FACT: The People’s Republic of China (China) and its affiliates have acquired, through purchase, theft, or hacking, the voter registration data of up to 220 million Americans. This collection by China includes data not publicly accessible.
FACT: The declassified documents clarify the Intelligence Community’s official definition of “election interference.” This term encompasses a foreign power’s focus on voter registration systems or data. The provided definition states: “Election influence includes overt and covert influence activities of foreign governments or actors serving as agents of, or on behalf of, foreign governments intended to affect directly or indirectly a US election- including candidates, political parties, voters or their preferences, or political processes. Election interference is a subset of election influence targeted at the technical aspects of the election, including voter registration, casting and counting of ballots, and reporting of results.”
FACT: In 2022, the Intelligence Community identified a Chinese Computer Network Exploitation (CNE) actor who had accessed voter registration information stored on commercial websites. Typically, CNE actors engage in cyber activities to unlawfully obtain non-public data.
FACT: Documents from the Intelligence Community describe potential harmful actions that a foreign power could undertake once in possession of American voter registration data. According to the documents: “Adversaries could alter data to potentially prevent individual voters or groups of voters from voting, causing delays on election day or forcing voters to use provisional ballots. Adversaries could also use the registration data which in some cases is also available publicly or for purchase – to tailor other interference or influence efforts.”
FACT: For President Trump’s upcoming speech on July 16, 2026, addressing China’s election interference, the White House collaborated with representatives from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Homeland Security, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These Intelligence Agencies verified the factual content from their documents utilized in the President’s address.
