President Donald Trump declassified intelligence Thursday revealing China illicitly acquired 220 million U.S. voter files — and members of the Intelligence Community withheld that information from him during his first term.
Trump made the announcement during a primetime White House address, using the moment to pressure the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, a voter ID bill that has stalled in the upper chamber.
“Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard. Tonight, I’m announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.”
A dedicated White House task force reviewed and verified documents revealing key weaknesses in election integrity infrastructure. Trump detailed five primary findings.
First: China obtained 220 million U.S. voter files. Intelligence assessments show Beijing created a data exploitation unit specifically for this project.
“This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare,” Trump said.
The president accused China of actively working to undermine his first administration — in part by paying journalists to report negatively on him.
Second: The Intelligence Community allegedly withheld knowledge of Chinese interference and electoral vulnerabilities from Trump during his first term.
Third: Declassified assessments reveal adversaries including Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and non-state groups have the capability to compromise U.S. election infrastructure.
“As one assessment states, we judge that the United States adversaries, including at a minimum Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, as well as non-state groups, have the capability to compromise U.S. election infrastructure.”
Fourth: Documents detailed an investigation into a Democratic-aligned get-out-the-vote organization raided by law enforcement. Testimony from affiliated personnel claimed they signed voter registration forms in other people’s names.
Fifth: A Department of Homeland Security investigation found roughly 278,000 non-citizens on voter rolls. That investigation did not include many blue states, which refused to provide their voter rolls.
Trump’s bottom line: the Senate must approve the SAVE America Act.
“For many years, I’ve called for bold, swift, and decisive action to protect the integrity of America’s elections,” Trump said. “Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, and that is to make that system secure — one where cheating and interference are not just difficult, but virtually impossible.”
The charges remain allegations. The case has not been proven in court.
