He touted new declassified evidence about alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election, dredged up an old case in Michigan about voter fraud and repeated a campaign trail favorite: that noncitizens are illegally registered to vote.
The vast majority of it was untrue, misleading, or distorted again but this is Donald Trump, thus not unexpected. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night shall stay the President from strenuously trying to pull the wool over the eyes of American citizens. One of his more interesting claims was
Raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, yet buried by
rogue bureaucrats, stated that China's activities even included an attempt to
manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden. 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.
These were briefings I would get almost every day; everything was kept out that was of importance. One email among intelligence analysts admitted that they had, quote, deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the election. Another official inside the FBI wrote that she was running, quote, a shadow government, unquote, to keep intelligence about China's election meddling from becoming known and to keep it away from the honorable press.
In an annotated transcript of the President's speech, Zachary B. Wolf and Annette Choi of CNN note "unverified intelligence is frequently incorrect" and "there's no evidence that China actually sought to manufacture ballots."
Moreover, "Trump is essentially alleging a coverup here. It will be interesting to see how or whether the administration pursues this inside the intelligence community."
The Administration is seeking indictments against six members of Congress, each of them "traitors to our Country," according to President Trump. Reuters reported last November- a mere ten months into his second term
At least 470 people, organizations and institutions have
been targeted for retribution since Trump took office – an average of more than
one a day. Some were singled out for punishment; others swept up in broader
purges of perceived enemies. The count excludes foreign individuals,
institutions and governments, as well as federal employees dismissed as part of
force reductions.
Promptly after Trump took office last year, at least a dozen members of the Justice Department who had worked on criminal prosecution of Donald were fired. Kash Patel, now the FBI director, took aim at the agency in a 2023 book. He named sixty individuals allegedly a part of an "Executive Branch deep state," and at least 17 have faced political retribution, fired and/or stripped of their security clearance.
And now, the President is alleging a conspiracy right under his nose. Intelligence analysts who had "deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the (2020) election." And there was an FBI official he claims admitted to "a shadow government" to keep intelligence about China's election meddling from becoming known and to keep it" hidden.
"It will be interesting," the CNN reporters write, "to see how or whether the administration pursues this." Interesting, too, it will be to see what the President drops on China after his strenuous, albeit dishonest, effort to convince Americans that mainland China has been "meddling" in our elections.
President Trump could re-impose tariffs on China. That would prompt retaliation and might not be beneficial- but when has that deterred Donald?
Chinese president Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the White House on September 24. However, after they spoke at Xi's walled compound in May, Trump declared the two had "become really a friend"- and why interfere with such a lovely frienship?
The President also could encourage fellow Republicans to support the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Online Act, sponsored by senators Scott (R-FL) and Baldwin (D-Wis), which would "ensure that all goods sold online list their country of origin." This bill has the advantage that it wouldn't be (and wouldn't seem to be) a direct attack on China, but would remind consumers that many of our goods are manufactured there, and would steer a few buyers away from those and toward others.
Odds are that the President won't do any of this. In early 2025, then-DNI director Tulsi Gabbard reduced the Foreign Malign Influence Center, "the last U.S. federal government organ dedicated to tracking and analyzing State-sponsored efforts to interfere in U.S. institution, elections, and society." Additionally, the Adminstration "shut down related units at the State Department, Departmentof Homeland Security, FBI, and Department of Justice."
To be generous: Donald Trump is not at all interested in election security. To be realistic: Trump prefers to take the cops off the beat to encourage foreign interference in elections, as one leg in the stool to convince Americans that any election lost by Republicans is rigged. His speech of July 16 was a major part of that effort, but it's likely that far worse is yet to come.
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