Donald Trump used a primetime televised address to the nation to claim the ‘evil’ intervention China and a ‘deep state’ cover-up on his 2020 defeat Joe Biden.
Making sweeping accusations during his 25-minute speech, he US The president said he had declassified the intelligence, which revealed “shocking weaknesses in our election infrastructure.”
But critics have accused Mr. Trump of trying to sow confusion and spread disinformation ahead of November’s midterm elections, which could see Republicans lose control of one or both houses of Congress.
An earlier intelligence assessment found no evidence that foreign interference had affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential race, which he lost to Mr. Biden.
Mr Trump has long claimed the election was stolen from him, despite dozens of court cases finding no evidence of widespread fraud.
He did not raise doubts about his election victories in 2016 or 2024.
The Republican president has continued to complain about the conduct of polls and cast doubt on their results when he or his party do not win.
Even when his candidate was approved for California governor, Steve Hilton, a former top aide to David Cameronadvanced in the competition last month,
Mr Trump insisted this was only because of the pressure he put on “hoax dogs” with baseless accusations that the vote was “rigged”.
Major television networks ABC and NBC, along with CNN, did not air Mr Trump’s speech on their main channels, prompting the president to claim they were involved in a “conspiracy” and should lose their licenses.
Trump said: “Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be accurately counted in a system, and that’s to make that system secure, a system where fraud and tampering are not just difficult, but virtually impossible.
“Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically below that standard. China and other countries have tried to interfere in our elections. The evidence of fraud has been buried.’
The president claimed that ‘members of the deep state’ had worked to ‘actively suppress and minimize information about the extent of China’s nefarious election interference’.
He said action was being taken to ensure “we can never again watch a stolen election”.
Mr Trump used his speech to urge Congress to pass the stalled American Voter Eligibility Protection Act, or Save America Act.
It would require photo ID to vote and proof of US citizenship to register, while forcing states to share voter registration information with the federal the government.
It would also introduce new rules for people who want a postal vote.
Supporters argue the legislation would improve election integrity, while opponents warn the documentation requirements risk denying millions of Americans the right to vote.
However, given the tight timeline, some on Capitol Hill say there is no way the bill will be implemented in time for the midterms.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who is vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, called Mr Trump’s claims about China “absolutely false”.
“The fact is that our intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that China did not even try to change a single vote in the 2020 election,” he said.
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