Beginning in 2020, China “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,” Mr. Trump alleged, citing newly declassified documents.
He said the information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences and other “sensitive” data needed to register to vote. He called it “an unprecedented election security nightmare.”
Mr. Trump said “those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden,” adding that it was not disclosed to him or “anyone else,” including Congress.
The president did not specify how China gained access to the data, but voter registration data is often publicly available. For example, North Carolina makes it available on its website. Access to that data does not necessarily allow a user to interfere with the results of an election.
Also, at least two declassified intelligence assessments that were compiled during Mr. Trump’s first term show that the federal government was aware of China’s efforts to gather information about U.S. voters.
According to a declassified intelligence community assessment, that was provided to the president, senior Executive Branch officials and members of Congress on Jan. 7, 2021, Beijing “probably also continued longstanding efforts to gather information on US voters and public opinion; political parties, candidates and their staffs; and senior government officials.” The document also said China “probably sought to use this information to predict electoral outcomes and to inform its efforts to influence US policy toward China under either election outcome, as it has during all election cycles since at least 2008 and considers an acceptable tool of statecraft.”
Another assessment from April 7, 2020, said that Chinese intelligence officials had analyzed bulk election voter registration data from multiple U.S. states, apparently to support public opinion analysis related to the 2020 general election. That assessment was declassified in 2022 but remains heavily redacted.
