in 2018.
“In mid-2018, the Chinese Communist Party’s policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements that were opposed to the U.S. president in an effort to reduce the U.S. president’s votes and make him resign or prevent his reelection,” Trump said, citing U.S. intelligence.
At the same time, U.S. intelligence found, “China was working to influence the results of the U.S. midterm elections, and later the results of the 2020 presidential election itself.”
According to the same report, “separately, in mid-2019, the Chinese government’s strategy against the United States was focused on undermining domestic confidence in the U.S. president.”
“They wanted to just make [it] sound like your president wasn’t so hot when actually your president has done a great job,” Trump said.
IC Had Private Concerns About Voting Machines
Trump also said intelligence reports indicated that the U.S. intelligence community (IC) had long-running concerns about potential vulnerabilities in U.S. voting machines.
“For years, Americans were blatantly lied to about the security of our election infrastructure, including electronic voting machines and ballot-counting systems,” Trump said.
The president cited a declassified IC assessment stating: “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 same 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.”
IC Members Allegedly Hid Election Security Concerns
Trump alleged that some of the declassified documents indicate that IC members hid election security information, including from the president.
“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.”
Trump cited the seizure of voters’ records by China.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
In its assessment of the 2020 election, which was unclassified in March 2021, the IC noted that China had “probably also continued longstanding efforts to gather information on US voters and public opinion; political parties, candidates and their staffs; and senior government officials.”
“We assess Beijing probably sought to use this information to predict electoral outcomes and to inform its efforts to influence US policy toward China under either election outcome, as it has during all election cycles since at least 2008 and considers an acceptable tool of statecraft,” it stated.
Trump also cited intelligence that he said had been withheld from him in 2020, including raw intelligence that China was attempting “to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden.”
“One email among intelligence analysts admitted that they had ‘deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the election.’ Another official inside the FBI wrote that she was running ‘a shadow government’ to keep intelligence about China’s election meddling from becoming known and to keep it away from the honorable press,” the president said.
Michigan Investigation
Trump cited a specific case in Michigan in his speech.
“Even when significant evidence of fraud has been detected, it has been buried and covered up,” Trump said, referencing a “large-scale voter registration operation in Michigan” disclosed by the files.
In 2020, the disclosures state, Michigan State Police raided a Democrat get-out-the-vote organization in Muskegon.
Trump said they were “so concerned by what they found, that they contacted the FBI in Detroit.”
The documents allegedly 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 based on 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,” Trump said. “Director [Kash] 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.”
278,000 ‘Potential Non-Citizens’ Found in US Voter Rolls: DHS
“According to a DHS review of state voter rolls and public records, they identified approximately 278,000 non-citizens who are registered to vote in federal elections,” Trump said.
In a post on X, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin—who is scheduled to hold a press conference on the issue Friday morning—clarified that these were “potential non-citizens,” contrasting with the language used by Trump and the White House.
“As @POTUS announced tonight—@DHSgov has identified over 250,000 potential non-citizens illegally registered to vote in just 4 U.S. states,” Mullin wrote.
During his speech, Trump said, “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.”
Investigators May Seek Criminal Charges
Trump indicated that he was directing U.S. law enforcement to investigate officials who hid information.
“Today, I’m asking the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the CIA 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,” he said.
The president also laid out additional steps his administration would take in response to the allegations.
“I’ve also ordered DHS to notify every state about non-citizens on their voter rolls and direct them to remove all ineligible voters from the lists immediately,” Trump said.
He also made another push for the passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which Democrats have said is dead on arrival in the Senate.
