On Thursday, July 30th, 2026, the Trump administration reiterated its position that China’s alleged efforts to collect millions of American voter registration files amount to election interference. This allegation was initially raised by President Trump in a primetime address two weeks prior.

The White House released a fact sheet, approved by the CIA, National Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, stating that the voter files obtained by China included "non-publicly available data." However, the fact sheet did not specify the nature of the private information or which states were affected.

An administration official told reporters that the U.S. intelligence community believes China acquired these files through purchasing, theft, or hacking, but could not confirm the proportion obtained by each method. The White House also noted that Chinese cyber actors acquired voter registration data stored on commercial websites in 2022.

The allegation that China collected approximately 220 million U.S. voter registration files surfaced earlier in July. A 2020 assessment by the National Intelligence Officer for Cyber Issues (NIO-Cyber) indicated that Chinese intelligence "analyzed multiple US states' … election voter data" with the intent to "conduct public opinion analysis on the 2020 US general election." This document, declassified four years ago, remains heavily redacted.

The fact sheet referenced a 2020 memo from NIO-Cyber warning that adversaries with access to voter registration systems could "alter data" to "prevent individual voters or groups of voters from voting," though it was unclear if any country had plans to manipulate election-related systems. Election experts have stated that public voter files cannot be used to modify registration records.

Following the 2020 election, the National Intelligence Council assessed that no foreign actors, including China, attempted to alter voter registrations, ballot casting, vote counting, or any other technical aspects of the election process. While most intelligence agencies believed China refrained from interference, the NIO-Cyber offered a minority view suggesting Beijing sought to undermine the Trump campaign through social media efforts.

Sources