Trump gives primetime speech on elections as White House alleges Chinese access to voter data - CBS News

President Trump delivered a primetime White House address on election security on July 16, 2026, reiterating his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Alongside the speech, the White House released a trove of newly declassified documents alleging that China accessed U.S. voter data and attempted to influence the 2020 election.
U.S. intelligence agencies have said no foreign powers interfered with ballots or vote-counting, and elections experts maintain that voting machines are secure and extremely difficult to compromise at scale.
Trump alleged that voting machines and ballot-counting systems are "extremely exposed to attack," though some of the released documents relate to a company largely not used in the United States.
The speech coincides with Trump's push for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, told CBS News that after 18 months in control of the federal government, the administration produced only "rehashed, debunked conspiracy theories" that were already known not to have affected elections.