President Trump delivered a primetime address Thursday night from the White House on U.S. election security. He highlighted alleged foreign interference and called for passage of the SAVE America Act. The speech came months ahead of midterm elections.
Trump said declassified documents showed China had acquired data from roughly 220 million voter files starting in the 2020 cycle. He described "shocking vulnerabilities" in voting machines and ballot systems and accused foreign actors including China, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela of efforts to influence elections.
The president urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and identification at polls. He stated that failure to act would only occur if lawmakers "want to cheat."
Election experts and Democratic lawmakers said the address contained no new evidence that votes had been changed or that widespread fraud had occurred. They noted that some information in the documents had been public for years and that intelligence assessments found no successful alteration of election outcomes.
China's embassy denied any interference, saying the country adheres to non-interference in other nations' affairs. Republican lawmakers expressed concern that the focus on past claims could distract from economic issues ahead of the midterms.
