Trump declassifies intelligence alleging Chinese interference in 2020 election, claims 220 million voter records breached

The speech

President Donald Trump addressed the nation in a prime-time televised speech on Thursday evening, reading from a teleprompter for just under 30 minutes. Hours earlier, he had fired a technician who handled the teleprompter for allegedly using insider information to profit from bets on presidential messages. Trump began by touting his administration's economic record, noting that inflation had just recorded its largest monthly drop in more than six years, and briefly mentioned cooperation with Venezuela on oil production and the conflict with Iran, where he said the U.S. was "winning big." The core of the address, however, was an announcement of immediate declassification of intelligence documents.

Tonight I announce the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence information that reveals alarming vulnerabilities in our electoral infrastructure.

China allegations

Trump claimed that the documents show China carried out the largest electoral data breach in history, acquiring 220 million U.S. voter records since the 2020 election cycle. He said the data included names, addresses, phone numbers, and political party preferences, and could be used for fraudulent voter registration or other activities. He accused the "deep state" of suppressing the information to harm his 2020 candidacy.

That information includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, political party preferences and other data that could be used to register voters or carry out fraudulent activities.

Venezuela documents

Alongside the China allegations, Trump released CIA documents detailing the Venezuelan regime's capacity to manipulate elections. The declassified report describes plans attributed to Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro to alter results by substituting real data with manipulated figures, leaving no detectable trace in conventional audits. It also notes that in some elections, the regime won through institutional control and opposition boycotts without needing mass alteration. The documents mention the involvement of Venezuelan intelligence agencies and their links to electoral technology, and name Delcy Rodríguez as part of the current regime.

Our purpose in releasing this information is not to weaken trust in elections, but to earn that trust by confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them very quickly.

Political context

The speech comes four months before the U.S. midterm elections, where polls predict Democratic gains. Trump, whose approval ratings are at record lows according to El País, revived his long-standing claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite Biden's 7-million-vote margin. The White House website hosting the declassified documents crashed immediately after the announcement.

Aftermath

The declassification was carried out by the Electoral Fraud Task Force and involved the CIA, FBI, National Intelligence Council, and CISA. Trump insisted that without trust in elections, "there is no greatness." The move is widely seen as an effort to cast doubt on electoral processes ahead of the midterms, echoing his 2020 rhetoric.