Washington DC - President Donald Trump on Thursday evening used an address to the nation to revive sweeping and unsupported claims of voter fraud and Chinese meddling ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
In an address from the White House, Trump portrayed the US electoral system as dangerously exposed to foreign interference and urged lawmakers to adopt new restrictions on voting, despite scant appetite for the measures even within his own Republican Party.
"We can never watch a stolen election again," Trump said, referring to his 2020 defeat by now-former President Joe Biden.
Trump said he was declassifying intelligence that showed, among other things, that China had illicitly acquired 220 million US voter files.
"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," Trump said.
Having claimed that more than 250,000 non-US citizens were registered to vote in four states, he went on to attack US broadcasters that refused to interrupt scheduled programming to carry his speech live. He specifically called out ABC and NBC, baselessly implying they were involved in election-rigging.
"They and others in the media are part of a plot," Trump said. "Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses."
Trump's claim that the 2020 election was "rigged" has never been substantiated with verifiable evidence. More than 60 lawsuits produced no ruling establishing fraud capable of changing the outcome. Recounts, audits, and his own Department of Justice also found no evidence.
Trump makes series of unsupported claims during address to nation
Trump had promised "big news" on election security, but analysts told the AFP much of the address was made up of repackaged old or unsupported material.
Rick Hasen, an election law expert at UCLA in California, called it the "same old unsupported, and surprisingly weak, claims of American election vulnerabilities."
"It was a tired speech with recycled and debunked claims," Hasen said. "I don't think it changes anything with how American elections will be run."
Trump devoted little time to issues voters appear more focused on, including Trump's war of aggression on Iran, the cost of living crisis, and the US economy.
Democrats accused Trump of trying to undermine confidence ahead of November's midterm elections, in which Republicans fear his historic unpopularity could cost them control of Congress.
Senate Democrat Dick Durbin called the speech "a dangerous attempt to resurrect disproven lies to undermine future elections before a single vote is cast."
Former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb said the speech appeared intended to build a case for declaring an election emergency.
"I think tonight's speech is intended to add to the predicate that he needs to declare an emergency at or about the time of the elections," Cobb told PBS, adding that he believed immigration agents at polls were a "certainty."
Trump has been pushing lawmakers to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE America Act) ahead of the midterms, but the measure has little appetite even in his own party.
The bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote – something already required under existing law in federal and state elections – and photo identification at polling places, while imposing new limits on mail-in ballots.
"Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately," Trump said. "Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard."