Trump accuses China of 'illicit acquisition' of 220M US voter files

US President Donald Trump alleged Friday that starting during the 2020 election cycle, China acquired 220 million US voter files, calling this the "largest compromise of election data in history."

In a primetime address to the nation, Trump announced the declassification of intelligence that he said showed widespread foreign interference and serious vulnerabilities in US election systems

Citing a CIA report, he said that in mid-2018, during his first term in office, the policy of the Chinese Communist Party was to "leverage all domestic and foreign elements" that were opposed to him in an effort to reduce the votes he would get in the 2020 election, make him resign, or prevent his reelection.

He added that documents show dozens of significant CIA and National Security Agency reports about China's election targeting were kept out of his presidential briefing.

He also accused the Chinese government of seeking to identify US journalists who had reported negatively on him and pay them large sums of money to do more of the same.

"As one assessment states, we judge that the United States' adversaries, including at a minimum Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, as well as non-state groups, have the capability to compromise U.S. election infrastructure."

Trump claimed that these disclosures reveal an election system "so broken and so vulnerable" that no one can possibly defend it, declaring it "not defensible."

"Hundreds of millions of US voter files are in the hands of foreign governments," he said.

Saying that hundreds of thousands of non-citizens and dead people are listed and active on the voter rolls, he added that despite this, there is no nationwide requirement for voter ID or proof of citizenship.

"Tomorrow, the Secretary of Homeland Security (Markwayne Mullin) will hold a briefing to outline his department's recent work confirming cyber vulnerabilities in our electronic voting systems-they are bad," Trump added.

He stated that they are in the process of informing governors, senators, and members of Congress of potential issues in their states.

"But most importantly, addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the Save America Act," Trump argued, referring to a bill he favors that is stalled in Congress, stressing that all voters must provide proof of citizenship.