CBS Information is fact-checking President Trump’s speech on election safety Thursday evening, wherein he raised new allegations relating to China’s entry to U.S. voter information and claimed that the “deep state” within the U.S. intelligence neighborhood sought to “actively suppress and downplay” China’s actions. He additionally made accusations about voter registration fraud within the U.S.
Listed below are among the claims and CBS Information’ rankings and context for Mr. Trump’s statements:
Deceptive: Trump claims China “carried out what’s believed to be the biggest compromise of election information in historical past” throughout 2020 election
“First, they present that over a interval of years, beginning throughout the 2020 election cycle, the Individuals’s Republic of China carried out what’s believed to be the biggest compromise of election information in historical past.”
Particulars:
- It isn’t clear how China accessed the voter information or what they did with it as soon as they obtained it.
- All states make some voting data publicly out there: Title, handle, political get together and extra. North Carolina and Ohio, for instance, submit their voter file on-line free of charge. In some states, these lists can be found for buy by political campaigns and events.
- A Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company/FBI bulletin from September 2020 discovered, “In actuality, a lot U.S. voter data could be bought or acquired by means of publicly out there sources. Whereas cyber actors have in recent times obtained voter registration data, the acquisition of this information didn’t influence the voting course of or election outcomes.”
- The bulletin continued, “The FBI and CISA don’t have any data suggesting any cyberattack on U.S. election infrastructure has prevented an election from occurring, prevented a registered voter from casting a poll, compromised the accuracy of voter registration data, or compromised the integrity of any ballots solid.”
By Gaby Ake
False: Trump claims U.S. election system “falls catastrophically quick” of ordinary the place “dishonest and interference should not simply troublesome, however nearly inconceivable.”
“Each American deserves to know that once they solid their vote, that vote might be counted precisely in a system, and that’s to make that system safe — one the place dishonest and interference should not simply troublesome, however nearly inconceivable. Sadly, the system now we have in the present day falls catastrophically in need of that customary.”
Particulars:
- Officers have repeatedly stated election infrastructure stays safe.
- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company, or CISA, stated there was “no proof of any malicious exercise” affecting the integrity of the 2024 elections. CISA additionally stated the 2020 election was “probably the most safe in American historical past,” with no proof that voting methods deleted, misplaced or compromised votes.
- Georgia and Pennsylvania carried out audits of the 2024 common election and officers in each states confirmed the accuracy of election outcomes.
By Layla Ferris
Lacks proof: Trump claims voting machines “susceptible and so they’re simply compromised, and other people inside our authorities knew that.”
“They’re susceptible and so they’re simply compromised, and other people inside our authorities knew that.”
Particulars:
- This declare doubtless refers to a doc declassified by the federal government that mentions voting machines and Venezuela. The intelligence neighborhood discovered Venezuela was attempting to operationalize a hypothetical vulnerability in a voting system utilized in that nation. That system just isn’t used within the U.S. and Smartmatic, the corporate that makes the Venezuelan machine, just isn’t concerned in any voting machines within the U.S., except for Los Angeles County.
- Mr. Trump has additionally raised doubts about Dominion Voting Programs voting machines, which had been utilized in 28 states in 2020, together with the battleground states of Georgia and Wisconsin. In a 2022 assessment of Dominion Voting Programs by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company, CISA discovered vulnerabilities that it stated may very well be exploited to realize management over the system’s operations beneath very particular situations.
- One vulnerability includes a state of affairs beneath which a person must bodily entry the voting machines and be capable of technically modify recordsdata earlier than importing them to the bigger system. However CISA stated it discovered no proof these vulnerabilities have been exploited in any elections.
- There are bodily vulnerabilities that exist the place elections are held, in response to a 2023 Brennan Middle report, which discovered that state and native officers have known as for extra funding to bolster bodily safety at their workplaces. However whereas many stress assessments have been carried out on voting machine know-how to search out any flaws, Trump’s declare that voting machines are “simply compromised” and that the federal government knew that, just isn’t backed up by CISA’s evaluation.
- “Safety researchers do discover actual weaknesses embedded within the code and operations of U.S. voting methods, similar to they do with energy grids, banks, and telecommunications, all of which share the identical ‘essential infrastructure’ designation as elections. Discovering a flaw and fixing it’s a signal of a mature system, not an indication it is damaged,” wrote Geoff Hale of the Middle for Democracy & Expertise.
By Aaron Navarro
Exaggerated: Trump claims “lots of of hundreds of non-citizens and lifeless folks” are “lively on the voter rolls”
“Lots of of hundreds of non-citizens and lifeless persons are listed and lively on the voter rolls.”
Particulars:
- Election specialists say votes solid on behalf of “lifeless folks” are extraordinarily uncommon, and the numbers are unlikely to have an effect on the end result of an election.
- For example, the North Carolina State Board of Elections introduced in April that it had recognized “34,000 deceased people” on the state’s voter rolls. However the board additionally stated that this “doesn’t essentially point out that unlawful votes had been solid of their names.”
- Below very particular circumstances, nevertheless, some states will depend the vote of an individual who has died. In line with the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures, 10 states depend an absentee poll solid by a voter who died earlier than Election Day, and Connecticut will depend a deceased voter’s poll if the person was a member of the armed companies.
- Michigan and 11 different states explicitly prohibit counting the votes of deceased people, “even when the voter solid an absentee poll after which died earlier than Election Day,” in response to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
- Colorado, Kansas and New York solely enable counting a deceased particular person’s vote if an investigation proves that the voter had solid a poll and later died earlier than Election Day.
- The phenomenon of non-citizens voting in U.S. elections is a uncommon incidence and unlikely to alter the end result of an election. The Middle for Election Innovation & Analysis concluded that non-citizens voting in U.S. elections “come up from misunderstandings, mischaracterizations, or outright fabrications” and as soon as an investigation by a person state’s secretary of state is concluded, “the variety of alleged situations falls drastically.”
- Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate revealed in March 2025 that the state had estimated 2,186 non-citizens registered to vote. However after a statewide audit, the quantity dropped to “277 confirmed non-citizens.” Of these, solely 35 voted within the 2024 election.
By Ibrahim Aksoy
False: Trump claims NBC, ABC, CNN did not cowl his speech “as a result of they understand how corrupt our system is and so they do not need to reveal it.”
“In a uncommon transfer, NBC and ABC — pretend information — have each stated that they’d not cowl this speech. They knew what it was about. Due to the truth that they do not like the subject as a result of they understand how corrupt our system is and so they do not need to reveal it.”
Particulars:
ABC Information, NBC Information and CNN stated they’d not carry President Trump’s speech on their major broadcast channels, however may have the speech out there on separate streaming platforms.
The speech was on streaming platforms ABC Information Stay and NBC Information NOW. Reuters reported CNN would have a stay feed on its web site and subscription streaming channel, CNN All Entry.
ABC Information, NBC Information and CNN all livestreamed Trump’s speech on their respective YouTube channels as nicely. Protection of the speech additionally appeared on all three shops’ web sites.
