1 of 4 | President Donald Trump delivers a prime-time address to the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Pool photo by Saul Loeb/UPI | License Photo
July 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Thursday night made sweeping, largely unsupported claims of widespread problems with U.S. elections, many of which have been debunked or overstated, as he called on Congress to pass legislation he says would protect the electoral system but critics describe as voter suppression.
During his roughly 25-minute prime-time speech to the nation, Trump attempted to make his case for measures needed to address the alleged vulnerabilities, stating, “Our elections were left vulnerable to being rigged and stolen, and the trust of the American people was lost.”
“This cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.
The speech was delivered only months before November’s midterm elections, which Trump has increasingly focused on, having repeatedly warned that if Republicans lose their slim majority in the House to Democrats, impeachment proceedings and investigations will follow.
Democrats and other critics have accused the president of attempting to sow confusion and distrust ahead of the midterms while pushing the SAVE America Act, which would require photo identification to vote, documentary proof of citizenship to register and restrict mail voting to certain eligible groups. Opponents say those requirements would disproportionately burden Black and other minority voters and prevent some otherwise eligible citizens from voting.
Trump said he was releasing declassified documents to support claims of “shocking vulnerabilities” in electronic voting and ballot-counting systems and other problems, including the alleged presence of noncitizens on state voter rolls. Much of the underlying information in the newly released documents, however, had already been made public.
“Our purpose in disclosing this information is not to weaken confidence in elections, but to earn that confidence by confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them very, very quickly,” he said.
During his speech, Trump portrayed China as a malign actor attempting to exploit vulnerabilities to influence elections.
He accused China of the “illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files,” though much of the information is publicly available or legally obtainable. He did not state what China intended to do with the information, but alleged that Beijing “engaged in other election-related activities to undermine my first administration and our 2020 campaign.”
While Trump, who falsely maintains the 2020 election was stolen from him, did not claim China had altered votes or meddled with voting systems, he did say Beijing attempted to influence the election, despite U.S. intelligence agencies having repeatedly stated there was no foreign influence by China or any other country in the election.
“They wanted to just you sound like your president wasn’t so hot when, actually, your president has done a great job,” he said.
The president continued by alleging a “deep state” conspiracy to keep the vulnerabilities hidden from the American public, largely blaming members of the U.S. intelligence community for being behind this alleged scheme “to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China’s sinister election meddling.”
On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin will hold a press conference concerning “cyber vulnerabilities in our election voting systems,” Trump said. He added that the White House is contacting governors and members of Congress about “potential issues in their states” and ordered DHS to notify every state about noncitizens on their voter rolls and direct them to removal all ineligible voters.
He also called on all lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act, stating “these reforms are urgently needed to stop the vulnerabilities that i’ve mentioned.”
He also directed order the Justice Department, FBI, CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to investigate the alleged concealment of information, dismiss those involved in the alleged cover-up and bring criminal charges where appropriate.
The speech was roundly rebuked by Democrats and critics as an unhinged attempt to rig the upcoming midterms.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said it was “a pathetic attempt” by Trump to deny that he lost the 2020 election as well as to distract from his domestic and foreign policies.
“Trump knows he lost American families. He knows he has made their lives more expensive, endangered their friends and families with an unnecessary war and embarrassed the country on the global stage,” Schumer said in a statement.
“And rather than pivot his policies, he is working to rig the midterms before single vote has been cast.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called Trump “a feeble, unhinged conspiracy-peddling 80-year-old failed president.”
And California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the speech was “the ramblings of a mad king.”
“Before a single vote has been cast, he’s already laying the groundwork to rig this election and convince YOU not to trust the results if they don’t go his way,” Newsom said online.
“This is what authoritarians do. Don’t fall for it.”
