Trump accuses the intelligence community of hiding information about the Chinese election
Trump won't sign housing bill without voter ID, slams Senate
President Donald Trump has taken to Social Truth, announcing that he will not sign the housing bill despite congressional approval. He opposes the Senate's inability to pass the SAVE America Act, which he says has the support of 97% of Republicans and most Democrats. Trump is emphasizing the need for photo voter ID and proof of citizenship to prevent voter fraud.
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President Donald Trump accused members of the US intelligence community on Thursday night of using a “shadow government” to cover up evidence of China's efforts to influence the US election, citing newly declassified emails that he said revealed a bitter internal dispute over how Beijing's activities should be seen.
Trump did not say that China changed the votes or changed the results of the election. Instead, he argued that Beijing was engaged in an influence campaign aimed at shaping US public opinion.
Trump said that intelligence officials withheld important reports from his presidential briefing and highlighted an email in which a National Security Agency analyst allegedly wrote, “We purposely suppressed one of our pending (presidential daily speeches) to avoid any direct connection to the election.”
“Those responsible for sounding the alarm are instead keeping information secret and hidden,” Trump said. “They did not reveal me as the president or anyone else.”
Trump addresses the nation about the election. (Saul Loeb/Pool via Reuters)
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Trump used the revelations to pressure Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, citing the newly released intelligence as evidence that lawmakers must tighten federal election laws ahead of the midterms.
“Most importantly, to address this election security crisis, Congress must pass the SAVE America Act,” Trump said. “These changes are urgently needed to address the weaknesses I have already listed.”
The SAVE America Act passed the House in February but stalled in the Senate in March, where a 53-47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage. Trump urged the American people to call their lawyers and representatives and demand their passage “without delay.”
The White House, before US President Donald Trump, addresses the nation from the White House in Washington, DC, US, on July 16, 2026. (REUTERS/Kylie Cooper)
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The law would require proof of citizenship to register for state elections, photo identification to vote and ongoing state efforts to identify and remove non-citizens from voter rolls. Absentee voters will be required to submit a copy of valid photo ID when requesting a ballot and when returning it.
Trump also called for an end to mail-in voting except in cases of illness, disability, military deployment or travel. The current text of the SAVE America Act does not include that ban — it allows voting that is not subject to identification requirements.
Trump urged the American people to call their representatives and demand the passage of the bill “without delay.”
The newly released emails show that analysts disagree about whether any allegations of Chinese influence operations and intelligence gathering should be explicitly linked to the election. After an NSA analyst described the “massage” of the President's Daily Brief, some intelligence officials questioned the decision, with one writing that it was “mind boggling” and another calling the method “highly unusual.”
Gualala, CA, July 4, 2020 – A person sending an absentee ballot to the United States to vote in an election by mail.
One official accused the intelligence community of “deliberately avoiding reporting on election communications for flimsy reasons,” according to a November 2020 email. That official tried to reconnect intelligence to election security assessments and curb what another described as “an error of analytical intent.”
The documents, however, do not confirm Trump's broader allegations of a politically motivated conspiracy. Instead, they present a competing intelligence assessment of whether China's actions amount to an attempt to influence the presidential race or a broader campaign focused on US policies, public opinion and issues important to Beijing.
Trump went further on Thursday, saying an FBI official wrote that he was running a “shadow government” to prevent China's intelligence from becoming public.
The Chinese embassy could not be reached for comment.
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Trump ordered the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Justice Department, the FBI and the CIA on Thursday to investigate why the intelligence was withheld, fire anyone found to be involved in the cover-up and pursue criminal charges “if appropriate.”
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., responded to the address: “The American people have heard the president repeat claims about our elections that have been investigated and repeatedly denied by the Intelligence Community for years.”
