The public release of FBI emails by Senate Judiciary Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley about China interference in American elections answers the question people have asked for five years – was the 2020 election free of foreign interference?

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For five years people have been looking for the “smoking gun” about the 2020 election. The emails provided by FBI Director Kash Patel and released by Senator Grassley, not only provides the smoking gun, but it reveals a trail of cover-up and suppression of critical national security information that our current United States Attorney General should investigate with the full-force of her office.

The emails released show an FBI report was suppressed of alleged intervention by China in the 2020 election. And it was covered up by the FBI at the time because the scheme exposed the fact that then FBI Director Christopher Wray had provided misleading, inaccurate information to Congress.

Specifically, on September 25, 2020, an FBI report about Chinese interference in our elections that had been issued by the FBI Albany office, was recalled and suppressed by the FBI headquarters in DC. The report alleges that the Chinese government was providing tens of thousands of fraudulent driver’s licenses to manufacture mail-in votes.

It also stated that the reason for the recall and suppression was “reporting contradicts FBI Director Chris Wray’s testimony.” So, what does this all prove?

Foreign interference in American elections? Yes.

Suppression of vital national security information produced by the Albany FBI Office? Yes.

Covering up a critical threat to our elections to protect the FBI Director from being exposed as not being truthful in Congressional testimony? Yes.

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A gaping hole in the security of our election system when it comes to mail-in ballots that a foreign country could drive a truck full of illegal votes into any polling place they want in America? Yes.

The weaponization of the FBI to protect their political flank at the expense of exposing our elections to China? Yes.

What more do the American people need to see? Cover-up, election fraud, foreign interference from our enemies in our elections, gaping holes in our election system. If that’s not enough to sound the alarm that election integrity is at risk every single day from  foreign actors, then we are blind to a problem.

The time for action is now. The Justice Department, the FBI and Congress need to investigate this and fully prosecute anyone who covered up this information which exposed our elections to foreign interference.

But we need to do more to protect our elections.

Ideally, we would make Election Day, one day. That would stop the opportunity for tampering that was outlined in this report. But if we can’t limit it to one day then we need measures to ensure that people voting early or by mail absolutely prove they are who they say they are.

We need an elections eco-system that is “Made in America.” We shouldn’t have our machines, our computers, our information systems which send information on voting results provided to us by foreign actors who seek the destruction of our country. All components of elections should be Made in America.

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And unlike the Biden-Harris Administration, instead of using the Justice Department to scare election workers with lawsuits, or dispatch federal officials to scare Americans voting like we have seen in the past, our Justice Department should be on high alert for foreign interference in our elections, and ensure transparency and justice is served.

With the release of these emails, the debate is over. There was foreign interference in the 2020 elections. There was a gaping hole that China drove through using false driver’s licenses. Now we must look ahead to our government, to our election officials in the states, and to ourselves to ensure this never happens again.

Ken Blackwell is the Chairman of the Center for Election Integrity at the America First Policy Institute. He is the former U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Human Rights Commission.