U.S. President Donald Trump has alleged that China carried out what he described as the largest compromise of election data in history, claiming the breach began during the 2020 U.S. election cycle.
Speaking on Thursday, Trump said the alleged compromise resulted in China obtaining about 220 million U.S. voter files, describing the incident as a major threat to election security.
“This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare,” Trump said.
However, the Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed the allegation, insisting that Beijing has never interfered and will never interfere in U.S. presidential elections.
A spokesperson for the embassy said, “China has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the U.S.”
Trump’s allegation contrasts with the findings of an unclassified 2021 U.S. intelligence community assessment, which found no evidence that any foreign actor attempted or succeeded in altering any technical aspect of the 2020 presidential election, including voter registration systems, ballots, vote tabulation or election results.
The assessment was conducted under John Ratcliffe, who served as Trump’s Director of National Intelligence at the time and now heads the CIA.
According to the report’s cover page, the classified version of the assessment was presented to Trump, senior members of his administration, congressional leaders and intelligence committees on January 7, 2021, just days before the end of his first term in office.
