President Trump Calls for New Election Security Measures

In his prime time address to the nation, President Trump castigating America's election system, saying it's rife with what he called shocking vulnerabilities, with the White House posting hundreds of pages of declassified but highly redacted documents. These disclosures reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it. The president accusing China of illicitly acquiring 220 million American voter files beginning in 2020, though much of that information is available publicly. They fought like hell not to have a Donald Trump to win. China's foreign ministry calling those claims, quote, entirely fabricated and a malicious smear. The president also pointing to a review of state voter rolls and public records by the Department of Homeland Security. They identified approximately 278,000 non-citizens who are registered to vote in federal elections. But election experts say the database that may have been used for that analysis often flags newly naturalized citizens as non-citizen voters. The DHS secretary today warning state election officials to accept new federal involvement in their election security processes or else. Those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time. Democrats today blasting the president's speech. What we also saw last night was a clear signal of this president's intent to unconstitutionally wield federal power to attack this election and to undermine voting rights. Garrett joins us now live from the White House. Garrett, the president is pointing the finger at China, but he's also welcoming its leader to the White House for a visit in the fall. That's right, Tom. The White House today confirmed that the president still plans to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a state visit this fall. And this evening, the president even joked about hosting a joint World Cup tournament with China in the future. Tom? We thank you for watching. And remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.