Trump accuses China of 2020 election interference: Contradicts previous US intelligence reports

US President Donald Trump accused China of interfering in the 2020 presidential election during his address to the nation on the evening of July 16. While arguing that there are "shocking security vulnerabilities" in the American electoral system, Trump announced that he had declassified hundreds of intelligence documents that he claimed support his allegations.

Trump's remarks came three months before the US midterm elections. The President alleged that Beijing attempted to influence the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden; however, he did not provide concrete evidence in his speech that China altered voting systems or affected the election results.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the accusations. Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated that the claims that China interfered in the 2020 US presidential election were "completely fabricated" and characterized Trump's words as "malicious smears."

In his speech, Trump alleged that China had "illegally obtained" the records of 220 million voters, including personal information. Arguing that voter data in 18 states had been "purchased, stolen, or hacked," Trump claimed that these findings had not been reported to officials or Congress.

CONTRADICTS PREVIOUS REPORTS

The President's statements contradict previous assessments by US intelligence agencies. A 2021 report by the US National Intelligence Council stated that there was "high confidence" that China did not interfere in the 2020 elections.

The report stated that even if China had evaluated influence activities aimed at changing the outcome of the US presidential election, it did not put them into practice. The reason given for this assessment was that Beijing did not find an election outcome advantageous enough to risk the backlash that would occur if it were caught.

The White House released hundreds of pages of intelligence documents during Trump's speech. However, it was observed that a significant portion of the documents were redacted. Democrats accused Trump of trying to create doubt regarding the security of the midterm elections in November.

Chuck Schumer, a Democrat in the Senate, said in a post following the speech, "Let's be clear: It is the voters who choose their leaders in America, not the other way around." Former Vice President Kamala Harris also argued that Trump was trying to undermine voters' confidence in the electoral system.

At the end of his speech, Trump reiterated his call for the passage of the SAVE America Act, which would ban most mail-in voting and require proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification for voting. The bill has been pending in the Senate for months.

Trump also targeted media outlets such as ABC, NBC, and CNN for not broadcasting his speech live, stating that these channels' broadcast licenses should be revoked.

News Source: 12punto