Washington DC [US], July 17 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) alleged that members of the “Deep State” within US intelligence agencies suppressed information about China’s alleged interference in the 2020 US election, announcing investigations into an alleged cover-up that kept the intelligence from both the President and the American people.
In a national address on election integrity, Trump said newly released documents showed intelligence officials actively concealed information regarding China’s alleged election meddling.
“Compounding the travesty, the second set of documents we are releasing reveals that members of the Deep State in our intelligence agencies worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China’s sinister election meddling–covering it up from both the President and the American People,” Trump said.
He alleged that US spy agencies discovered in 2020 that “tens of millions of voters’ data in 18 states had been bought, stolen, or hacked by China,” but failed to disclose the information to him as President or to Congress.
“They did not disclose it to me as president, and to the best of our knowledge, they did not inform Congress. In fact, all they kept saying is, ‘This is the most secure election in the history of our country,'” Trump said.
Citing CIA reporting, Trump claimed the Chinese Communist Party sought to influence the 2018 US midterm elections and the 2020 presidential election by leveraging domestic and foreign actors opposed to him.
He further alleged that the Chinese government attempted to influence US business leaders and journalists, saying the documents stated that Beijing sought “to identify US journalists who had reported negatively on the US President, and pay them large sums of money to write more negative articles about him.”
Trump also claimed that FBI intelligence from 2020 indicated an attempt by China “to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden,” alleging that the information was buried by “rogue bureaucrats.”
Announcing further action, Trump said he had directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the CIA to investigate the alleged concealment of intelligence.
“Today, I am asking the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the CIA to investigate how and why such crucial information was hidden, to fire those involved in the coverup, and to file criminal charges, if appropriate, against them,” he said.
According to information released on the official website of the White House alongside Trump’s address, the administration alleges that China illicitly acquired 220 million US voter files beginning during the 2020 election cycle, describing it as the largest compromise of election data in history. The documents were released under the White House’s “Election Integrity” initiative, which states that ensuring confidence in elections is fundamental to preserving trust in American democracy. (ANI)
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