Trump’s to give speech about foreign interference in 2020 election, MS Now reports
Jonathan Landay and Erin Banco
July 13 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak on Thursday about declassified intelligence on foreign nations’ plans to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections, an MS Now reporter reported on channel X, citing two unidentified White House officials.
The Republican president has repeatedly claimed that he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden due to massive fraud. But multiple courts, ballot audits and the early Justice Department found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have affected the outcome.
Propelled by Trump’s repeated claims that the US election was “rigged”, the administration has been trying for more than a year to increase federal oversight of election administration in an effort to reshape the way Americans vote; legal experts say it would take power away from the states, violating the U.S. Constitution.
A 2021 U.S. intelligence assessment found no indication that any foreign actor attempted or succeeded in altering “any technical aspect” of the 2020 presidential election votes, including voter records, ballots, tabulations or results.
The assessment concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized parts of his government to conduct influence operations aimed at increasing votes for Trump and undermining public confidence in the US election process.
The assessment stated that China considered carrying out influence operations aimed at changing the election results but decided against it, while Iran carried out a “multifaceted” secret influence campaign to undermine Trump’s candidacy.
The report was drafted by the National Intelligence Council, the top body for U.S. intelligence analysts, as well as the CIA, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, State Department’s intelligence bureau and the National Security Agency.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Jonathan Landay; editing by Michelle Nichols, Caitlin Webber, Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman)
