In a White House address, US President Donald Trump alleged that China ‘illegally acquired’ 220 million US voter files, starting from the 2020 election.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed that China carried out “the largest compromise of election data in history” during the 2020 US Presidential election.
In a White House address, the US President alleged that Beijing was involved in undermining his administration and the 2020 campaign. He said China “illegally acquired” 220 million US voter files, which included voter’s data, identity and election preferences.
Calling the alleged breach an “unprecedented election security nightmare”, Trump said that the purpose of releasing the documents was “not to weaken confidence, but earn that confidence by “confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them.”
Here are the major allegations on US election vulnerabilities made by Trump:
220 million US voter files involved: Trump said that since 2020 election, where he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, China carried out “illicit acquisition” of 220 million voter files. The information, according to Trump, included names, addresses, contact, political party preferences and other sensitive data.
‘Deep state’ involved: Trump claimed some “very famous group of people” were involved to “actively suppress and downplay information” about China’s election meddling. He said that the information regarding these members of the deep state would be revealed in the second group of documents.
Multiple elections ‘influenced’: The Chinese ‘meddling’ and election fraud was not restrained to the 2020 Presidential election, Trump claimed, adding that China influenced the mid-term election in 2018. He further said that the Chinese government strategy in 2019 was focused on “undermining domestic confidence”.
President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Washington. (Photo: AP)
China wanted Trump to lose: Trump claimed that the meddling in US elections were done to prevent him from winning polls. “China engaged in other election-related activities to undermine my first administration and 2020 campaign. They did not want… They fought like hell not to have it, Donald Trump to win, and for good reason,” Trump said. Citing a CIA report, he further claimed that the Chinese Communist Party’s policy in mid-2018 was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements that were opposed to the US President and an “effort to reduce the US President’s votes and make him resign or prevent his re-election.”
What released documents show: The Trump administration released the findings on “Election Integrity” website, spanning from January 2020 to June 2026. “We are releasing documents that show the CIA obtained reporting of a specific plot by the Maduro regime in Venezuela to do exactly that—conspiring to digitally rig their own country’s elections in 2020,” the website read. The documents have details about methods, voting processes, data security, and registration practices used by Beijing across multiple American states.
What China said
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington told Reuters that Beijing “has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the US.” While speaking to CNN, the Chinese embassy spokesperson said, “China has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the US.”
