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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on July 21 downplayed China's meddling in United States elections ‒ suggesting the U.S. does similar things to them ‒ just five days after he accused Beijing of executing "the largest compromise of election data in history" in a primetime address to the nation.
Trump, responding to a reporter's question about potential consequences for China, said he plans to talk to Chinese leaders about the intelligence on China's election interference. Yet he quickly added that he believes China has changed since the 2020 election, while also referencing U.S. actions targeting the country.
"Well, we'll talk to them about it. It took place a long time ago," Trump said from the Oval Office. "I think China's maybe a little bit different today than it was then. But look, they do things. And we do things to them. I'll be honest. We do things to them, too. It's not a one-way street. But we'll be talking to them."
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Trump did not elaborate on what he meant by the U.S. also does "things to them."
Citing a trove of declassified intelligence documents, Trump in his July 16 speech said China tried to undermine the 2020 election by compromising voter data, accusing the country of stealing 220 million voter files from states across the country. He said China also tried to influence the results of the 2018 midterm elections.
In addition to accessing voter files, Trump said China sought to influence U.S. business leaders to "turn against" Trump, who was then in his first term as president, and paid journalists to report negatively about him.
"The Chinese government wanted (the) U.S. president to lose the next election, and the reason they wanted me to lose is because they knew I was wise to them," Trump said.
Trump accused the "deep state" within the U.S. government of trying to conceal China’s election interference from him, telling Americans that "those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden."
Trump used the speech to raise alarm about vulnerabilities in U.S. elections ahead of the November elections. Yet much of the information Trump discussed was cited in previous U.S. intelligence reports. And China's acquisition of voter files − detailing the names, addresses and political party preferences − came from publicly available records.
During his first year back in the White House, Trump pushed the U.S. into a trade war with China before the two sides eventually backed off triple-digit tariffs on the other. Trump visited China in May to meet with President Jinping Xi, whom Trump has called a “friend” and a “great leader.”
Previous intelligence assessments found China did not try to interfere with the 2020 election.
In March 2021, Avril Haines, director of national intelligence in the Biden administration, released a report that said the intelligence community had "high confidence" China did not try to interfere with the 2020 election but considered ‒ though never deployed ‒ an attempt to change the outcome.
In the end, China did not view either a Biden or Trump win as being advantageous enough to risk getting caught, according to the council's March 2021 report on foreign threats in the election.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump downplays China's election meddling. 'We do things to them, too'
