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It's impossible to know this quickly how accurate Trump's allegations are. 

The most shocking, if true, alleges that China attempted to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, hacking into U.S. Voter files, and that members of the intelligence community covered it up. 

He claimed that China acquired 220 million U.S. Voter files, including names, addresses, phone numbers and political party preferences. 

"Documents show that during this period, dozens of significant CIA and NSA reports about China's election targeting were kept out of the presidential briefing," he said. 

Trump called his claims "irrefutable" and promised to release the previously classified intelligence files that back it up. It remains to be seen whether the evidence actually does so.

Trump wraps up his speech by talking up his "SAVE America Act" — it stands for "safeguard American voter eligibility" — calling it a landmark bill that Congress must pass "without delay" to restore faith in the American electoral system. 

The controversial bill would majorly overhaul federal elections in the U.S., requiring voters nationwide to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote, and provide photo ID at the polls. 

Tomorrow, Trump says the secretary of homeland security will be holding a briefing to outline the department's recent work that he says confirms "cyber vulnerabilities" in U.S. Electronic voting systems. 

Juan-Carlos Planas, a former elections attorney and former Florida Republican state representative, says Trump's speech is not about the 2020 election as much as it is an attempt to "steal" the 2026 midterms. 

Planas says Trump is using false claims about the 2020 election to push his SAVE America Act, which he says "would stop hundreds of thousands of people from voting" in the November midterm election by limiting what type of ID people can use to vote. 

"This is about stopping people from voting in order to steal the 2026 election," Planas said. 

As expected, Trump is really hammering at his long-held claims that the 2020 U.S. Election was rigged. 

He says this is "worse than any third-world country" but it's not clear if he's referring to the 2020 election or the U.S. Electoral system as a whole. 

Reuters

Election officials say they are confident that voting machines are adequately secure and no evidence has been found of foreign intrusions that changed results of past elections.

A forensic analysis submitted last year by Mojave Research, a contractor hired by former director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, found flaws in voting machines seized in Puerto Rico but no evidence of hacking.

Gabbard, whose resignation was effective last month, also produced her own report that outlined significant vulnerabilities in voting machines and further safeguards, such as updating their software, that could be implemented, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The White House, however, delayed releasing the report.

Continuing his speech, Trump says the documents being released tonight will prove the U.S. Government has "long known" that voting machines are vulnerable and "extremely exposed" to an attack.

He adds that the machines are "terrible" and a "cyber threat aimed at the very heart of our democracy."

Trump also says he's directing the FBI director to "ensure the matter is fully investigated" and to work with the Justice Department to prosecute those responsible for any crimes. 

David Michael Lamb

As Sarah noted, Trump has made a lengthy series of claims about China interfering in the 2020 presidential election and the 2018 midterms.

He said China acquired the voter registration data of tens of millions of Americans. These allegations go back years. Two people familiar with that issue told Reuters that voter data is not confidential, is already available to political consultants for use in targeting election materials, and cannot be manipulated.

Up until now, U.S. Intelligence officials have repeatedly said there is no evidence to suggest China or any other foreign adversary manipulated votes in 2020. 

A 2021 U.S. Intelligence community assessment found no indication 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. 

Trump has never presented evidence on how the 2020 presidential vote was "rigged." On Nov. 3, 2020, there were also 470 elections for members of Congress, in addition to gubernatorial, state legislature, mayoral, judicial and school board contests, as well as for sheriffs and district attorney votes. 

U.S. Election administration is decentralized. Adjacent counties may not even use the same voting machines to process ballots, and several voting systems were employed nationwide. 

Election denialists have not explained how Trump — or Arizona's Kari Lake, who also raised unsubstantiated allegations — could have lost by fraudulent methods while Republicans on the exact same ballot emerged victorious, sometimes in close contests.

Legal challenges from Trump and his allies were uniformly rejected in court and his then-attorney general William Barr later told Congress claims of fraud large enough to change the outcome were "bullshit." 

MAGA supporters of Trump disbelieve that Joe Biden could have amassed 81 million votes but there is valid evidence to support Biden outperforming Hillary Clinton four years earlier. Trump also increased his vote total from 2016 as mail-in ballots were expanded in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As well, there were five million fewer votes for Green, Libertarian and other presidential candidates than in 2016; that development ended up greatly favouring Biden.

Trump says the documents being declassified cover five major areas of concern, the first of which is that the Chinese government carried out "what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data" in history. 

He claims the documents reveal China's "sinister election meddling."

Trump goes on to say the documents being released show the alleged election meddling dates back to 2018. 

He also claims the Chinese government "sought to identify U.S. Journalists who negatively reported on the U.S. President." 

"The reason they wanted me to lose is because they knew I was wise to them," he said.

After continuing to boast about his administration, Trump is now beginning to touch on election security. 

"For many years I've called for bold, swift and decisive action to protect the integrity of America's elections," he says. 

"Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system."

He then announces the 'immediate declassification of critical intelligence" that he says will "expose" flaws in the American electoral system. 

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