China hacked US voter data, says White House

Washington: The White House released a fact sheet asserting that declassified US intelligence documents show the People's Republic of China and its proxies obtained the voter registration data of as many as 220 million Americans, including information that was not publicly available.

The fact sheet was issued by the White House Government Transparency Task Force and said it had been approved by the directors of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. It relates to President Donald Trump's recent declassification of intelligence documents concerning foreign election activities.

According to the fact sheet, "The People's Republic of China (China) and their proxies bought, stole, or hacked as many as 220 million Americans' voter registration data. China's collection included non-publicly available data."

The White House also released what it described as the Intelligence Community's official definition of "election interference", saying the newly declassified documents distinguish it from the broader category of election influence.

According to the released definition: "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."

The administration said the definition explicitly includes efforts by a foreign power targeting voter registration infrastructure or voter registration data.

The fact sheet further stated that Intelligence Community documents from 2022 identified a Chinese Computer Network Exploitation (CNE) actor as having acquired voter registration data stored on commercial websites.

According to the White House, CNE actors generally use cyber operations to obtain information that is not publicly available.

The declassified material also outlines what intelligence agencies describe as the possible risks once a foreign adversary gains access to such information.

Quoting directly from the documents, the White House said: "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."

The White House also disclosed details of the inter-agency process behind President Trump's July 16, 2026 speech on what the administration described as China's election interference activities.

It said 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 coordinated with the White House in preparing the President's remarks.

According to the fact sheet, "The Intelligence Agencies approved the factual statements from their documents used in the President's speech."

The release marks the latest step by the Trump administration to publicise newly declassified intelligence material concerning foreign activities targeting US elections. The administration has argued that making the documents public provides greater transparency into intelligence assessments related to election security and foreign cyber operations.

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