President Trump alleges so-called ‘deep state’ cover-up of Chinese election interference
President Trump said in a prime-time address to the nation that the so-called “deep state” is hiding evidence of Chinese election interference.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on July 21 downplayed China’s interference in U.S. elections and suggested the United States was doing the same, just five days after accusing the Chinese government of carrying out “the greatest compromise of election data in history” in a prime-time address to the nation.
In response to a reporter’s question about the potential impact on China, President Trump said he would discuss information about Chinese election interference with Chinese leaders. But he quickly added that he believed China had changed since the 2020 election, also noting US actions targeting China.
“Well, I’ll talk to them about it. That was a long time ago,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “I think China may be a little different now than it was then. But look, they’re doing it, and we’re doing it to them. Let’s be honest. We’re doing it to them, too. It’s not a one-way street. But we’re going to talk to them.”
President Trump did not elaborate on what he meant by the United States also “doing something to them.”
In a speech on July 16, President Trump cited a number of declassified intelligence documents, saying China tried to undermine the 2020 election by compromising voter data, and accused the country of stealing 220 million voter files from states across the country. He said China also tried to influence the outcome of the 2018 midterm elections.
In addition to accessing voter files, Trump said China was trying to influence U.S. business leaders to “disobey” Trump, who was then in his first term as president, and was trying to pay journalists to report negatively about him.
“The Chinese government wanted the president of the United States to lose the next election, but they wanted me to lose because they knew I was smart for China,” Trump said.
President Trump accused the “deep state” within the U.S. government of trying to hide Chinese election interference from him, telling Americans that “those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and covered it up.”
President Trump used the speech to sound the alarm about the fragility of US elections ahead of November’s elections. But much of the information Trump discussed was cited in previous U.S. intelligence reports. China then obtained voter files detailing names, addresses and party preferences from publicly available records.
In his first year in the White House, Mr. Trump pushed the United States into a trade war with China, but both countries ultimately lifted triple-digit tariffs on the other. President Trump visited China in May and met with President Xi Jinping. President Trump has called President Xi Jinping a “friend” and “great leader.”
Previous intelligence assessments have found that China did not seek to interfere in the 2020 election.
In March 2021, the Biden administration’s Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, released a report stating that intelligence agencies had “high confidence” that China was not attempting to interfere in the 2020 election, but was considering attempts to change the outcome (which did not occur).
Ultimately, China does not consider a win for either Biden or Trump to be advantageous enough to risk being captured, according to the council’s March 2021 report on foreign threats in elections.
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
