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Trump claims foreign influence in 2020 election during primetime address, releases declassified documents
President Donald Trump claimed foreign influence in the 2020 election during a primetime address, announced the release of declassified intelligence, and called for new voting legislation.
WASHINGTON —
President Donald Trump alleged foreign interference in the 2020 election during a primetime address Thursday night, announcing the release of declassified documents and urging lawmakers to pass new voting legislation.
“Tonight I’m announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure,” Trump said. “No country could be great without fair and honest elections.”
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As Trump delivered his address, the White House unveiled a website containing documents that included investigation files, intelligence analysis, and correspondence. These documents were presented without context, and no credible intelligence has emerged showing that foreign actors manipulated the 2020 vote count or altered the election outcome.
Trump also focused part of his address on China and mentioned Russia but did not raise doubts about his election wins in 2016 or 2024.
Trump called on the Justice Department to conduct investigations and prosecutions, though it remains unclear what criminal conduct he was referring to or whether any can be proven.
“We assess that centralized election-related data repositories, such as voter registration databases, poll books, and other official election websites, are most vulnerable to exploitation and adversaries,” Trump said. “This is a cyber threat aimed at the very heart of our democracy.”
But fact-checkers with PolitiFact noted that previous government reports found no known instances of successful foreign interference targeting election infrastructure to change the outcome of a U.S. election.
During his address, the president also released information about a voter registration investigation in Michigan and claimed that 28,000 non-citizens were registered to vote in some states. Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security to notify states about non-citizens on voter rolls and to remove ineligible voters immediately, though some states do allow non-citizens to vote in local, not federal, elections.
Trump also demanded lawmakers pass the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require proof of citizenship to vote. While he has been pressuring Republicans to support the bill, it has not yet garnered enough backing to advance.
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