Trump Claims "China Illegally Obtained Data on 220 Million U.S. Voters"... NYT: "No Evidence of Manipulation"

"Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea Capable of Compromising U.S. Election Infrastructure"
NYT: "White House Documents Offer Far More Cautious Conclusions"

U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that China illegally obtained information on 220 million American voters before and after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. However, he did not present any evidence that China manipulated actual voting or ballot counting results. Furthermore, documents released by the White House reflected a much more cautious conclusion than President Trump's assertions.

U.S. President Donald Trump. The White House

On the 16th (local time), President Trump said during a national address in the East Room of the White House, "The People's Republic of China carried out what is considered the largest election data breach in history over several years, starting with the 2020 election period," adding, "As a result, China illegally obtained 220 million U.S. voter files."

He claimed that this data included voters' names, addresses, phone numbers, party preferences, and other sensitive information that could be used for voter registration. President Trump said the report was compiled by the White House Government Transparency Task Force and the Presidential Advisory Council on Information, with support from U.S. intelligence agencies, and that the related documents were released on the White House website.

He further criticized U.S. intelligence agencies for keeping China's information gathering secret, saying, "They did not inform me as president, nor did they inform anyone else," despite being aware of the fact at the time.

President Trump also announced that he would release intelligence community assessments and related reports that had previously been classified, insisting that the U.S. election system and voting equipment were vulnerable to external attacks.

Quoting an intelligence assessment, he said, "It is believed that adversarial countries such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, as well as non-state actors, have the capability to compromise America's election infrastructure."

However, The New York Times (NYT) pointed out that President Trump selectively cited the documents released by the White House and falsely claimed the U.S. election was "rigged and stolen."

NYT reported that the documents released by the White House were heavily redacted and that the conclusions regarding China's activities were far more limited and cautious compared to President Trump's speech.

NYT especially emphasized that there is no public evidence that foreign entities, including China, intervened in the actual voting or ballot counting process during the 2020 presidential election. It also added that no evidence was found of any large-scale election fraud involving paper ballots.

In the United States, dozens of investigations, audits, recounts, and legal challenges have taken place at the local, state, and federal levels since the 2020 presidential election. However, no widespread fraud significant enough to alter the election outcome has been confirmed.

William Barr, who served as Attorney General in the first Trump administration, also stated shortly after the 2020 election that he found no evidence of widespread election fraud that could have affected the results.

NYT noted that while concerns about foreign influence operations and the security vulnerabilities of election systems are valid issues, President Trump has blurred legitimate concerns about election security by exaggerating these problems and conflating them with unfounded claims of voting and ballot counting manipulation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.