Is Trump trying to rig the midterm elections?
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What did Trump claim about China stealing 220 million US voter files and is that supported by evidence?
The People's Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China's illicit acquisition of 220 million US voter files.
In the East Room of the White House, Donald Trump makes an extraordinary accusation of election interference, claiming Beijing had illegally obtained the voter files of 220 million Americans. He also accuses US intelligence agencies of hiding the extent of China's activity.
members of the deep state, very, very famous group of people, many cases, in our intelligence agency work to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China's sinister election meddling.
Later, Trump claims a Homeland Security review had found around 278,000 non-citizens registered to vote.
Even this limited analysis found more than a quarter of a million foreigners illegally registered to vote. Put together, these disclosures reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it.
Trump's motivation, critics say, is to sow doubt ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, which he's already made several attempts to reshape, from redrawing maps to restricting voting to firing the entire Electoral Commission. I'm Ruby Jones, and you're listening to 7am. Today, staff writer at The Atlantic, David A. Graham, on Trump's campaign to tilt the midterms and what he could still do before, during and after Election Day. It's Friday, July 24th. David, Donald Trump recently delivered a pretty unusual primetime address from the White House. He said that China had stolen voter information and that intelligence officials were covering up election interference. Take me through, to begin with, the claims that he was making there.
So there's a mix of things.
How did Trump allege US intelligence agencies hid the extent of Chinese election activity?
Some of them are claims that are based on real evidence that he was exaggerating. So, you know, he talked about China and other countries trying to interfere, but overstated what they've done.
220 million U.S. voter files. That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers. We do not know where the president got those numbers from. And we should point out to our viewers that U.S. intelligence found no evidence of Chinese meddling in the 2020 election.
You know, there's heavily redacted documents that the White House provided, but they don't really clearly back up what he said.
ABC News reviewed the documents and found they describe efforts to obtain, not alter, voter records. Many voter records can already be legally obtained from states.
In some cases, he exaggerated other things. So he claimed a great deal of, you know, attempts to fraudulently register to vote in the state of Michigan. This is something that is true, but it's something that was found out at the time and has been referred for prosecution. Some of the things are innuendo or he didn't have the evidence to back it up. So it's a mix of vague claims and things that are simply not true.
Okay. And so there was this one claim that 278,000 non-citizens were registered to vote. Trump hasn't provided any evidence for that. So why is he telling this story, though? What does he want Americans to believe about the upcoming election?
I think there are three things going on. One is this kind of fearmongering about immigrants is part of Trump's core political appeal and has been for a decade. Part of it is Trump, I think, has never fully gotten over losing the 2020 election, nor has he really made peace with the idea that although he won the presidency in 2016, he did not win the popular vote. And so a lot of these things are sort of designed to make some excuse or to claim that, in fact, he did win those elections and he won the popular vote. I think he is also trying to lay the groundwork to contest or to cast doubt on the 2026 election. So all of these are things that might convince people that the system doesn't work or that the wrong people are voting or that somehow something is going wrong and they can't trust the results.
And tell me about the relevance of this happening before the midterms, the timing here.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What did Trump claim about China stealing 220 million US voter files and is that supported by evidence?
0:01–2:10
2
How did Trump allege US intelligence agencies hid the extent of Chinese election activity?
2:10–5:00
3
What is the basis and credibility of Trump's claim that 278,000 non‑citizens are registered to vote?
5:00–9:27
4
Why might Trump be promoting voter fraud and foreign interference narratives ahead of the midterms?
9:27–15:54
Speakers
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