President Donald Trump used a nationally televised address Thursday night to unveil newly declassified intelligence that he said exposes “shocking vulnerabilities” throughout America’s election infrastructure.
Speaking from the White House East Room, Trump said the documents reveal risks involving hacking, foreign interference, voter data and electronic election systems — information he alleged had been withheld from both the public and senior government officials for years.
“This vital information has for many years been covered up and hidden from you,” Trump said, according to Fox News. “But that all changes right now.”
The White House began posting the files online as Trump delivered the roughly 20-minute address.
Trump said the documents were assembled by the White House Government Transparency Task Force and the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, with assistance from the nation’s intelligence chiefs. He said those officials had reviewed the findings and “fully confirmed their authenticity.”
The president painted a dire picture of the country’s election defenses.
“Put together, these disclosures reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it,” Trump said, according to The National News Desk.
Among Trump’s most explosive claims was that China obtained approximately 220 million American voter files between 2020 and 2023, including names, addresses, telephone numbers and party affiliations.
Trump called it potentially “the largest compromise of election data in history” and accused intelligence officials of failing to brief him or Congress about the extent of the alleged breach.
The president said intelligence agencies learned that voter information from 18 states had been “bought, stolen or hacked” by China. He also alleged Beijing used its influence within the American business community and its information operations to weaken his first administration and damage his 2020 reelection campaign.
Some voter-registration information is publicly available under state laws, although access rules and protections for sensitive information vary. The newly released documents reportedly contain extensive redactions, making it difficult to independently determine the full scope and intended use of the data.
Trump also accused officials inside the federal government of suppressing intelligence about China’s activities.
“We’re ordering a full investigation into how and why such crucial information was hidden,” the president said.
He called on the Justice Department and FBI to determine whether charges could be brought against anyone responsible for concealing evidence or obstructing previous investigations.
The documents also address alleged weaknesses involving voter-registration databases, electronic poll books, election websites and ballot-counting systems. Trump said those systems remain “vulnerable and easily compromised” and promised swift action to close known security gaps before the November midterm elections.
However, the administration did not allege that the newly released material proves voting machines were hacked or individual votes were changed during the 2020 election. A White House official acknowledged that distinction during a briefing before the address, CBS News reported.
A 2021 intelligence assessment likewise concluded that no foreign actor altered the technical voting process in 2020, including voter registration, ballot casting, tabulation or the reporting of results.
That assessment found that China gathered information about American voters and public opinion but concluded Beijing did not conduct an operation intended to change the election’s outcome. It also included a minority intelligence view that China took steps to undermine Trump through social media, official statements and other influence efforts.
China has denied interfering in U.S. elections.
Trump also highlighted an ongoing Department of Homeland Security review that his administration says identified approximately 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote across California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada. The methodology behind that figure has been challenged by election specialists, who warn that database comparisons can produce false matches. Registering or voting as a noncitizen in a federal election is already illegal.
The address ultimately became a forceful appeal for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, Trump’s sweeping election-security package.
The legislation would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote, mandate photo identification at the polls and restrict most mail-in voting while preserving exceptions for military personnel, travelers and voters with qualifying illnesses or disabilities.
Trump argued that the newly released intelligence makes passage of the bill an urgent national-security priority.
“No country can be great without fair and honest elections,” Trump said, according to ABC News. “If there can be no trust, there can be no greatness.”
The measure remains stalled in the Senate, where it lacks the votes needed to overcome the filibuster and has encountered resistance from Democrats as well as some Republicans.
Trump said administration officials would begin notifying governors and members of Congress about vulnerabilities identified in their states. The Homeland Security Department was also expected to provide additional details Friday about election cybersecurity and its review of state voter rolls.
The speech signaled that election integrity will remain at the center of Trump’s agenda heading into the midterms — and that the White House intends to use the declassified files to intensify pressure on Congress for action.
