President Donald Trump's grand claims of a Chinese conspiracy to undermine U.S. elections in 2020 is already falling apart, according to a new report.
Twelve out of the 15 states listed as "compromised" in documents declassified by the president "said officials never notified them of a data breach," The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
“Florida voter registration data has not been hacked,” Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of State, led by a Republican appointee, told the Post.
"The states’ responses and newly declassified intelligence reports suggest China obtained voter data from other sources," the report states, "such as political parties or companies that compile and combine it with other information to target voters or consumers."
This contradicts Trump's claims, made during a primetime address earlier this month, that he had proof China interfered in the election by obtaining voter information.
Experts reviewing the evidence said these activities "appeared aimed at collecting data on Americans for intelligence purposes, not interfering with voting."
Verified Voting chief Pamela Smith bluntly told The Post, “They haven’t changed data. They haven’t modified data. They haven’t deleted data. They just have some data.”
This is not the first time Trump's new election fraud claims have faced fact checks.
Even as he delivered his speech, experts pointed out the documents Trump was declassifying didn't indicate any substantial foreign plot to compromise voting systems.
