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Trump in address to nation, repeats stolen election claims, alleges China compromised 220 million voter data files

Trump in address to nation, repeats stolen election claims, alleges China compromised 220 million voter data files

US President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on July 16, 2026. Photograph: (afp)

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President Donald Trump has declassified intelligence related to US elections, claiming it exposes "shocking vulnerabilities" and alleging that China compromised 220 million US data files and stole or bought election-related data from 18 states, though he presented no evidence.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the immediate declassification of intelligence related to US elections, claiming it reveals "shocking vulnerabilities" in the country's voting system. In a national address from the White House just four ‌months before the critical midterm elections, Trump accused China of carrying out what he described as the "largest compromise" of US election data during the 2020 election.

"The authenticity of this intelligence is confirmed," Trump said, claiming that Chinese actors compromised 220 million US data files.

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Data from 18 states ‘bought’?

"Over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, 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," Trump said in a televised prime-time address from the White House.

He further alleged that election-related data from 18 US states had been "bought" or "stolen."

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The White House earlier said the newly declassified intelligence concerns investigations into US elections and vulnerabilities in voting systems. However, Trump did not immediately provide evidence to support his claims during the address.

Trump's ‘false’ stolen election claims

Trump has spent years sowing suspicions about ​electoral outcomes, falsely claiming his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden was rigged. He has also claimed without evidence that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, voting machines are vulnerable to manipulation and non-citizen ​voting is widespread.
Notably, more than 60 lawsuits by Trump and his allies produced no ruling establishing fraud capable of changing the outcome of the 2020 election, while recounts, audits, and his own Justice Department found none.

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Moohita Kaur Garg

Moohita Kaur Garg is a journalist and Senior Sub-Editor at WION News, specialising in the volatile intersections of global security, defense technology, and South Asian geopolitics...Read More