WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that China carried out what is believed to be “the largest compromise of election data in history” by China starting during the 2020 election cycle.
The compromise, the White House said, resulted in China’s acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files.
“This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare,” Trump said.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing “has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the U.S.”
An unclassified 2021 U.S. intelligence community assessment found no indications that any foreign actor attempted or succeeded in altering “any technical aspect” of the 2020 presidential election vote, including voter registrations, ballots, tabulations or results.
The assessment was conducted under John Ratcliffe, then Trump’s director of national intelligence and now his CIA director.
The cover page said that the classified version was briefed to Trump, senior members of his administration, congressional leaders and intelligence committees on January 7, 2021, days before his first term ended.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber)
