US President Donald Trump has accused China of stealing data related to the 2020 US presidential election and attempting to interfere in the American electoral process.
Addressing the nation, Trump claimed that China obtained files on 220 million American voters and repeatedly attempted to hack US election systems and influence the outcome of elections.
According to Trump, the data included voters’ names, phone numbers, political affiliations and other sensitive information that could be used for voter registration fraud and other illegal activities.
The US president said newly released government documents indicate that China attempted to undermine the 2020 presidential election, while certain officials deliberately downplayed or suppressed the intelligence.
Trump alleged that members of the US intelligence community withheld the information from both the president and the American public.
He said he had instructed the Department of Justice, the FBI and the CIA to investigate those allegedly involved in the cover-up and consider criminal proceedings.
Trump also claimed that China attempted to pay American journalists to publish more negative stories about him.
He alleged that Chinese officials identified reporters critical of his administration and sought to offer them financial incentives to produce additional negative coverage.
Speaking about election security, Trump described the US electoral system as vulnerable, arguing that electronic voting machines and ballot-counting systems could be hacked.
Citing what he described as an intelligence assessment, Trump said US adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and certain non-state actors, possess the capability to target America’s election infrastructure.
During his remarks, Trump also claimed the United States was achieving “major success” in Iran and said Washington had also been successful in Venezuela.
