Trump alleges vast conspiracy to commit and cover up election fraud

· Axios

President Trump used his Thursday night prime-time address to accuse U.S. intelligence agencies of covering up Chinese efforts targeting the 2020 election and announced the release of White House documents that he says support those claims.

Why it matters: Trump is reopening a politically charged debate over China's role in the 2020 election while directly challenging U.S. intelligence assessments that concluded Beijing did not try to influence the election's outcome.

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Driving the news: During his address, Trump said the White House released documents alleging that "over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, Beijing carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China's illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files."

The intrigue: There were 213.8 million registered voters in 2020, 209.0 million of whom were active. The latest count shows 234.5 million registered voters, 211.1 million of whom are active.

  • Among the documents released on the White House website Thursday night was an early 2020 report saying it would be difficult to manipulate the outcome of an election.
  • "We assess that systems that tabulate, transmit, or display election results are vulnerable to localized exploitation but would be difficult to manipulate on a wide enough scale to alter the election outcome."

What he's saying: "Raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, yet buried by rogue bureaucrats, stated that China's activities even included an attempt to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden," Trump said.

  • "Documents show that during this period, dozens of significant CIA and NSA reports about China's election targeting were kept out of the presidential briefing. These were briefings I would get almost every day," he added.
  • "Everything was kept out that was of importance. One email among intelligence analysts admitted that they had quote deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the election," Trump said.
  • "Another official inside the FBI wrote that she was running quote a shadow government unquote to keep intelligence about China's election meddling from becoming known."

Zoom out: Trump has significantly reduced federal election-security infrastructure.

  • He imposed dramatic cuts to CISA — cutting about 1,100 employees — and ordered it to stop its election security programs, which provided guidance to states and localities.
  • Trump also dismantled the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission earlier this week.

Between the lines: During both Trump's first term and former President Biden's administration, U.S. officials warned about Chinese cyber operations and influence campaigns targeting the U.S., even as intelligence agencies concluded those activities fell short of an effort to influence the outcome of the 2020 election.

What we know: U.S. intelligence agencies have long assessed that China sought to expand its influence through cyber operations and influence campaigns but did not assess that Beijing attempted to sway the outcome.

  • In a March 2021 National Intelligence Council assessment, the intelligence community concluded with "high confidence" that Beijing did not attempt to influence the election's outcome because Chinese officials viewed neither a Trump nor Biden win as sufficiently advantageous to justify the risks of being caught meddling.
  • The assessment also concluded that China did not interfere with election infrastructure, including vote-counting systems — a finding that is distinct from allegations involving voter data.

Go deeper: Read: Trump documents allege China election interference

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details.

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