US President Donald Trump is expected to allege previously unreported Chinese interference in US elections during a primetime address on Thursday, including claims that Beijing compromised US voter data and that the CIA was aware of the activity but did not inform him during his first term, according to a report by CBS News, citing sources familiar with the matter.According to the report, Trump’s speech is expected to focus on allegations that China accessed US voter registration data and that intelligence related to the issue was withheld from him while he was in office. The audience is expected to include members of the Cabinet as well as the heads of the CIA, FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Department of Homeland Security and other agencies, although some Cabinet members are expected to miss the event because of scheduling conflicts.Responding to reports about the contents of Trump’s address, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “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.”Trump announced the primetime speech earlier this week but has shared few details about its contents. He has indicated that it will focus on elections. The president has repeatedly claimed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen through widespread fraud, an assertion that has been rejected by courts and election officials.The expected allegations come despite previous assessments by the US intelligence community. A 2021 National Intelligence Council report concluded with “high confidence” that China did not attempt to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The assessment said Beijing determined that neither a Joe Biden nor a Trump victory was sufficiently advantageous to justify the risk of being caught interfering.The report also found that China did not interfere with election infrastructure, including vote-counting systems.However, the intelligence assessment included a dissenting opinion from the National Intelligence Officer for Cyber, who concluded with “moderate confidence” that China attempted to undermine Trump’s re-election campaign through social media activity and official statements. The official agreed that there was no attempt to interfere with election processes.Separately, a report declassified in 2022 found that in April 2020, Chinese intelligence had analysed voter registration data from multiple US states. According to the document, the objective appeared to be conducting public opinion analysis ahead of the 2020 general election.The declassified report does not explain how China obtained the voter registration data or whether the information accessed included confidential records. It also does not accuse Beijing of manipulating voter data or interfering with election processes. In many US states, limited voter registration information is publicly available.The broader 2021 intelligence assessment concluded that Russia sought to damage Biden’s campaign while Iran attempted to undermine Trump’s campaign, but neither country targeted US election infrastructure.It also found “no indications” that any foreign actor altered voter registrations, ballots, vote-counting or any other technical aspect of the 2020 election.“We assess that it would be difficult for a foreign actor to manipulate election processes at scale without detection by intelligence collection on the actors themselves, through physical and cyber security monitoring around voting systems across the country, or in post-election audits,” the report said.
