President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered sweeping investigations into what he described as a yearslong effort by intelligence officials to conceal evidence of Chinese interference in the 2020 election, announcing the declassification of intelligence records he said expose major vulnerabilities in the nation's election infrastructure.
Speaking during a prime-time address from the White House, Trump said the newly released documents show China obtained the personal information of approximately 220 million American voters and that intelligence agencies suppressed information about the alleged breach from both the White House and Congress.
"This evidence shows that the election system really exposes, like levels never thought possible, to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference," Trump said in comments that aired live on Newsmax and the free Newsmax2 streaming platform.
Trump announced he is directing the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the CIA to investigate why the information was allegedly withheld, dismiss employees involved in what he called the cover-up, and pursue criminal charges "if appropriate."
The president said the documents, posted Thursday night on WhiteHouse.gov, were compiled by the White House Government Transparency Task Force and the President's Intelligence Advisory Board with assistance from senior intelligence officials who reviewed and authenticated the records.
"Our purpose in disclosing this information is not to weaken confidence in elections, but to earn that confidence by confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them very, very quickly," Trump said.
According to Trump, one set of declassified documents alleges the People's Republic of China carried out what he described as the largest compromise of election data in U.S. history beginning during the 2020 election cycle, obtaining voter files containing names, addresses, telephone numbers, and political affiliation data.
Trump also alleged intelligence officials deliberately suppressed information about China's activities, including reports that Chinese efforts were intended to undermine his reelection campaign.
He cited what he described as previously classified CIA and FBI records indicating Chinese officials sought to influence the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential election while intelligence analysts withheld related information from his daily presidential briefings.
The president further said newly released intelligence assessments show U.S. officials have long known electronic voting systems and voter registration databases were vulnerable to cyberattacks by foreign adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
"Put together, these disclosures reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it," he said. "It is not defensible. Hundreds of millions of U.S. voter files are in the hands of foreign governments. Our machines and ballot counting systems are exposed to hacking and manipulation and corruption.
"China and other countries have been trying to meddle in our elections. Evidence of fraud has been buried. Hundreds of thousands of non-citizens and dead people are listed and active on the voter rolls. And yet we still have elections with no voter ID, no proof of citizenship, and tens of millions of ballots floating aimlessly through the mail."
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