Trump declassifies intelligence files on China, cites ‘shocking vulnerabilities’ in primetime address

US President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on July 16, 2026.

President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address focused on election security, declaring that “no trust” means “no greatness” for the United States and arguing that confidence in the integrity of elections is essential to the nation’s future.

On Thursday, Trump revealed that he was declassifying and releasing “critical intelligence” documents which contained “shocking vulnerabilities” in U.S. elections.

 

“America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed, because no country can be great without fair and honest elections,” Trump said. “You have to trust your country, because if there can be no trust, there can be no greatness. And that’s very simple. No trust, no greatness.”

The president stated that China obtained more than 220 million U.S. voter records in an effort to influence the 2020 election. Trump said that although U.S. intelligence officials were aware of activity involving voter registration data in 18 states, they did not inform him, Congress or the public.

 

President Trump has stated that newly declassified documents allege that China obtained 220 million U.S. voter records in what officials describe as the largest known compromise of U.S. election data.

The files reportedly include voters' names, addresses, phone numbers, and… pic.twitter.com/fHPLd1xpXu

— One America News (@OANN) July 17, 2026

“Those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden,” Trump stated. “They did not disclose (it) to me as president or to anyone else.”

He also cited recently declassified intelligence documents, saying they included a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report alleging that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sought to prevent his reelection, as well as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intelligence claiming that China attempted to manufacture illegal ballots in support of Joe Biden during the 2020 election.

 

 

Trump then turned his attention to electric voting machines, referring to them as “vulnerable.”

President Trump: "Hundreds of millions of U.S. voter files are in the hands of foreign governments. Our machines and ballot counting systems are exposed to hacking and manipulation and corruption… Evidence of fraud has been buried.”

Watch OAN on OAN Live today for more updates. pic.twitter.com/OFhFVupZrH

— One America News (@OANN) July 17, 2026

“The third set of documents we are releasing proves that for many years, Americans were blatantly lied to about the security of our election infrastructure, including electronic voting machines and ballot counting systems,” Trump said. “They’re vulnerable and they’re easily compromised and people within our government knew that.”

 

“Tonight we’re publishing a series of previously classified U.S. intelligence community assessments and other reports proving that our government has long known these machines are extremely exposed to attack,” Trump said. “As one assessment states, ‘We judged 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.’”

The president then revealed that he has tasked FBI Director Kash Patel to reopen and fully look into his agency’s 2020 investigation into a Michigan voter registration drive. Trump stated that canvassers in the Muskegon area had allegedly admitted to signing voter registration forms using other people’s names, submitting fraudulent registrations for nonexistent voters and receiving gift cards based on the number of applications they submitted.

Additionally, he asserted that a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) review identified approximately 278,000 illegal aliens registered to vote in U.S. federal elections. In response to the DHS’s findings, Trump announced that his administration will notify states in order to remove these ineligible individuals from voter rolls.

 

President Trump: “To reveal just how vulnerable our elections continue to be, we are releasing the results of a stunning investigation by DHS, which conducted a review of state voter rolls and public records and identified approximately 278,000 non-citizens who are registered to… pic.twitter.com/mocO8HINDd

— One America News (@OANN) July 17, 2026

Trump pressed the SAVE America Act, arguing that it must be passed by lawmakers in order to tighten federal election rules before November’s midterm elections.

“Most importantly, addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the SAVE America Act,” Trump said. “These reforms are urgently needed to stop the vulnerabilities that I’ve mentioned.”