President Trump is expected to allege in a primetime address Thursday night that China interfered in U.S. elections, including claims that Beijing accessed American voter registration data, according to sources familiar with the matter reported by CBS News.
One specific component of the planned speech involves allegations that the CIA knew about China's actions but did not share that information with Trump during his first term in office. The audience is expected to include members of the president's cabinet, with invitations extended to the heads of the CIA, FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies. Some cabinet members will not attend due to scheduling conflicts.
Trump announced the address earlier this week but disclosed little about its contents, though he hinted the speech would focus on elections. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on reporting about what the speech would contain. "As usual, anonymous sources are speculating about what President Trump will say during his speech on Thursday evening. The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in," Leavitt said.
The question of what China did or did not do during the 2020 election is not settled. In early 2021, the National Intelligence Council issued an assessment concluding with high confidence that China did not attempt to influence the outcome of that election. The assessment said Beijing determined that neither a Biden nor a Trump victory was advantageous enough for China to risk getting caught interfering. Intelligence agencies also found China did not interfere with election infrastructure, including vote-counting systems.
However, the same assessment included a dissenting view. The National Intelligence Officer for Cyber believed with moderate confidence that China did attempt to undermine Trump's reelection bid, largely through social media and official statements. That official also agreed that China did not try to interfere with election processes directly.
A separate report, declassified in 2022 but heavily redacted, found that Chinese intelligence analyzed voter registration data from multiple U.S. states in April 2020. That report suggested China's goal was to conduct public opinion analysis related to the 2020 general election. It does not explain how China obtained access to the data or how sensitive it was. In many states, some voter registration data is available to the public, though certain information remains confidential.
Trump has long claimed, without evidence, that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread fraud.
