Trump alleges 'shocking vulnerabilities' in US election security ahead of midterms

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Trump alleges 'shocking vulnerabilities' in US election security ahead of midtermsImage source, EPAByBernd Debusmann Jr, White House reporter and Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondentPublished6 minutes agoUS President Donald Trump has delivered a primetime address in which he accused China of interfering in the 2020 election and alleged "shocking vulnerabilities" in American voting systems. Trump, who spoke from the White House on Thursday, has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud and foreign meddling in the 2020 election which he lost to Joe Biden. In the half-hour speech, delivered three months before the midterm elections, he said he had declassified hundreds of intelligence files which supported his claims that Beijing had tried to sway the election in Biden's favour.

The US intelligence community has previously concluded China did not interfere in the 2020 election. Trump spoke in front of several members of his top team as he gave his address, but journalists were unable to put questions to the president. In his remarks, he accused China of the "illicit acquisition" of 220 million voter files including personal information.

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Trump said voter data in 18 states was "bought, stolen or hacked by China" and accused "those responsible for sounding the alarm" of not disclosing the discovery to government officials or Congress. Trump did not present evidence that China had used the information it allegedly gathered to alter voting systems or to influence election outcomes. In response to his speech, the Chinese Embassy in Washington told that Beijing "has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections".

The has approached the Chinese foreign ministry for comment. Democrats, meanwhile, accused Trump of attempting to sow doubts about the security of the upcoming November midterms which will decide control of Congress for the remainder of his presidency. "Let's be clear - in America, voters choose their leaders, not the other way around," top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer posted on social media after the speech.

"Democrats will fight like hell to make sure every American voter can cast their ballot freely, without obstruction or interference from Donald Trump," he added. The president's comments contradict previous US intelligence assessments. A 2021 report by the US National Intelligence Council said it had "high confidence" that China did not interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

"We assess that China did not deploy interference efforts and considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the US presidential election," the report stated. It said this was probably because China "did not view either election outcome as being advantageous enough for China to risk blowback if caught".

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.