Washington:

US President Donald Trump has accused China of compromising the American election data. He said he would declassify intelligence on “shocking vulnerabilities” in the system, escalating years of claims that his 2020 defeat was due to widespread fraud.

“Over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million US voter files,” the US leader said in a televised prime-time address from the White House.

Trump claimed China carried out “the largest compromise in election data in history” designed to undermine the 2020 election, and members of the deep state worked to cover it up.

“This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare,” he said.

Trump said America’s election system “falls catastrophically short” of an accurate and fair system.

“Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, and that is to make that system secure — one where cheating and interference are not just difficult, but virtually impossible,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard.”

Allegations of Beijing collecting US voter data are not new. A 2020 report by the National Intelligence Officer for Cyber, partially declassified in 2022, said Chinese intelligence officials analyzed voter registration data from multiple American states to conduct “public opinion analysis.”

However, more than 60 lawsuits by Trump and his allies produced no ruling establishing fraud capable of changing the outcome of the 2020 election, while recounts, audits, and his own Justice Department found none.