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China pushed back Friday after President Donald Trump accused Beijing of “working to influence the results” of the 2020 presidential election, describing his accusation as “entirely fabricated.”
Trump said in a primetime speech Thursday night that “in mid 2018, China was working to influence the results of the U.S. midterm elections and later the results of the 2020 presidential election itself.”
Trump said in a primetime speech Thursday night that newly released documents “show CIA reporting explicitly stated, and I quote, in mid 2018, the Chinese Communist Party’s policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements that were opposed to the U.S. president in an effort to reduce the U.S. president’s votes and make him resign or prevent his reelection.”
“The reason they wanted me to lose is because they knew I was wise to them,” Trump added, while also accusing members of the U.S. intelligence community of operating a “shadow government” to allegedly conceal evidence of China’s efforts to influence U.S. elections.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Friday said “the relevant allegations by the U.S. are entirely fabricated and aimed at vilifying China.”
“We have no interest in interfering in US elections and have never done so,” Jian said.
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Asked whether this might affect the expected visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the U.S. in September, the spokesperson replied: “As I just said, we urge the U.S. to stop making an issue of China in its elections and do something conducive to China-U.S. relations.”
Trump did not claim China changed votes or altered election results. Instead, he argued Beijing engaged in an influence campaign aimed at shaping U.S. public perceptions.
Trump said intelligence officials kept significant reporting out of his presidential briefings and highlighted an email in which a National Security Agency analyst allegedly wrote, “We have deliberately massaged our one pending [presidential daily brief] to avoid any direct links to the election.”
“Those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden,” Trump claimed. “They did not disclose (it) to me as president or to anyone else.”
Trump used the disclosures to press Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, casting the newly released intelligence as evidence that lawmakers must tighten federal election rules before the midterms.
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The SAVE America Act passed the House in February but stalled in the Senate in March, when a 53–47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance it. Trump urged Americans to call their senators and representatives and demand its passage “without delay.”
The Trump administration also announced Thursday it will drastically shorten visas for foreign journalists in the U.S. to 240 days, down from years, and cut those for Chinese journalists to only 90 days.
China’s Foreign Ministry called the decision “discriminatory” and said it would affect the work of Chinese media in the U.S.
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“China urges the U.S. to immediately revoke its discriminatory policies targeting Chinese journalists and effectively safeguard their lawful rights and interests in the U.S.,” Jian said during a daily briefing in Beijing.
He added that “China reserves the right to take reciprocal countermeasures.”
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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