The president released records involving electronic ballot systems, Chinese access to voter data, a Michigan registration investigation and more than 256,000 potential noncitizens identified on voter rolls in four states.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump released a collection of declassified intelligence Thursday night that he said exposes serious weaknesses in American election infrastructure, including vulnerabilities involving electronic voting and ballot-counting systems, foreign acquisition of voter information and potentially ineligible registrations on state voter rolls.
Speaking from the East Room of the White House during a nationally televised address, Trump said the documents reveal previously concealed information concerning “hacking, exploitation and foreign interference” in U.S. elections.
“This vital information is for many years been covered up and hidden from you,” Trump said. “The American people are beautiful, our great American people. But that all changes right now.”
The White House posted the newly released material on its election integrity website as Trump delivered his remarks. A video report on the disclosures and the full presidential address were also streamed online.
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Trump did not claim that China changed votes or directly altered the outcome of an American election. Instead, he accused Beijing of conducting an influence campaign intended to shape public opinion and exploit personal information gathered about U.S. voters.
The president said the newly disclosed records were collected and reviewed by the White House Government Transparency Taskforce, the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and leaders of the nation’s intelligence agencies.
“The documents we will release starting tonight have been gathered by the White House Government Transparency Taskforce, a great group of people, along with the staff of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, supported by our top intelligence agency chiefs, who have all personally reviewed the findings we are presenting this evening and fully confirmed their authenticity,” Trump said.
The White House organized the disclosures into four principal categories: alleged weaknesses in electronic voting and ballot-counting systems, China’s acquisition and exploitation of American voter information, an investigation involving voter registration in Michigan and the presence of potential noncitizens on state voter rolls.
Trump said the intelligence showed that China obtained personal information about American voters, including names, addresses, telephone numbers, political affiliations and other data. He alleged that Beijing established a dedicated unit to exploit the information it had acquired.
Chinese officials denied interfering in American elections.
“China has all along adhered to the principle of non-interference in other’s internal affairs,” Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Chang said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The U.S. election is an internal matter of the U.S. Its outcome is determined by the votes of the American people.”
“China has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the U.S,” Chang added.
Trump claimed that reports prepared by the CIA and National Security Agency concerning Chinese election-related activity were withheld from his nearly daily presidential intelligence briefings. He also said Congress was not informed about the findings.
The president directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Justice Department, FBI and CIA to investigate the alleged suppression of intelligence. He said officials found responsible should be removed from their positions and prosecuted when supported by the evidence and applicable law.
Hans von Spakovsky, an election law expert and senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, said the allegations were especially significant because the documents originated with the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies.
“The president should be commended for declassifying and releasing the reports that support his claims so they can be reviewed in depth,” von Spakovsky told Fox News Digital.
He said any effort to conceal election-security information from government leaders, lawmakers, state officials or the public should be examined for possible criminal violations.
“To the extent that these intrusions into our election system were covered up, as the president alleges, and hidden from the public, Congress, state election officials, and leadership in the Executive Branch, Pres. Trump is right that everyone involved in that coverup should be investigated and prosecuted for any criminal violations of the law,” von Spakovsky said.
Trump used the disclosures to renew his demand for congressional passage of the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship and photo identification to register and vote in federal elections.
The president said he had ordered the Department of Homeland Security to inform states about potential noncitizens appearing on their voter rolls and instruct election officials to remove anyone who is not legally eligible to vote.
“I’ve also ordered DHS to notify every state about noncitizens on their voter rolls and direct them to remove all ineligible voters from the lists immediately,” Trump said.
DHS notified election officials in California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania that a preliminary federal review had identified more than 256,000 people on their voter rolls who may be noncitizens, according to letters obtained by Fox News Digital.
The preliminary identification does not by itself establish that every person flagged is a noncitizen or that any of those individuals voted illegally. State officials would be responsible for reviewing the records and determining whether registrations should be removed.
Trump and congressional Republicans have argued that citizenship verification and voter identification are necessary to strengthen confidence in federal elections. The administration has attempted to advance the stalled legislation by connecting it to defense spending and other congressional priorities.
Republicans are seeking passage before the approaching midterm elections narrow the party’s legislative window. Critics continue to dispute many of Trump’s claims concerning widespread fraud in the 2020 election and oppose the SAVE America Act as an unnecessary barrier to voting.
Trump also used portions of the address to discuss his administration’s broader record, including the creation of Trump Accounts, efforts to reduce prescription drug prices, falling crime rates and increased border security.
Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin were among the senior officials seated in the East Room.
Democratic lawmakers responded to the speech by rejecting Trump’s election-security legislation and accusing the president of attempting to influence the coming midterm elections.
“Not now. Not ever. The SAVE Act is dead on arrival in the United States Senate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on X while reposting Trump’s address.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., disputed Trump’s election claims and argued that the bill would make voting more difficult.
“Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. And now he’s trying to rig this year’s election with the SAVE America Act to make it harder to vote for millions of women, veterans, rural folks, & voters of color,” Pressley wrote.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., characterized the address as the beginning of a political campaign centered on the November elections.
“Tonight seems to be the ceremonial kickoff of President Trump’s campaign to interfere in the November election,” Whitehouse said. “Trump has badly lost independent voters, even MAGA is disheartened; he is failing and unpopular, and he’s dragging his party down with him in the midterms.”
Trump had previewed the address as “big news” without disclosing its substance. His remarks ultimately combined the release of declassified intelligence with directives for federal investigations, state voter-roll reviews and renewed pressure on Congress to enact the SAVE America Act.
The newly published documents are expected to receive further scrutiny as lawmakers, intelligence officials and election specialists evaluate the underlying evidence and determine whether the reported vulnerabilities resulted in actual exploitation, interference or unlawful conduct.
Trump presented the records as evidence that election-security information had been kept from the public and senior government officials. His administration is now seeking investigations into how the intelligence was handled while pressing states to examine potentially ineligible registrations and urging Congress to impose new citizenship and identification requirements for federal voting.
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