China has hit back at President Donald Trump after he accused it of carrying out “the largest compromise of election data in history” beginning with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, just one of numerous schemes he claims “deep state” actors within the American government concealed from him.
Trump claimed in a primetime address Thursday evening that raw intelligence suggests Beijing may have sought to “manufacture illegal ballots,” adding that China also managed to acquire 220 million sensitive files about U.S. voters (such data is publicly available for purchase, however).
The president also claimed that the rival superpower had sought to pay journalists to write false stories about him, that top U.S. officials had kept key intelligence out of his daily briefings and revived a MAGA conspiracy theory tying in Venezuela’s involvement.
Responding, China’s Foreign Ministry said Trump’s allegations had no factual basis, reiterating that the country adheres to the principle of non-intervention in other state’s affairs and had no interest in influencing U.S. elections.
Former national security officials and Democrats have likewise said the president’s speech was filled with falsehoods and exaggerations.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called it “the ramblings of a mad king.”
