Trump Downplays Chinese Election Meddling After Accusing Them Of 2020 Interference

President Donald Trump downplayed the significance of Chinese election interference on Tuesday, less than a week after announcing the communist nation played a significant role in the theft of the 2020 election.

“Well, we’ll talk to them about it. It took place a long time ago,” Trump said Tuesday. “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.”

While the President did not elaborate on what things the U.S. does to China, he made a similar statement dismissing the CCP threat in the past.

In May Trump told reporters that China is spying on the U.S. and has launched cyberattacks against it, but that it’s okay.

“Did you talk to him [Chinese leader Xi Jinping] about the cyberattacks that he’s done in the United States or the MSS [Ministry of State Security – Chinese intelligence agency],” a reporter asked the President May 15.

“I did, and uhh, he talked about attacks that we did in China, you know,” Trump replied. “What they do we do too.”

“It’s like the spying, they’re talking about ohh the spying, I said well we do it too,” the President continued, going on to explain that it’s just “one of those things.”

The reporter asked about kill-switch code that China has embedded into U.S. infrastructure systems in order to be able to cripple the U.S. at the push of a button.

“Well you don’t know that,” Trump replied. “I’d like to see it, but it’s very possible that they do.”

On Thursday the White House chronicled the CCP’s role in stealing the 2020 election:

Over a period of years starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history—resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files. That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences, and other sensitive data that would be needed to register to vote, and engage in other nefarious activities. This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare. The intelligence even shows that China assigned a data exploitation unit specifically to this new project.

Members of the Deep State in our intelligence agencies worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China’s sinister election meddling—covering it up from both the President and the American People. U.S. spy agencies began learning about the compromise of voter registration files in 2020, when they discovered that tens of millions of voters’ data in 18 states had been bought, stolen, or hacked by China. Yet those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information hidden. 

China denied President Trump’s assertion that they stole 220 million American voter files in order to interfere in the 2020 election.

“China has never and will never interfere in the presidential elections of the U.S.,” Liu Chang, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said in response.

Another CCP official said Trump’s claims were lies.

“The relevant allegations by the U.S. are entirely fabricated and aimed at vilifying China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said. “We have no interest in interfering in U.S. elections and have never done so.”

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is still expected to visit Washington around September 24 despite the election theft allegations against the CCP.