Mullin said compromised voting systems could allow attackers to alter voter-registration records and ballots as the Trump administration released declassified documents containing allegations about China, Venezuela and the handling of election intelligence in 2020.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned that foreign adversaries may possess the ability to penetrate American election systems and potentially alter voter-registration information or ballots.
Mullin issued the warning as President Donald Trump’s administration released newly declassified records containing allegations about foreign election activity, voting-machine vulnerabilities and intelligence that officials purportedly withheld before and after the 2020 presidential election.
According to Mullin, gaining access to election equipment could allow hostile actors to manipulate more than administrative data.
He said attackers could alter voter registrations and change ballots cast by individual voters after compromising the machines.
The remarks followed Trump’s public release of materials accusing China of working to interfere in the 2020 election and alleging that members of the U.S. intelligence community concealed or minimized evidence of those activities.
The documents contain intelligence reports, internal communications and assessments involving the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency. The released materials include allegations and investigative leads but do not, by themselves, constitute final judicial findings that foreign activity changed the result of the 2020 election.
Among the allegations described in the materials is a report that China manufactured fraudulent U.S. driver’s licenses as part of a plan to obtain mail-in ballots and generate votes for Joe Biden.
Additional intelligence purportedly detailed how counterfeit licenses could be used to facilitate fraudulent ballot requests and voting.
One declassified email reportedly shows that then-FBI Director Christopher Wray approved a downgraded Intelligence Community Assessment concerning foreign election interference, including information involving China.
The materials also include 2020 chat logs in which FBI personnel discussed recalling an intelligence report on China that had been prepared for inclusion in a presidential briefing.
In one of those communications, FBI official Nikki L. Floris reportedly wrote that officials were “RUNNING A SHADOW GOVERNMENT.”
The context and intended meaning of that statement remain subjects for further investigation.
Another intelligence report alleges that Venezuela used virtual machines in 2020 to copy legitimate voting-machine results, replace them with altered data and make the substituted results appear to originate from authentic machines.
Former Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington argued that the described method resembled allegations made about election processing in Fulton County, Georgia, during the 2020 election.
The released material does not establish that the Venezuelan method was used in Fulton County or elsewhere in the United States. It documents an alleged technical capability and comparisons made by Trump allies.
The intelligence released by the administration also described several alleged Chinese efforts to weaken Trump politically and affect his prospects for re-election.
Those activities reportedly included paying U.S. journalists to generate more negative reporting about Trump. The released information did not identify the journalists or media organizations allegedly involved.
China was also accused of imposing targeted tariffs on exports from states that supported Trump, causing economic harm in politically important areas.
The intelligence further alleged that Beijing arranged all-expenses-paid trips to China for influential American figures to establish personal and financial relationships.
Chinese officials then allegedly used those connections to encourage participants to lobby Trump over tariffs and other policies.
The documents also claim that China pressured major financial supporters of Trump’s re-election campaign.
According to the released materials, the NSA knew China was actively attempting to prevent Trump’s re-election in 2020 but did not include that intelligence in briefings provided to the president.
One NSA employee was specifically accused of concealing information about Chinese Communist Party election activity from Trump.
The documents also contain claims that Chinese authorities used personal information collected through platforms including TikTok to manufacture counterfeit U.S. identification documents.
The alleged plan involved enabling tens of thousands of ineligible Chinese students and other sympathizers to request and cast fraudulent mail-in ballots for Biden.
The materials do not demonstrate that tens of thousands of such ballots were ultimately cast or counted. The allegation describes the reported purpose of the counterfeit-document operation.
China was further accused of using people and organizations tied to the Chinese Communist Party within American media and social media platforms to intensify and amplify the Black Lives Matter protests and riots of 2020.
The administration also released intelligence concerning Smartmatic, which the CIA reportedly identified as a national security concern.
According to the material, Smartmatic planned in 2012 to deploy preprogrammed voting machines in Venezuelan regions supportive of President Hugo Chávez.
The alleged objective was to shift the election by approximately 1.5 million votes.
Chávez was ultimately declared the winner by about 1.6 million votes.
The released information raises questions about whether election technology developed or deployed abroad could be manipulated and whether similar technical vulnerabilities exist in systems used in the United States.
It does not, on its own, prove that Smartmatic altered the Venezuelan result or that the company manipulated an American election.
Mullin’s warning places the focus on the broader security implications of electronic election infrastructure.
Voting machines, electronic poll books, voter-registration databases and ballot-tabulation systems can involve interconnected software, removable media and internet-accessible administrative systems.
A successful intrusion into any of those components could potentially disrupt polling locations, alter registration records, delay voting or damage confidence in reported results.
Mullin’s remarks suggest the Department of Homeland Security considers the threat serious enough to warrant additional attention to how machines are secured, tested and monitored.
Trump’s administration has presented the declassified records as evidence that foreign threats were more extensive than officials publicly acknowledged and that politically sensitive intelligence may have been withheld from the president.
The allegations involving counterfeit identification, manipulated voting data, intelligence suppression and foreign influence operations are expected to face additional review by Congress, federal investigators and election-security specialists.
Further examination will be necessary to distinguish confirmed intelligence from unverified reporting, identify which activities were attempted or completed and determine whether any alleged operation affected voter registrations, ballots or certified election results.
Mullin’s warning nevertheless underscores the administration’s position that electronic election systems remain potential targets for sophisticated foreign adversaries and that vulnerabilities affecting those systems should be disclosed and corrected before future elections.
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