Washington/The president of the United States, Donald Trump, once again questioned the reliability of the country’s electoral system this Thursday by denouncing alleged electoral interference by China, votes from “non-citizens” and pressuring Congress to approve a law that would restrict voting before the midterm elections next November.
Trump offered a message broadcast in prime time from the White House that some networks refused to broadcast, considering that they could amplify a message of conspiracy without evidence. CBS, ABC and CNN – which have verified the president’s claims – were threatened by the president with the withdrawal of their license, while the like-minded Fox News was cautious, without supporting him.
Trump said his purpose in releasing that information is not to “weaken confidence in the election,” but rather to “correct vulnerabilities, very quickly,” despite once again questioning the electoral process and the 2020 results.
Trump focused much of his speech on alleged foreign threats and claimed that intelligence showed attempts by China to influence the 2020 election, including the fabrication of false documents to facilitate illegal votes.
Trump once again attacked voting by mail, one of his main lines of attack since the 2020 elections, stating that this modality facilitates fraud and demanding greater restrictions before the midterm elections
However, the documents cited by the White House describe unverified accusations and internal evaluations that questioned the reliability of some sources, in addition to the fact that years ago US security agencies had ruled out that foreign actors had altered the electoral results.
Trump once again attacked voting by mail, one of his main lines of attack since the 2020 elections, stating that this modality facilitates fraud and calling for greater restrictions before the midterm elections.
The president especially pointed to states governed by Democrats, such as California, where voting by mail is widely used, and maintained that their electoral systems have vulnerabilities.
However, electoral authorities and multiple investigations have not found evidence of widespread fraud through this modality.
Trump’s crackdown on mail-in voting has met with resistance even within the Republican Party, especially among lawmakers in states where the practice is widespread and who fear that tougher restrictions could affect the participation of their own voters.
Trump also used declassified documents from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Venezuela and the technology company Smartmatic to maintain that there were mechanisms capable of altering electoral results between 2004 and 2020 through digital technology.
The president claimed the analysis demonstrated a plot to rig elections, but the intelligence document cited was more limited.
The report noted that Venezuelan officials had “some ability to manipulate electronic voting systems” within Venezuela, but warned that there was no conclusive evidence that this technology had been used to commit large-scale electronic fraud.
In addition, it ruled out that the Venezuelan Government or Smartmatic had the capacity to alter elections outside the country.
The company Smartmatic, which has been the subject of accusations related to the 2020 elections, had limited participation in those elections in the United States, restricted to a single county in California.
Trump took advantage of his message to ask the Republican Senate to approve the SAVE Act, an initiative that would force states to require documentary proof of citizenship to register as a voter in federal elections.
The president again presented the measure as a tool to prevent unauthorized people from participating in the elections and linked electoral security with his criticism of immigration policies.
The proposal has been approved in the House of Representatives, but faces difficulties in the Senate, where Democrats have rejected the measure considering that it could create obstacles for citizens with the right to vote.
Trump again linked irregular immigration to election security, claiming that previous immigration policies had allowed for potential abuses of the voting system.
Election officials have noted that cases of non-U.S. citizens voting in federal elections are extremely rare and do not pose a significant threat to the results.
The president has used this argument to support new voting restrictions, although his critics argue that the proposed measures could hit some groups of voters especially hard by requiring additional documentation to register.
“On the contrary, who is it that frequently intervenes in the internal affairs of other countries? Who has long carried out indiscriminate surveillance of governments, companies and citizens around the world?” says China
The debate over the citizenship of voters has become one of the main points on the Republican agenda before the midterm elections, in which control of Congress will be at stake.
Trump has made allegations of electoral fraud, foreign interference and immigration central elements of his political message, even though official investigations have found no evidence of widespread alteration of the 2020 election results.
This Friday, the Chinese government rejected the accusations, calling them “complete falsehood.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian declared in a press conference that Beijing “has no interest and has never interfered in the United States elections” and urged Washington to contribute to the development of bilateral relations, instead of “using China as an election campaign issue.”
Lin noted that Trump’s claims are “pure fabrication” and “a malicious smear campaign,” and that any alleged evidence or evidence supporting them is a “complete falsehood.”
“On the contrary, who is it that frequently intervenes in the internal affairs of other countries? Who has for a long time carried out indiscriminate surveillance of governments, companies and citizens around the world?” questioned the spokesperson, who called on the United States to engage in “self-criticism.”
