Trump Demands New Probes and Charges Based on Info That’s Anything but New

The White House published heavily redacted documents it claims show how vulnerable American elections are, as the president gave a meandering prime-time address.

Trump Speech

President Donald Trump said declassified intelligence points to vulnerabilities in U.S. elections and called on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act. Saul Loeb/Pool AFP via AP

President Donald Trump asserted in a prime-time address to the nation that declassified intelligence revealed by his administration is evidence of widespread election vulnerabilities and argued that previous administrations conspired to suppress information about China’s plan to interfere in the 2020 election.

The documents, which were heavily redacted and published on the White House website, largely do not contain new information. None of the findings detailed by Trump indicate that China or any other country influenced the outcome of the 2020 election — a claim that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found was unsubstantiated in 2021.

Still, in what the White House billed as a major address, Trump demanded that his Justice Department investigate the findings and bring criminal charges where necessary.