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United States President Donald Trump has renewed allegations that China sought to influence the 2020 presidential election, despite previous assessments by American intelligence agencies rejecting such claims.
Speaking during a televised address from the White House on Thursday, President Trump asserted that he had authorised the release of classified intelligence records which he said pointed to Beijing’s involvement in efforts to favour former President Joe Biden during the 2020 race.
The president also alleged that Chinese actors obtained personal information linked to roughly 220 million American voters and claimed election-related data from 18 states had been stolen or illegally accessed.
However, he did not present evidence demonstrating that the information was used to manipulate voting systems or alter election outcomes.
The White House simultaneously published hundreds of pages of intelligence material, although significant portions remained redacted.
Independent reviews of the documents are still ongoing.
China swiftly dismissed the accusations.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian described the claims as fabricated and politically motivated, insisting Beijing had never interfered in the U.S. presidential election.
President Trump’s remarks conflict with earlier findings by the U.S. intelligence community.
A National Intelligence Council report released in 2021 concluded with high confidence that China neither conducted interference operations nor pursued influence campaigns intended to change the outcome of the election, reasoning that the risks outweighed any potential strategic benefit.
Democratic leaders criticised the president’s speech, accusing him of undermining confidence in America’s electoral process ahead of November’s congressional elections.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer maintained that democratic institutions must remain protected and pledged that his party would defend citizens’ voting rights.
Former Vice-President Kamala Harris also argued that Trump’s repeated allegations could discourage voter participation by weakening public trust in election administration.
During the address, President Trump further claimed that electronic voting equipment remains susceptible to cyberattacks by foreign governments, including China, Russia and Iran.
While cybersecurity experts have previously acknowledged weaknesses within some parts of America’s election infrastructure, officials have consistently maintained there is no evidence that voting systems were compromised in the 2020 election.
The president additionally referred to an alleged voter registration investigation in Michigan involving a Democratic-linked organisation, claiming federal authorities prevented state officials from pursuing the case before legal deadlines expired.
He did not provide proof that ballots were fraudulently cast or that election results were affected.
President Trump also stated that the Department of Homeland Security had identified approximately 278,000 non-citizens on voter registration lists, although he offered no indication that those individuals had voted illegally or influenced any election.
He concluded by urging Congress to approve the SAVE America Act, legislation that would tighten voting requirements through mandatory proof of citizenship, stricter voter identification rules and major restrictions on mail-in voting.
The proposal has remained stalled in the Senate.
The speech came shortly after a Washington Post-Ipsos survey placed President Trump’s job approval rating at 37 percent, with respondents expressing growing concern over inflation and the ongoing conflict involving Iran.
Following the 2020 election, President Trump and his supporters pursued numerous legal challenges contesting Biden’s victory, all of which failed to overturn the result.
Federal election officials, including the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have repeatedly maintained that the 2020 election was the most secure in the nation’s history, with no verified evidence of widespread fraud or successful cyber intrusions into voting systems.
By: Magdalene Agyeiwaa Sarpong