Trump accuses China of interfering in the 2020 election

2026-07-17 07:24:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

United States President Donald Trump delivered a speech from the White House, where he accused China of interfering in the 2020 presidential election and claimed that the American voting system has "shocking weaknesses."

During the speech, Trump claimed to have declassified hundreds of intelligence documents that he said proved Beijing had attempted to sway the election in favor of Joe Biden. However, he did not present any public evidence to support these claims.

The president said that China had illegally obtained the personal data of about 220 million American voters and that voter information in 18 states had been "bought, stolen or hacked." According to him, the people who discovered the matter did not inform the government or Congress.

Trump's claims contradict the official assessments of the US intelligence community. A report published in 2021 by the National Intelligence Council concluded, with "high confidence", that China did not interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

After the speech, the Chinese Embassy in Washington told Reuters that Beijing has not interfered and will never interfere in the US presidential election.

Democrats sharply criticized the president, accusing him of trying to undermine citizens' trust in the electoral process ahead of the midterm elections. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said that in America, it is the voters who choose their leaders, not the other way around.

In his speech, Trump also raised concerns about the security of voting machines, claiming they are vulnerable to interference from countries such as Russia, China and Iran. He also mentioned an investigation in the state of Michigan into an alleged voter registration fraud scheme, but did not present evidence that votes were tampered with or that voting systems were compromised.

The president also stated that the Department of Homeland Security had identified about 278,000 non-US citizens registered to vote, without clarifying whether they had voted or influenced any election results.

At the end of his speech, Trump reiterated his call for passage of the SAVE America Act, which would limit mail-in voting, require proof of citizenship for voter registration, and require identification on election day. The bill remains stalled in the Senate. /CNA