Trump rails against China in speech about U.S. election security — Special Report

[0:02] This is the CBS News Special Report. I'm Tony de Coppola in New York. [0:05] We are coming on the air tonight because in a few moments, President Trump will be giving a speech. [0:09] It's a speech expected to address safety and security of American elections, [0:13] a topic, of course, that the president has talked a lot about for years now, [0:18] at times almost constantly. [0:19] And honestly, much of what the president has said on this topic has been false, [0:24] most notably, of course, the claim that he won the 2020 election, when, of course, he did not. [0:29] Because of this, there is an argument that it's irresponsible to air the president's speech tonight. [0:35] But this speech will be made. It will be news. [0:39] And it's our job to cover the news. [0:42] And so we are. My CBS News colleagues and I are reporting tonight along with you to make sense of it as you will. [0:48] And we will do it together. [0:50] What it means for the country, what is true, and what is not. [0:53] I want to start with Ed O'Keefe and Major Garrett. Major is here with me on set. [0:56] Major, thank you very much for joining us. [0:58] Great, Tony. [0:58] So, we got a briefing from a White House official who told us this is not going to be a speech relitigating 2020, [1:06] nor is it going to be a speech in which the president alleges that votes were changed back in 2020. [1:13] So, if you take those two things out, what's he likely to say? [1:16] There are two important things that I think reasonably to our viewers, Tony, will cause them concern and alarm. [1:22] And then we're going to talk about those things. [1:24] One, the president will declassify information, saying that based on information the administration has called through and is declassifying for the first time, [1:34] between 2020 and 2023, China gained access to 220 million voter rolls in this country. [1:43] That's nearly all available voter rolls. [1:45] How did China do this? [1:47] You can purchase them. [1:48] You can Google them. [1:49] And in some cases, you have to hack or buy them or hack someone who bought them, okay? [1:55] So, that's in voter rolls in China's possession. [1:58] It's not new news. [2:00] It's something that we were tracking as a government for years and years. [2:03] There was actually a memo about this in January of 2020, but the administration does not contend that access to those voter rolls in any way changed information within them, changed votes, or in any way affected an election. [2:16] So, it is a data gathering operation by a foreign adversary, in this case China, and the president will highlight that. [2:23] There's another thing the president's going to talk about that I think will click in our viewers' ears. [2:26] In cooperation with 12 states, the administration believes it has found 25,000 non-citizens on voter rolls, and it extrapolates from that the potential of 250,000 non-citizens on voter rolls in our country. [2:42] Again, that's a number that would probably, to our viewers, cause some sense of concern. [2:48] One thing to know about that, just because you're on a voter roll does not mean you're an active participant. [2:52] Lots of Americans are on rolls and don't cast ballots in elections. [2:56] And states do a pretty good job of trying to scrub their voter rolls on a regular basis to look for this, but the administration will ask the states to be more aggressive in this space. [3:06] But 25,000, is that what you said? [3:08] Yes. [3:09] Across 12 states? [3:10] Yes. [3:11] With how many millions of voters? [3:12] Well, let's go back to the 220 million. [3:15] That's almost all the voter rolls, so it's a very small percentage of a very large registration voter roll across all 50 states. [3:22] 68 million voters is the number I have here from an earlier briefing. [3:28] Right. [3:28] So you've got 25,000 potential non-citizens out of 68 million. [3:33] That's the find here. [3:34] And then you mentioned going back to the China thing, you said this is not new information that China is harvesting this public voter data. [3:43] So why is it important now? [3:44] That is, there was an intelligence community awareness of it. [3:46] This is a statistical description of the volume of it, which is the new declassified component of it. [3:54] All right. [3:54] So the president's going to take these two things together, and we'll see what he does with it, and we'll watch it closely. [3:59] I want to go to Ed O'Keefe, who is with us. [4:01] He's on the North Lawn of the White House. [4:02] You know, Ed, one of the questions many Americans will have at home tonight is when so much is going on in the country with prices, with war in Iran, with wildfire smoke. [4:12] People can hardly breathe across multiple states at this hour, and the president is drawing the nation's attention once again to this subject. [4:21] Why? [4:22] Especially with fresh violence just tonight again across the Middle East. [4:26] There are a few reasons for this, Tony, according to the White House. [4:29] First of all, it's a classic political base-building exercise. [4:32] Presidents do this in even-numbered years to try to bring out their base, and while it has been, as you said, a personal concern of the president, something he talks about on a regular basis, it also is for his most loyal supporters, and he's trying to remind them that it remains a concern of his and that he's trying to do things to address those concerns. [4:48] Part of that is pushing Congress to pass a national voting standards law that would establish federal voter ID and citizenship verification, despite the fact the Constitution calls on states to manage and carry out elections. [5:02] Critics of the president, some who used to work for him, and Democrats especially, over the last several months, but especially again today, are saying this is also designed to start laying the groundwork for the possible deployment of federal agents, military troops, or other federal intervention at polling sites across the country or in key states that are holding some of the most competitive elections. [5:22] We'll see if the president addresses that in his remarks tonight, Tony. [5:25] Well, Ed, on that topic, the president is in the East Room of the White House, and he's begun to speak now. [5:31] He's been talking about the economy, and he's been touching on immigration. [5:35] Let's listen in. [5:36] ...forces, and we have the strongest and most powerful military by far anywhere in the world. [5:43] I built it during my first term, and unfortunately, we're forced to use it now. [5:49] We won in Venezuela, which is now working with us to produce millions and millions of barrels of oil. [5:56] We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly. [6:04] America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed, [6:12] because no country can be great without fair and honest elections. [6:17] You have to trust your country, because if there can be no trust, there can be no greatness, and that's very simple. [6:26] No trust, no greatness. [6:29] For many years, I've called for a bold, swift, and decisive action to protect the integrity of America's elections. [6:37] Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, [6:45] and that is to make that system secure, one where cheating and interference are not just difficult, but virtually impossible. [6:55] Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard. [7:01] Tonight, I'm announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure. [7:13] This evidence shows that the election system we have dangerously exposes, and really exposes, like levels never thought possible, [7:23] to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference, just as disturbingly this vital information has for many years been covered up and hidden from you. [7:36] The American people are beautiful, are great American people, but that all changes right now. [7:42] The documents we will release starting tonight have been gathered by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, [7:51] a great group of people, along with the staff of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, [7:58] supported by our top intelligence agency chiefs, who have all personally reviewed the findings. [8:05] We are presenting this evening, and fully confirmed, their authenticity. [8:10] You can see these documents for yourself at WhiteHouse.gov. [8:16] That's WhiteHouse.gov. Go check it out. [8:20] Our purpose in disclosing this information is not to weaken confidence in election, [8:26] but to earn that confidence by confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them very, very quickly, [8:33] and that's what we're doing. [8:35] The documents cover five major areas of concern. [8:38] First, they show that over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, [8:46] the People's Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, [8:54] resulting in China's illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files. [9:02] That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences, [9:07] and other sensitive data that would be needed to register to vote and engage in other nefarious activities, [9:16] which is exactly what was happening. [9:19] This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare. [9:23] The intelligence even shows that China has signed a data exploitation unit specifically to this new project. [9:32] Compounding the travesty, the second set of documents we are releasing reveals that members of the Deep State, [9:40] a very, very famous group of people in many cases in our intelligence agency work to actively suppress [9:48] and downplay information about the extent of China's sinister election meddling, [9:55] covering it up from both the president and the American people like nobody thought was possible. [10:00] U.S. spy agencies began learning about the compromise of voter registration files in 2020 [10:07] when they discovered that tens of millions of voter data, [10:11] think of that tens of millions of voters' data in 18 states have been bought, stolen, or hacked by China. [10:22] Yet those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden. [10:29] They did not disclose to me as president or to anyone else, [10:33] and to the best of our knowledge, they did not inform Congress. [10:38] In fact, all they kept saying is, [10:41] this is the most secure election in the history of our country, [10:45] a standard very pat line that was divvied out to say. [10:49] The cover-up of this colossal security breach [10:52] is even more disturbing in light of the additional information [10:56] showing that China engaged in other election-related activities [11:01] to undermine my first administration and our 2020 campaign. [11:06] They did not want, and they just didn't want it. [11:09] They fought like hell not to have it. [11:12] Donald Trump to win, and for good reason. [11:15] As the documents we are releasing show, CIA reporting explicitly stated, [11:22] and I quote, [11:23] in mid-2018, the Chinese Communist Party's policy [11:27] was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements [11:31] that were opposed to the U.S. president [11:33] in an effort to reduce the U.S. president's votes [11:36] and make him resign or prevent his re-election. [11:41] Isn't that nice? [11:42] Also, in mid-2018, [11:45] China was working to influence the results [11:47] of the U.S. mid-term elections, [11:49] and later the results of the 2020 presidential election itself. [11:55] Separately, in mid-2019, [11:57] the Chinese government's strategy against the United States [12:00] was focused on undermining domestic confidence [12:03] in the U.S. president. [12:04] They wanted to just make you sound [12:07] like your president wasn't so hot [12:09] when actually your president has done a great job [12:13] and they did everything possible to do exactly that. [12:17] Going on, this document says, [12:19] and this is by the CIA, [12:22] the strategy included efforts to use Chinese contacts [12:25] with big U.S. companies [12:27] to influence U.S. business leaders [12:30] to turn against the president of the United States of America. [12:33] The Chinese government sought to identify U.S. journalists [12:37] who had reported negatively on the U.S. president [12:42] and pay them large sums of money [12:44] to write more negative articles about him, [12:47] as many as they could, [12:50] and they didn't care what they said. [12:52] The Chinese government wanted U.S. president [12:55] to lose the next election, [12:56] and the reason they wanted me to lose [12:59] is because they knew I was wise to them, [13:03] charged them billions and billions of dollars worth of tariffs [13:06] and built the strongest military anywhere in the world. [13:10] We have the strongest military anywhere in the world. [13:14] These are exact quotes from the CIA reporting. [13:18] The name of the person doing the quote [13:22] is now under review, [13:24] but it gets even worse. [13:26] Raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, [13:30] yet buried by rogue bureaucrats, [13:32] stated that China's activities [13:33] even included an attempt [13:36] to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden. [13:40] Documents show that during this period, [13:42] dozens of significant CIA and NSA reports [13:46] about China's election targeting [13:48] were kept out of the presidential briefing. [13:53] These were briefings I would get almost every day. [13:56] Everything was kept out. [13:58] That was of importance. [14:00] One email among intelligence analysts [14:02] admitted that they had, quote, [14:04] deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing [14:08] to withhold information regarding Chinese activities [14:11] related to the election. [14:14] Another official inside the FBI [14:16] wrote that she was running, quote, [14:19] a shadow government, unquote, [14:22] to keep intelligence about China's election meddling [14:24] from becoming known [14:26] and to keep it away from the honorable press. [14:30] Other officials who witnessed such efforts [14:32] perceived the motivations to be blatantly political. [14:37] Recently, we found significant numbers of burn bags [14:40] in formation, and this is a group of bags [14:44] that were used to destroy information [14:48] given by President Barack Hussein Obama [14:52] to be burned. [14:54] It was supposed to be burned. [14:55] These bags were supposed to be [14:58] at a different level by different people, [15:02] incinerated and checked, [15:04] but it never happened. [15:06] Maybe we got lucky. [15:08] We believe this was not done on purpose, [15:11] but rather through gross incompetence [15:13] of the people that were supposed to burn the bags. [15:16] But the findings are stunning. [15:18] Today, I'm asking the office of the director [15:21] of national intelligence, [15:22] the Department of Justice, [15:24] the FBI, and the CIA [15:25] to investigate how and why [15:27] such crucial information was hidden, [15:30] to fire those involved in the cover-up, [15:32] and to file criminal charges, [15:34] if appropriate, against these people. [15:36] Yet concealing China's meddling was only the beginning. [15:41] The third set of documents we are releasing proves [15:44] that for many years, [15:46] Americans were blatantly lied to [15:48] about the security of our election infrastructure, [15:52] including electronic voting machines [15:54] and ballot counting systems, [15:57] dishonest almost all. [15:59] They're vulnerable and they're easily compromised, [16:03] and people within our government knew that. [16:07] Tonight, we're publishing a series [16:08] of previously classified U.S. intelligence community assessments [16:12] and other reports proving that our government [16:15] has long known these machines [16:17] are extremely exposed to attack. [16:21] As one assessment states, [16:22] we judge that the United States adversaries, [16:26] including, at a minimum, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, [16:31] as well as non-state groups, [16:33] have the capability to compromise [16:36] U.S. election infrastructure. [16:38] That's unquote, but that's some statement, isn't it? [16:41] Made by supposedly great patriots of our country. [16:46] The document goes on to further state that, quote, [16:49] we assess that centralized election-related data repositories, [16:55] such as voter registration databases, [16:58] poll books, and other official election websites, [17:02] are most vulnerable to exploitation, [17:04] and adversaries could use this access to these systems [17:09] to disrupt election processes [17:11] within the United States of America. [17:14] Tonight, we're releasing all of those findings, [17:16] and spanning from January 2020 to June 2026. [17:22] This is a cyber threat aimed at the very heart of our democracy. [17:27] Many people have questioned [17:28] whether it could actually be possible [17:31] to electronically manipulate vote totals [17:33] or change election results on these terrible machines. [17:38] Today, we are releasing documents [17:40] that show the CIA obtained reporting [17:43] of a specific plot to do a big number [17:47] in favor of the corrupt Maduro regime in Venezuela, [17:53] and that's exactly what happened, [17:56] conspiring to digitally rig their own country's elections in 2020, [18:01] and that's what they did. [18:03] This reporting included precise details [18:06] about methods to regime develop, [18:09] to digitally alter vote totals [18:11] in ways that could not be detected, [18:14] even with an audit, no matter how deep they went. [18:18] This intelligence underscores [18:20] why we must take urgent action [18:22] to ensure that our own system [18:24] can never, ever be hacked or compromised, [18:27] like it was in the past. [18:30] The fourth set of documents reveals [18:31] that even when significant evidence of fraud has been detected, [18:36] it has been buried and covered up. [18:40] Among the disclosures tonight are FBI files [18:43] detailing evidence of alleged fraud [18:45] by a large-scale voter registration operation in Michigan. [18:50] In 2020, Michigan, state police raided a Democrat [18:54] get-out-the-vote organization corrupt group [18:57] in Muskegon, and were so concerned by what they found. [19:03] They were just so concerned, [19:04] they couldn't believe it, actually, [19:06] that they contacted the FBI in Detroit. [19:10] The documents state [19:11] that some canvassers admitted to FBI agents [19:14] that they signed voter registration forms [19:16] and other people's names, [19:18] submitted fraudulent registration [19:20] for people who did not exist, [19:23] and received gift cards [19:24] tied to their number of applications [19:27] that they produced. [19:29] In other words, it was pay, play, and cheat. [19:34] The FBI agents working on the case [19:37] believe that crimes were committed, [19:40] yet the Biden Department of Justice [19:41] slow-walked the investigation and killed it. [19:45] Tonight, I'm asking the FBI director [19:48] to ensure that the matter is fully investigated [19:51] and to work with the Department of Justice [19:54] to prosecute those responsible for any crimes. [19:57] Finally, to reveal just how vulnerable [20:00] our elections continue to be, [20:02] we are releasing the results [20:04] of a stunning investigation [20:05] by the Department of Homeland Security. [20:08] According to the DHS review, [20:12] state voter rolls and public records, [20:15] they identified approximately 278,000 non-citizens [20:19] who are registered to vote in federal elections. [20:23] Since Democrat states refuse to share their voter files, [20:27] the real number is actually much higher than that. [20:30] Yet, even this limited analysis found [20:34] more than a quarter of a million foreigners [20:36] illegally registered to vote. [20:40] Put together, these disclosures reveal [20:42] an election system so broken and so vulnerable [20:45] that no one can possibly defend it. [20:48] It is not defensible. [20:51] Hundreds of millions of U.S. voter files [20:53] are in the hands of foreign governments. [20:57] Our machines and ballot counting systems [20:59] are exposed to hacking and manipulation and corruption. [21:03] China and other countries have been trying [21:06] to meddle in our elections. [21:08] Evidence of fraud has been buried. [21:10] Hundreds of thousands of non-citizens [21:12] and dead people are listed and active on the voter rolls. [21:18] And yet, we still have elections with no voter ID, [21:22] no proof of citizenship, [21:24] and tens of millions of ballots [21:25] floating aimlessly through the mail. [21:27] As one example of the insanity, [21:31] California's recent election [21:32] for mayor of L.A. and governor [21:34] was held on June 2nd, a long time ago, [21:38] but it was just completed a few days ago on July 10th. [21:44] Think of that, much more than one month. [21:46] It took a month to count the votes. [21:48] I wonder what they were doing. [21:50] This is worse than any third-world country. [21:53] There's no third-world country [21:55] that has elections like we have. [21:57] In a rare move, NBC and ABC Fake News [22:02] have both said that they would not cover this speech. [22:04] They knew what it was about [22:05] because of the fact that they don't like the topic, [22:08] because they know how corrupt our system is [22:11] and they don't want to reveal it. [22:13] They and others in the media are part of a plot. [22:16] They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. [22:19] They want to keep it going. [22:21] They want to protect the radical left. [22:23] They can't have a great country, and that's true. [22:27] You can't have a great country without free and fair elections. [22:31] Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses. [22:36] They use our public multi-billion dollar in value airways [22:39] for absolutely no money. [22:42] They pay nothing. [22:43] All we want is honesty in our elections [22:46] and honesty in reporting. [22:48] They pay nothing for multi-billion dollar assets. [22:53] Great damage has been done to our country, our elections. [22:57] You've been listening to President Donald Trump [22:59] in the East Room addressing what he says [23:01] is what is necessary to secure American elections. [23:06] I want to go back to Major Garrett here. [23:07] You've been listening along with me. [23:09] He took some big swings at China. [23:11] He didn't completely walk the line of the promise [23:14] from the White House to not re-litigate 2020. [23:17] He came close to it. [23:18] He didn't use some of the rhetoric he has used in the past, [23:20] but he inferred that there was still something problematic [23:23] about that election. [23:24] We know there was not. [23:25] And the claim that there are non-citizens [23:27] and dead people active on voter rolls. [23:30] Actively voting. [23:30] Not substantiated. [23:31] Yeah, that is not substantiated. [23:33] But he said there are catastrophic vulnerabilities. [23:36] And Tony, you have to ask yourself, [23:37] what is that rhetoric about? [23:39] Is that rhetoric about setting the stage [23:41] for federal intervention in the midterms? [23:43] I mean, we've had primary elections all this year. [23:46] We're going to have more in August. [23:47] Those primary elections have been conducted [23:49] under this system that the president said [23:51] is catastrophically vulnerable. [23:53] Yet he and all Republicans and Democrats [23:54] have accepted the elections. [23:56] I mean, the results of those primaries [23:57] because they're being carried out according to state law [24:00] and with resilient and checkable and auditable results. [24:06] I want to come back to that national emergency question [24:08] because Ty Cobb, the president's former personal counsel, [24:12] said today that he thinks this speech [24:14] is a predicate to declaring a national emergency. [24:17] But first, let's talk about the allegations against China. [24:20] If I'm in China right now, I'm sitting up and paying attention [24:23] because he alleges that China committed [24:25] the largest compromise of election data in American history. [24:29] So the question naturally arises, [24:31] did the president bring this up with Xi Jinping [24:33] when he was recently in Beijing? [24:35] There's no evidence of it. [24:36] Is the president going to impose tariffs on China [24:39] as a result of this set of findings? [24:42] Clearly, this president has no hesitation [24:43] about using tariffs as a means of statecraft with China. [24:46] No mention of that either. [24:48] Are there sanctions or penalties, [24:49] diplomatic or otherwise for China [24:51] because of these discoveries? [24:52] That's left out of the speech. [24:54] I think that's an open question. [24:55] It's a big question. [24:55] Let's go to Margaret Brennan, Face the Nation moderator [24:58] and our chief foreign affairs correspondent. [25:00] Margaret, great to have you here. [25:02] This was a really big swing at China. [25:05] I don't know if the president intended it as such, [25:07] but it certainly got my attention. [25:09] What do you make of it? [25:11] Well, Tony, there is a lot in here. [25:14] It's impossible for us to fact-check each thing that was said. [25:18] But on the specific thing in regard to China that you raised, [25:22] the president was informed when he was present in his first term [25:27] in a classified memo on January 7th, [25:31] both the assessments regarding interference, [25:35] and that was also public prior to that date. [25:38] So he was aware and we reported on this network at the time [25:42] in regard to the assessments [25:45] as to which foreign countries favored which election candidates. [25:49] He seems to be alleging there that China actively tried to undermine him [25:54] and even referenced, wanted to get him to resign at one point. [25:58] Ahead of this, I did reach out to Chinese officials [26:01] who were already prepared with a pre-bottle here. [26:04] I'll read it to you. [26:05] The quote is China has long adhered to the principle [26:08] of non-interference in others' internal affairs. [26:11] The U.S. election is an internal matter. [26:14] It's outcome determined by the American people. [26:16] China never and will never interfere [26:18] in the presidential elections of the United States. [26:21] Now, what was assessed by the intelligence community [26:24] and made public as recently as I'm looking at April 2020, [26:29] I want to read for you [26:30] what was in the National Intelligence Council. [26:32] It said Chinese intelligence officials [26:35] analyzed multiple states' election voter registration data [26:39] to conduct public opinion analysis [26:41] on the 2020 U.S. general election. [26:44] So public opinion analysis [26:46] is what the U.S. intelligence community [26:48] said the Chinese were doing. [26:49] The president is alleging something [26:51] far more aggressive there [26:56] and actively undermining his presidency. [26:59] And I think, Tony, the question for tomorrow [27:01] will continue to be, [27:02] and so what are you going to do about it? [27:04] Yeah. [27:05] As Major said in regard to Xi Jinping, [27:07] I did reach out to ask the embassy [27:10] if, for example, the White House [27:12] had given the embassy a heads up [27:14] that this shot across the bow was going to be taken. [27:17] I was told no outreach to the ambassador. [27:20] I have reached out to our American ambassador [27:22] in Beijing at this hour. [27:23] I have not heard back as to his assessment [27:26] of what that will do to U.S. relations. [27:29] But there's going to be much more we will have [27:30] on Face the Nation on Sunday [27:32] as we try to unpack all of these allegations. [27:34] Really interesting. [27:35] Let's broaden out the conversation [27:36] a little bit, bringing in David Becker. [27:37] He's a CBS News election law expert [27:39] and political contributor. [27:41] He's also the co-author of The Big Truth, [27:44] Upholding Democracy in the Age of the Big Lie. [27:47] David, very glad to have you here. [27:49] 220 million, that's a very big number. [27:52] And there's a lot in this speech [27:53] that I know you're going to want to grab onto. [27:54] And we'll get to other aspects of it as well, [27:56] in particular, these vulnerabilities on voting machines. [27:58] But just sticking with China for a moment [28:00] as we move through this systematically, [28:02] if China has this information, [28:06] how significant is that for people at home? [28:10] Yeah, it sounds bad when you hear about it, right? [28:12] That voter data is available to China. [28:15] But the reality is, [28:16] voter files in the United States are public. [28:18] The basic information in that, [28:19] your name, your address, [28:21] if you register with a political party, [28:22] as many people do in some states, [28:24] whether you voted in a particular election or not, [28:26] that's public. [28:27] And the reason for that is the parties and campaigns [28:29] want that information to engage in voter outreach. [28:32] There are states like Ohio and North Carolina [28:33] that literally have it up on the web. [28:35] You can Google it right now [28:36] and you can get it for free. [28:37] You can get one out of 10 records in the United States [28:40] from the California Secretary of State [28:42] right now for $100. [28:43] It's widely available to many. [28:45] I think most in the election world [28:46] have always assumed that nation states [28:49] and others were accessing this information. [28:52] There's nothing that anyone can actually do [28:54] with that information. [28:55] It's not like you could affect a voter [28:57] with that information. [28:58] It's not like you could change [28:59] their voter registration with this public data. [29:01] It's not like you could vote on behalf of that voter. [29:04] It's kind of like I might have the entire class list [29:07] for a college or university, [29:08] but that doesn't mean I can go in and change the grades. [29:11] And that's what's happening here. [29:12] This is not really a big concern. [29:14] And as Margo just pointed out, [29:16] this is not new information. [29:17] We've known that China and perhaps other adversaries [29:19] were collecting information on this for years. [29:22] And certainly we have that memo from April of 2020 [29:25] that indicates the intelligence community [29:27] clearly told the president and others in leadership [29:30] about this, about China doing this. [29:32] David, thank you very much. [29:34] Let's bring in Michael Sobolik. [29:36] He's a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute [29:38] specializing in U.S.-China relations. [29:41] Michael, thank you very much for joining us. [29:43] We just heard Margaret Brennan say [29:45] that this is not particularly new. [29:47] We also heard David Becker say [29:49] it's not significant [29:50] as you've been listening along [29:51] and processing what the president said. [29:53] Where do you come down on it? [29:55] The fact that the Chinese Communist Party [29:58] is trying to get information about Americans [30:01] is the easiest thing in the world to believe [30:04] because the CCP is a data vacuum. [30:07] They're out to learn everything about Americans. [30:09] But let's step back here. [30:10] I think the president is right to warn [30:14] about China's attempts to influence American politics, [30:18] but he risks walking into a trap [30:21] that could benefit Beijing. [30:23] If he's really serious, [30:25] when he says that the Chinese Communist Party [30:28] and Xi Jinping tried to weaken his first presidency, [30:32] why is he talking about stable, [30:35] great power relationships with China right now? [30:37] Why did he allow TikTok to remain [30:41] under Chinese Communist Party control [30:43] with its algorithm? [30:44] Why is he sending high-end AI chips to China? [30:48] And introduces a lot of questions [30:50] about if he's so concerned about this, [30:52] why is he approaching China [30:54] the way he is in a highly transactional way? [30:57] And the trap is this. [30:59] If we blame each other, [31:01] meaning if we blame other Americans [31:03] for what foreign powers are trying to do here at home [31:06] and we turn on each other, [31:08] that's exactly what China wants. [31:10] So he needs to be really careful [31:11] with how he addresses his responses to this. [31:14] All right, Michael, thank you very much. [31:17] Appreciate it. [31:17] It is now 9.30 in the East. [31:21] If viewers are just tuning in, [31:22] we've been, well, we previewed [31:24] and then took a small amount [31:25] of the president's speech tonight [31:27] on election security and integrity, [31:30] free and fair elections. [31:31] The president's saying [31:32] that there are catastrophic problems [31:34] and laying out some of his allegations, [31:37] not completely keeping to a promise [31:38] he made earlier about not relitigating 2020, [31:41] but that's not the most surprising thing [31:42] in the world we should expect it. [31:44] Joining us now is CBS News [31:45] national security contributor Sam Vinograd. [31:47] Sam, as we digest all this [31:49] with the people at home, [31:50] those just joining us [31:51] and those who have been with us since 9 a.m., [31:53] you hear things like declassified intelligence [31:56] and that's got the freight [31:58] and the force of the federal government behind it. [32:00] Sounds powerful, sounds certain. [32:02] You know about what goes into these documents. [32:05] How reliable are they? [32:07] Well, it depends on [32:08] what kind of intelligence we're talking about. [32:10] The intelligence community for years [32:12] has provided what we call [32:13] coordinated intelligence assessments [32:15] that really provide a summary [32:17] of the majority view [32:19] within the intelligence community [32:20] on issues, for example, [32:22] like election interference. [32:24] And I will note that despite [32:25] what President Trump just alleged, [32:27] the underlying assessment [32:28] by the intelligence community [32:29] remains that we have no indication [32:31] that any foreign actor attempted [32:33] to alter any technical aspect [32:35] of the voting process [32:37] in the 2020 election. [32:38] That is a coordinated view [32:40] within the intelligence community [32:42] that is based on the collection [32:44] of a lot of different intelligence, [32:46] vetting that intelligence [32:47] and then letting experts, [32:49] not people that just joined [32:50] the intelligence community yesterday, [32:51] but actual experts [32:53] assign confidence levels [32:55] to that assessment. [32:56] They have high confidence, [32:57] medium confidence, low confidence. [32:59] What I'm concerned about, [33:01] and we have to certainly look [33:02] at the documents [33:03] that the executive branch [33:05] has just declassified, [33:07] is whether we're talking [33:08] about coordinated assessments [33:09] or, for example, [33:10] what we call raw intelligence, [33:12] which could be from a single source [33:13] with a bias or a particular vendetta. [33:16] So it really depends [33:17] on the kind of intelligence [33:18] that we're talking about, [33:19] whether it was coordinated [33:20] and what confidence levels we have. [33:22] And very quickly, Tony, [33:23] to underscore the point [33:24] that the White House [33:25] made today in its briefing, [33:27] it is not alleging [33:28] that China or any other foreign adversary [33:30] infiltrated any system [33:32] in our country, [33:33] compromised a single vote [33:34] or material effected [33:35] any election outcome ever. [33:37] That's really important. [33:39] Yeah. [33:39] Vulnerabilities matter. [33:41] That is important. [33:42] But have they been taken [33:43] to the next most important, [33:45] scariest level? [33:46] And the administration is saying, [33:48] no, it has not. [33:49] But when you talk [33:50] about the scariest level, [33:51] it goes to the question [33:52] of what we're all doing here [33:53] and what the president is doing [33:54] with our attention and time. [33:55] He's making a speech [33:56] leading people to the conclusion [33:58] that there are catastrophic [33:59] vulnerabilities that have been [34:01] exploited when, in fact, [34:02] that is not the case. [34:04] Our elections, upon which [34:06] our entire system depends, [34:08] have been running smoothly [34:09] and securely. [34:10] There is not strong evidence [34:12] of votes being changed, [34:13] of non-citizens altering [34:15] the outcome of elections. [34:16] These things have not happened, [34:17] and yet we're having [34:18] this broader conversation. [34:19] I want to get into one [34:20] of the other, I think, [34:22] quite explosive allegations [34:23] from the president [34:24] about voting machines [34:25] and vulnerabilities. [34:27] I have been up close [34:29] to these voting machines. [34:30] They are like the Zoran machine [34:32] from Big. [34:33] They're not plugged in. [34:35] They're not on the internet. [34:36] I mean, they're isolated boxes [34:38] with jump drives on the side. [34:40] So the idea that somebody [34:41] on the outside can hack in [34:43] is hard to believe. [34:45] Is he describing something new [34:46] that I didn't encounter, [34:47] or what do you hear in that? [34:49] I hear that there is an assessment [34:52] that in an abstract experiment, [34:57] it was found that one type of [34:59] machine might be vulnerable. [35:01] One type of machine. [35:03] Okay. [35:03] But as you said, [35:04] it's not connected broadly. [35:06] We have a decentralized election [35:08] system in our country. [35:09] And most importantly, [35:10] Tony, 95% of all ballots [35:15] in this country are cast [35:16] with a paper auditable trail. [35:18] Meaning, if there's any discrepancy [35:20] that any candidate wants to raise [35:22] about the results of an election, [35:24] and also remember, [35:25] processing and counting [35:26] is observed by election observers [35:27] for both parties. [35:28] Right. [35:29] As it happens, [35:30] they're in the room always. [35:32] If there's a discrepancy, [35:33] you have a means by which [35:34] to test the data in the machine [35:37] against an auditable paper ballot. [35:40] That is a secure mechanism [35:41] to verify and validate voter intent. [35:44] We're not living in the world of 2000 [35:46] with hanging chads any longer. [35:48] Right. [35:48] We have solved that problem. [35:50] We have addressed it. [35:51] That was a genuine vulnerability [35:52] that held up the declaration [35:55] of the president of the United States [35:56] for many weeks. [35:56] We all remember it. [35:57] Those of us who lived through that, [35:58] we're not there anymore. [35:59] Yeah. [35:59] So when the president talks about [36:01] theoretical machine [36:03] vulnerabilities, [36:05] that's precisely what it is, [36:06] a theoretical vulnerability [36:08] that has mechanisms behind it [36:10] to backstop what the voter intent [36:12] actually was. [36:13] Yeah, theoretical. [36:13] We're going to get to [36:14] the non-citizen registrations [36:17] that he brought up, [36:17] but I want to go back to [36:18] Face the Nation moderator, [36:20] Margaret Brennan here. [36:21] On this question of what we're [36:23] all doing here, [36:23] why the president is focusing [36:25] attention on this, [36:26] whether it's really about the past [36:27] or actually about the future, [36:29] and what you, [36:30] we saw in hearings this week, [36:32] for example, [36:33] nominees of the president [36:34] unable to answer the question [36:36] of who won the 2020 election. [36:39] There is something here [36:41] that is unacknowledged [36:42] and won't be acknowledged [36:43] by the president and his allies. [36:46] Is tonight an effort [36:47] to buttress that, [36:49] or is it something else? [36:50] You have these conversations [36:51] on Sunday. [36:51] I'm really curious [36:52] what you're hearing. [36:53] The president, [36:55] since he lost the 2020 election, [36:58] has continued to say he won it, [37:00] despite all of what Major laid out, [37:02] the court cases, [37:04] the reports, [37:05] the information shared [37:06] with the public. [37:06] So he has never given up [37:08] that ghost, [37:09] despite facts. [37:11] In terms of his motivations, [37:14] you could connect those dots. [37:15] In terms of the spin forward of, [37:17] so what are you going to do [37:19] if, in fact, [37:20] the election system [37:21] is as vulnerable [37:22] as you claim? [37:23] Now, Tony, [37:24] if we take the president [37:25] at his word [37:26] that that is the intent [37:27] to secure our elections [37:29] and thus drive up confidence [37:33] in that machinery [37:35] of the democratic process, [37:36] then you would also raise questions, [37:38] Tony, [37:38] like why did he cut [37:40] a thousand people, [37:41] a third of the workforce [37:43] at the domestic agency [37:45] charged with protecting [37:47] cyber infrastructure, [37:48] known as CISA, [37:50] a third? [37:51] Why did the director [37:52] of National Intelligence Office [37:53] eliminate the foreign [37:55] unmaline influence center division [37:57] along with layoffs [37:58] more broadly there? [38:01] Why at the State Department [38:02] did they eliminate [38:03] the office [38:03] that countered foreign influence? [38:05] If the president's intention [38:07] is to counter that, [38:08] as he gestured to [38:10] with the China allegations, [38:11] with the Venezuela allegations, [38:13] why would you get rid [38:14] of the people [38:14] whose job it is [38:15] to counter those things? [38:17] So that's a big question. [38:18] I'm sure a lot of lawmakers [38:19] will be asking. [38:20] I have the vice chair [38:21] of the Intelligence Committee, [38:22] Mark Warner, [38:23] joining my program Sunday, [38:24] and I'm sure [38:24] we will talk about that. [38:26] But I also want to bring up [38:27] some of the intelligence [38:28] that the president referenced [38:29] because CBS on our website, [38:32] so many of our reporters here [38:33] do great work behind the scenes [38:35] trying to chase down [38:36] and really just fact check things. [38:40] Our Sarah Lynch, [38:41] our Jake Rosen [38:42] covering the Justice Department [38:43] point out to me [38:44] that when the president [38:45] alluded to a group of bags [38:46] found by the government [38:47] from Obama's presidency [38:48] that were burned, [38:49] when he talked about [38:50] don't trust the deep state, [38:52] that information [38:54] was pulled back by the FBI. [38:55] It was looked at. [38:57] The president has talked [38:58] about it for years and years. [38:59] Nobody has ever been [39:00] criminally charged [39:01] in that probe. [39:02] So some of what was [39:03] presented as new [39:04] has been fact-checked [39:05] and run down, [39:06] and I would encourage people [39:07] to look at some of our [39:08] great reporting on the website [39:10] that can really detail [39:12] some of that, [39:12] as well as the already [39:13] public documents, [39:14] including what [39:15] Director Ratcliffe [39:16] at the CIA [39:18] has just published [39:19] referencing back [39:20] to objections [39:21] he had back in 2020 [39:23] that have been public [39:24] since the Senate [39:27] Intelligence Committee [39:28] asked for a review of it. [39:30] Margaret, thank you. [39:31] And in fact, [39:31] our viewers will not [39:32] have to wait until Sunday. [39:34] Mark Warner is going [39:34] to be on the line [39:35] and joining us shortly, [39:37] I'm told. [39:37] But for the moment, [39:38] I want to go back [39:39] to David Becker, [39:39] shifting gears a little bit [39:40] and talk about [39:42] the vulnerabilities alleged [39:44] around certain voting machines. [39:46] David, this is your [39:47] opportunity to correct me here. [39:48] These voting machines, [39:50] the ones that I've encountered, [39:52] they have a little jump drive [39:53] on the side. [39:54] They don't have [39:54] an internet connection. [39:56] And if you were going [39:56] to hack them, [39:57] you would have to [39:58] Tom Cruise your way down [40:00] and float over it [40:02] and then put in [40:02] another jump drive. [40:04] But even that wouldn't work [40:05] because there's a box [40:06] underneath with paper duplicates. [40:08] And if it doesn't match [40:09] the electronic record, [40:10] what are you going to do? [40:11] I mean, you're busted already. [40:12] Tony, I'm not going to correct you. [40:14] You have it exactly right [40:15] and Major had it exactly right. [40:17] And what you didn't see [40:19] is the chain of custody [40:21] that is maintained [40:22] around these machines [40:23] at all times. [40:24] They are under lock and key [40:26] until they are publicly tested [40:28] to make sure [40:29] they haven't been tampered with. [40:30] And then they are used [40:32] and we still don't trust them. [40:33] We have those paper ballots [40:35] that we go back and audit by hand [40:37] to make sure [40:38] they've counted correctly. [40:39] The president mentioned [40:40] this alleged hypothetical [40:41] vulnerability related [40:42] to a voting machine company [40:44] that is associated [40:45] with Venezuela. [40:46] That voting machine company [40:47] doesn't have any machines [40:48] in the United States [40:49] except in Los Angeles County. [40:51] In one county. [40:52] No other county [40:53] in the entire country [40:54] uses machines [40:55] from that particular company. [40:57] And it was alleged [40:59] that this was unknown, [41:00] that this was kept secret [41:01] for some time. [41:01] There was literally litigation [41:03] that's been gone on [41:03] over the last 10 years. [41:04] Ask the election officials [41:06] in the state of Georgia. [41:07] This has been publicly discussed [41:09] for some time. [41:10] We acknowledge that voting machines, [41:12] like all technology, [41:13] have some vulnerabilities [41:14] associated with them. [41:15] Nothing is perfectly secure. [41:17] And we don't trust them. [41:18] Voting machines are more secure [41:19] than almost any other technology [41:20] because they're kept [41:22] under strict lock and key. [41:23] They're not connected [41:24] to the Internet. [41:25] And because we have [41:25] those paper ballots [41:26] that we go back to [41:28] and audit to confirm the results. [41:29] We all remember in Georgia, [41:31] they counted those paper ballots, [41:33] five million of them, [41:34] in five days after the election. [41:36] And they confirmed [41:36] those results were entirely accurate. [41:39] But, David, here's the one thing [41:41] that I think a lot of viewers [41:42] will hear and walk away from tonight, [41:44] remembering and fearing. [41:46] The notion that there are [41:47] 250,000 non-citizens [41:50] registered to vote, [41:51] no matter how good your machine is, [41:53] if that ballot goes in, [41:55] it's going to count it. [41:57] When you hear 250,000 [41:59] non-citizens registered to vote, [42:01] I don't see any way, shape, or form [42:04] where we could say [42:05] that's a good thing. [42:06] What's your reaction? [42:08] Well, first of all, [42:08] we should take that [42:09] with a great big grain of salt [42:10] because the administration [42:11] has not shown its work [42:12] with regard to these at all. [42:13] Where it did show its work [42:15] is it has looked at 68 million records [42:18] from states using high-quality data [42:20] and has found only 28,000, [42:23] that's 0.04%, [42:24] that may be non-citizens. [42:27] We have followed, [42:28] my organization, my non-profit, [42:29] the Center for Election Innovation Research [42:30] has followed these claims [42:31] and even that is an overstatement [42:33] because DHS admits, [42:35] they publicly state [42:36] that their data is incomplete. [42:38] They don't have complete citizenship data [42:40] in the United States [42:41] and so they have some false flags. [42:43] The 250,000 number, [42:44] that's based on using commercial data [42:47] that cannot be used. [42:48] It's going to create [42:49] a ton of false positives. [42:50] I guarantee you they will not, [42:52] that data includes a ton of people, [42:54] maybe even a majority of people [42:55] who are absolutely eligible voters [42:57] and states would probably be breaking the law [42:59] if they remove those voters [43:00] from the rolls [43:01] because they're eligible American voters [43:03] that should be on the list. [43:04] And remember, Tony, [43:05] this is a point that can be litigated [43:07] by any candidate. [43:09] Any candidate who has a reasonable belief [43:11] that non-citizens voted in an election [43:13] in which they were involved, [43:14] they can take that evidence [43:15] if they find it to court. [43:17] Yeah. [43:17] That's a point of litigation. [43:20] So, it's not as if their presence [43:22] on voter rolls, A, confirms [43:24] that they participate [43:25] or that that vote was counted. [43:28] But even if there's a suspicion [43:29] about that, then you can litigate [43:31] that because you have observers [43:32] in the room. [43:33] Again, I want to remind people, [43:35] in every election in our country, [43:37] smallest jurisdiction, [43:39] parties are allowed to have observers [43:41] watching the process. [43:42] If there's anything amiss, [43:43] you can litigate it. [43:44] Yeah. [43:44] And you can bring this to court [43:45] and you can bring your evidence. [43:47] Yeah. [43:47] So, it's not a vulnerability [43:49] that has no remedy. [43:50] It has a real, genuine remedy [43:52] if you can prove it. [43:54] Well, remedies is actually [43:55] where I want to go next. [43:56] I want to bring in Ed O'Keefe, [43:57] senior White House [43:58] and political correspondent. [43:59] Ed, the president's remedy here, [44:02] we know. [44:02] He wants the Save America Act passed, [44:04] which would require proof of citizenship [44:06] to vote. [44:07] That is one definite way [44:09] to prevent non-citizens from voting. [44:12] And yet, this doesn't have traction [44:13] in the Senate. [44:15] Why not? [44:15] And what happens next [44:17] in the aftermath of this speech? [44:19] Yeah, so this bill is essentially [44:21] designed to establish national standards [44:23] for voting across the country [44:25] by, in essence, penalizing states [44:27] that don't participate. [44:29] The problem is, or the challenge, [44:30] or perhaps the beauty, [44:32] depending on how you look at this, [44:33] is that the Constitution says [44:35] states conduct elections as they see fit. [44:39] And so, there's a legal challenge [44:41] potentially to this already. [44:42] But politically on Capitol Hill, [44:43] there is not enough support. [44:44] Remember in the Senate, [44:45] you've got to get to 60 votes. [44:47] Republicans can't find a handful of Democrats [44:48] to join them in this [44:49] because they have concerns [44:50] about the proof of citizenship aspects [44:53] and the idea of voter ID laws [44:55] being more stringent than many believe [44:56] is necessary. [44:58] So, Republicans have told the White House [44:59] repeatedly over the last several months, [45:01] you do not have the votes [45:02] to make this happen, sir. [45:03] It won't apply to the 2026 elections anyway. [45:06] We have other things that we should be focused on instead. [45:09] But this speech was designed to build pressure [45:12] on fellow Republicans to act [45:13] in the few days left they have [45:15] before they head home for August [45:16] and most of September to begin campaigning. [45:18] We are expecting to hear more [45:20] from the Homeland Security Secretary, [45:21] Mark Wayne Mullen, tomorrow [45:22] in a briefing here at the White House [45:24] about how exactly the administration's tackling [45:26] some of what's been released. [45:28] And the White House tonight published [45:29] at least 400 documents [45:31] that are about three inches tall [45:32] if they were to be stacked [45:33] for people to review for themselves [45:35] on the White House website. [45:36] All of it designed to show their work [45:38] even though, as we've been discussing, [45:40] much of this was already well-known, [45:42] much of it had been published before. [45:43] Tony? [45:44] Ed, thank you very much. [45:45] As promised, Virginia Democratic [45:47] Senator Mark Warner is with us now. [45:49] He is vice chair of the Senate Intel Committee. [45:52] Senator Warner, did you hear anything [45:54] that to your ears was new tonight? [45:58] No. [45:58] And a matter of fact, before I start, [46:01] I just, as an American, [46:03] not as an elected official, [46:04] I was embarrassed that the President [46:06] of the United States went before [46:08] our whole country and networks like yours [46:10] carried this as news as opposed [46:13] to a rehash of falsehoods. [46:17] And it is incumbent upon you [46:18] and any responsible journalist [46:19] to push back on these falsehoods. [46:22] I've been either chairman or vice chairman [46:24] of the Intelligence Committee for the last decade. [46:25] Senator, if I may, on that point, [46:27] since you raised it. [46:28] If I may just finish, sir, [46:28] if I may, sir, finish, sir, [46:30] if we don't call into question [46:33] these falsehoods, [46:34] this president is trying, [46:36] he's going to lose a free and fair election. [46:39] And unless responsible journalists [46:41] and the American people step up [46:43] and say our system, [46:44] which has stood the test of time, [46:46] is not going to be undermined [46:48] by this kind of falsehoods, [46:50] then, you know, [46:51] we all will have to live [46:51] with those responsibilities. [46:52] Senator, what I wanted to interject [46:55] is you are calling for context [46:57] and analysis and pushback. [46:59] You are on the show right now giving it [47:01] and acting as though it's not happening. [47:03] So I just want to underscore [47:05] that the reason you're on [47:06] is because we agree, [47:07] you and I, [47:08] that this is a vitally, [47:10] vitally important topic [47:11] and the president [47:12] has a terrible track record on it [47:13] as we said at the top [47:15] and as we've been trying [47:16] to buttress and fact check [47:18] and give context [47:19] and analysis for throughout. [47:22] Where would you like me to start [47:24] on the level of falsehood, [47:26] you know, [47:28] just incredible lies? [47:30] Let's start with the initial comments [47:32] about China in 2018, [47:34] 20. [47:35] All of this took place [47:36] under Donald Trump's administration. [47:38] His current CIA director [47:40] was the director [47:41] of national intelligence. [47:43] We have 18 intelligence agencies. [47:45] They all collect information [47:46] from thousands of sources every day. [47:48] Their job is to do an honest analysis [47:51] of what's true or false. [47:52] They came to a complete conclusion [47:54] that there was, [47:56] while there's efforts by governments, [47:58] you know, he mentioned China a lot. [47:59] He didn't mention Russia, [48:00] which wanted him to win [48:01] or Iran, which was against him. [48:04] They try to dissemble [48:06] and put out propaganda. [48:07] They try to amplify [48:08] on social media [48:09] in many ways. [48:11] That did not change any votes. [48:12] The efforts to try [48:13] to actually interfere [48:14] did not change any votes. [48:16] That was the conclusion [48:17] driven by the Trump administration, [48:20] national intelligence leaders [48:23] that was presented [48:24] to Donald Trump [48:26] on January 7th. [48:28] Now, five and a half years later, [48:30] he's making these baseless claims. [48:33] Virtually every document [48:34] he has cited, [48:36] the intelligence committee [48:37] in a bipartisan way [48:38] has seen and reviewed. [48:40] If there are individual analysts [48:43] talking to each other [48:44] that were not part of a conclusion, [48:46] we'll look at those. [48:47] But the whole notion, [48:49] as I mentioned earlier, [48:50] you get thousands of inputs. [48:52] The job of the intelligence community [48:53] is put these together [48:54] and come up with a conclusion. [48:56] And what has been so, you know, [48:58] just makes me crazy [49:00] is that we've seen [49:02] in this administration [49:03] over the last year [49:04] when people speak truth to power [49:06] and tell the truth, [49:07] for example, [49:07] the general that was in charge [49:09] of the defense intelligence agency, [49:11] and he said, [49:11] hey, when we first bombed Iran, [49:13] their nuclear sites, [49:14] we did a pretty good job, [49:15] but we didn't obliterate them, [49:17] as Trump said. [49:19] He spoke the truth. [49:20] He got fired. [49:21] We obviously didn't obliterate him [49:23] since we're still at war with Iran. [49:25] You know, when he talks about the idea [49:26] that somehow these countries [49:28] are gathering voter files, [49:30] these are publicly available. [49:32] You don't have to hack into them. [49:33] You can buy them. [49:35] So, Senator... [49:35] So, this was... [49:36] I've never seen a... [49:38] comments like this [49:40] from a president that I say, [49:41] it doesn't matter what party, [49:42] that's nothing to do with party. [49:43] That is so less connected [49:45] to truth than this. [49:47] And if we don't step up, [49:49] and you guys as journalists [49:50] and people across the political aisle [49:52] stand up and say, [49:53] our election integrity [49:55] is too important to mess around with, [49:57] then shame on all of us. [49:59] Senator, what I hear you saying [50:00] on the 220 million voter files [50:03] that the president says [50:05] China has accessed, [50:06] is that those are public documents [50:08] and that's not a big deal. [50:09] I hear that answer. [50:10] I can tell you that. [50:12] Russia has probably got more. [50:14] Iran has been doing it. [50:15] Russia has done this much more [50:16] actively for years. [50:19] And, you know, for both 2016 [50:22] and 2020, he forgets to admit [50:24] the fact that Russia wanted Trump [50:26] to win. [50:27] Iran, to his credit, [50:28] was against Trump. [50:29] China was kind of mixed. [50:31] But, you know, this is not [50:32] some great breakthrough [50:34] that other countries... [50:36] Senator... [50:36] And virtually every American [50:38] company that tries to reach out [50:39] to Americans buys the voter files [50:41] to contact Americans. [50:42] Senator, on the other point [50:45] the president is pushing [50:47] about non-citizens on the rolls, [50:50] he extrapolates out to 250,000. [50:53] The actual number was 28,000. [50:55] Whatever the number is, [50:57] do you think either one is true [50:59] and does it concern you? [51:02] Do I think that when people [51:07] are registered to vote, [51:08] that people are not qualified to vote, [51:11] get registered at times? [51:12] Yeah, but at any level, [51:16] the idea you're going to [51:17] extrapolate a number [51:18] across the country, [51:20] and many people, [51:21] there was a review on one of these [51:22] that said, some of the people [51:23] that said they were non-citizens [51:24] because the vote, [51:25] the national database [51:27] they use at DHS is outdated. [51:30] Most of them actually [51:31] had become citizens. [51:34] So this whole obsession [51:36] about non-citizens voting, [51:38] this has been reviewed [51:39] by your network, [51:41] by independent groups, [51:43] I believe even by Fox, [51:44] that have said, [51:45] you know, [51:46] does anybody slip through [51:47] but is the numbers significant? [51:49] Does anything change [51:50] or affect any election? [51:53] Show me any legitimate group [51:54] from left to right [51:55] that says that takes place. [51:58] And the idea that somehow, [51:59] this is the part [52:00] that I just would ask you [52:02] to please look into. [52:03] There were so many things, [52:05] and this is the irony, [52:06] that were set up [52:07] in the first Trump administration [52:08] to protect our elections. [52:09] the foreign-line influence center, [52:11] the CISA cybersecurity agency, [52:14] the Elections Assistance Commission. [52:17] Donald Trump's team [52:18] and his second administration [52:19] has dismantled all of these. [52:21] Recently, [52:21] he took the Elections Assistance Commission [52:24] and fired the Democrats, [52:26] forced the Republicans to resign, [52:28] and that group was to work [52:29] with all of these states [52:31] and their local registrars [52:33] on how we do better protections. [52:36] Yeah. [52:36] One of the greatest strengths [52:37] of our system is that [52:38] our elections are not nationalized. [52:41] They are local and state-run, [52:43] and that goes back [52:44] to the Constitution, [52:45] and that has been a strength [52:46] of ours, not a weakness. [52:48] Senator, I appreciate you coming on. [52:50] I think this interview [52:51] has been a strength of ours. [52:52] Thank you for your time, [52:53] and I know you'll be talking [52:54] more tomorrow and to Margaret [52:55] on Sunday. [52:56] I appreciate it. [52:58] Thank you. [52:58] With me now [52:59] is conservative journalist [53:00] John Solomon. [53:02] He is an advisor [53:02] to the president, [53:04] to President Trump. [53:05] He's leading a government [53:06] transparency task force [53:08] for the White House. [53:09] He's also the man behind [53:10] a lot of the research [53:11] and the reporting [53:12] that the president cited [53:13] as true in this speech tonight. [53:16] John, you heard the president. [53:18] You also heard the senator say [53:20] none of it is true [53:21] or not new or not significant, [53:23] and others have said that as well. [53:25] Your response? [53:26] Well, listen, I talked to [53:28] the intelligence chiefs [53:29] in the last few days [53:30] as we got prepared for this. [53:31] It's very important to understand [53:32] the president said this tonight. [53:34] Every intelligence chiefs [53:35] vetted this speech. [53:36] They made sure it was accurate. [53:38] They told me they had never [53:40] had been briefed on the size [53:42] of the breaches, the 230 million [53:44] Americans, 220 million Americans [53:46] whose data was stolen, [53:48] that they consider it a security breach. [53:50] How many times on your network [53:51] have you reported that five countries [53:53] are capable of hacking our election machines? [53:56] When is the last time you reported [53:57] that Venezuela actually succeeded [54:00] in breaching a machine [54:01] which has implications [54:02] for our future security? [54:04] You have them because [54:05] it was never made public. [54:06] It has not been made to Congress. [54:07] It has not been told [54:08] to the president in the past. [54:09] We checked the presidential [54:10] daily briefs. [54:11] A president was kept [54:12] from this information. [54:14] Now we have a chance to fix [54:15] a glass chin of election security, [54:17] make the 26th election [54:18] more secure than the last three. [54:20] John, did the president [54:22] in his address tonight, [54:23] we know he likes to ad-lib, [54:25] did he overstep the information [54:27] that you provided to him [54:28] in any way, shape, or form? [54:30] Not that I've seen. [54:31] I mean, I have to go back [54:32] and compare everything, [54:33] but no, I think the president [54:34] stayed right where the intelligence community [54:36] gave us this information [54:37] where it resides, [54:38] and that is we had a glass chin. [54:40] We knew our election machines [54:41] were vulnerable. [54:42] We didn't patch them. [54:43] We knew 230 million Americans' [54:45] voter data was stolen by Chinese spies. [54:48] Now think about this. [54:49] When Equifax had the 147 million [54:52] person breach 10 years ago, [54:54] it was one of the biggest stories, [54:55] one of the biggest data breaches. [54:56] This is larger than that. [54:58] Foreign company, [54:59] a foreign enemy has the ability [55:01] now to register American voters, [55:03] and that is something that [55:04] concerned the intelligence [55:05] committee. [55:06] Thousands of pages of reports [55:07] that we went through. [55:08] We put several hundred of them [55:09] out tonight. [55:10] But if all of us are worried [55:12] about when our bank account [55:13] gets compromised, [55:14] we should be just as worried [55:15] when our voter file gets compromised [55:17] because it may affect [55:19] a future election. [55:20] So what's the president's [55:21] next move here tonight? [55:23] He laid out several steps. [55:24] One of them is for tomorrow, [55:25] the Homeland Security Secretary [55:26] to begin briefing reporters [55:28] at the White House [55:28] on what the machine fixes are. [55:30] Patches, very simple things [55:31] that will fix those machines. [55:32] By the way, the first people [55:34] to raise concerns about [55:35] the very patches we're talking about, [55:36] two Democratic senators back in 2019. [55:39] But these are going to get fixed [55:41] now, seven years later. [55:43] The second thing is [55:43] the Homeland Security Department [55:44] needs to figure out what to do [55:47] to make sure we can deal [55:48] with this identity theft [55:49] so that when people vote, [55:50] they are the person they say they are. [55:52] And some foreigner hasn't [55:53] monkeyed with the system. [55:55] And then third, he made very clear [55:56] of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, [55:59] they have to go back and find out [56:00] why the intelligence analysts [56:01] kept this from a president, [56:03] kept this from a Congress, [56:04] kept this from the American people. [56:05] I have found no evidence [56:07] on all the documents [56:07] the intelligence committee gave me [56:08] that people like Senator Mark Warner [56:10] knew about this. [56:10] Now, if he knew about it, [56:11] maybe he should have told us earlier. [56:13] But, but, John, you know, [56:14] this, the, the, the voting roles [56:17] that China has allegedly compromised, [56:19] they are public roles. [56:21] That's the information. [56:22] They're not all. [56:23] They're not all. [56:23] Okay. [56:23] So, so then tell me this. [56:25] No, they're not. [56:25] What, what could China [56:27] potentially do? [56:29] Because this is the headline [56:30] that comes out of this tonight. [56:31] It's a great question, Tony. [56:33] When your reporters look at the [56:33] national intelligence, uh, [56:34] consul assessment from [56:35] January of 2020, there are six [56:37] things it was assessed. [56:38] This means all the intelligence [56:39] community agrees together. [56:40] Six things they can do. [56:41] They can vote in your name and you [56:42] would show up one day and you [56:43] wouldn't be able to vote because [56:44] they'll tell you someone else [56:45] voted for you. [56:45] They could register you in [56:46] another location. [56:46] You would never know that they [56:47] voted for you in another [56:48] location. [56:48] because they have all your [56:49] data, everything they need to [56:50] fill out a legitimate [56:51] registration form. [56:52] They could go and change [56:53] something on your address and [56:54] when you showed up with your [56:55] ballot or with your ID, like, [56:56] you're not that person. [56:57] You're registered at another [56:58] address. [56:58] All of those things were [56:59] imagined by our [57:01] intelligence community. [57:02] They warned about it. [57:03] They called it the softest of [57:04] vulnerabilities, the most severe [57:05] vulnerabilities our system had. [57:07] It gets hacked and then they [57:08] don't tell any of us. [57:08] You know, we get informed when [57:10] our bank accounts are taken. [57:12] Why shouldn't we get [57:13] out of the building? [57:14] You just don't give up on the [57:15] information. [57:16] You just don't give up on the [57:17] family part of it. [57:17] They don't give up on the [57:18] notification because they have all [57:19] your data. [57:19] Everything they need to fill out [57:21] a legitimate registration form. [57:22] They could go and change [57:23] something on your address and [57:24] when you showed up with your [57:25] ballot or with your ID, like, [57:26] oh, you're not that person. [57:27] You're registering at another [57:27] address. [57:28] All of those things were imagined by [57:29] our intelligence community. [57:30] WHEN OUR VOTER RECORDS WERE [57:32] TAKEN, WHY SHOULDN'T WE GET [57:33] INFORMED WHEN OUR VOTER RECORDS [57:34] WERE TAKEN? [57:35] WE'RE GETTING INFORMED [57:36] TONIGHT. [57:37] JOHN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. [57:38] I APPRECIATE IT. [57:39] GOOD TO BE WITH YOU, TONY. [57:41] THANK YOU. [57:42] I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO [57:43] DAVID BECKER IN A SECOND. [57:44] SOMETHING THAT WE'VE TALKED [57:46] ABOUT, MAJOR, AND KAMALA HARRIS [57:47] JUST POSTED ONLINE THAT THE [57:49] PRESIDENT'S GOALS HERE ARE TO [57:51] TRY TO DISCOURAGE PEOPLE SO THEY [57:52] DON'T TURN UP IN NOVEMBER. [57:54] BUT WHAT'S REALLY INTERESTING [57:55] PEOPLE HAVE IN OUR SYSTEM, THEY [57:58] CONTINUE TO TURN OUT BY THE TENS [58:00] OF MILLIONS TO VOTE AND MAKE [58:01] THEIR VOICES HEARD. [58:02] 2020, 2024, HIGHEST TURNOUT IN [58:04] PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN A [58:05] HUNDRED YEARS. [58:06] THE MIDTERMS, 2018, 2022, HIGHEST [58:08] IN 60 YEARS. [58:09] WE ARE TURNING OUT A LOT. [58:11] ONE THING, WITH JOHN SULLIMAN, [58:13] HE'S GOING TO REPRESENT THE [58:15] INFORMATION, COULD, DID. [58:17] THERE'S AN ENORMOUS GAP BETWEEN [58:19] COULD AND DID. [58:20] THE ADMINISTRATION IS NOT [58:22] ASSERTING DID, ONLY COULD. [58:24] YEAH, YEAH. [58:25] DOESN'T MEAN COULD IS NOT [58:27] IMPORTANT, BUT DID IS THE KEY. [58:28] YEAH. [58:29] I WANT TO GO TO DAVID BECKER [58:31] VERY QUICKLY, DAVID. [58:32] WE'VE GOT ABOUT A MINUTE LEFT [58:33] HERE. [58:34] WHAT SHOULD VIEWERS TAKE AWAY [58:36] FROM TONIGHT? [58:37] WELL, THIS ADMINISTRATION [58:38] HAS BEEN IN TOTAL CONTROL OF [58:39] THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOR 18 [58:40] MONTHS. [58:41] THEY HAVE REDIRECTED UNTOLD [58:42] TAXPAYER RESOURCES TO TRY TO [58:43] UNCOVER EVIDENCE OF MASSIVE [58:45] VOTER FRAUD. [58:46] DIRECTED AGENCIES TO DO THIS FOR [58:47] 18 MONTHS. [58:48] THEY'VE BEEN SPREADING THESE LIES [58:49] ABOUT THE ELECTION FOR LONGER [58:50] THAN THAT. [58:51] AND AT THE END OF THAT 18 MONTHS, [58:53] ALL WE GOT IS MORE REHASHED [58:55] DEBUNKED CONSPIRACY THEORIES, [58:56] MANY OF WHICH WE'VE KNOWN ABOUT [58:58] BEFORE AND ALREADY KNEW DIDN'T [58:59] AFFECT OUR ELECTIONS. [59:00] AND HOPEFULLY THIS IS THE END OF [59:01] IT. [59:02] BECAUSE I THINK AMERICANS ARE [59:03] TIRED OF HEARING US, YOU KNOW, [59:04] SLANDER THE PUBLIC SERVANTS WHO [59:05] RUN ELECTIONS SO WELL IN OUR [59:06] COUNTRY AND CONTINUE TO DO THAT. [59:07] WELL, THERE HAVE BEEN MANY [59:08] MOMENTS OVER THE PAST SIX [59:09] YEARS WHERE I THOUGHT IT WAS THE [59:10] END OF THIS CONVERSATION AND [59:11] THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES. [59:12] HERE WE ARE AGAIN. [59:13] DAVID BECKER, THANK YOU VERY [59:14] MUCH. [59:15] MAJOR GARRETT, THANK YOU VERY [59:16] MUCH. [59:17] THANK YOU VERY MUCH. [59:18] THANK YOU VERY MUCH. [59:19] AND SENATOR WARNER. [59:20] TO RECAP, THE PRESIDENT JUST [59:22] DELIVERED AN ADDRESS TO THE [59:23] NATION IN WHICH HE MADE SOME [59:25] VERY BIG CLAIMS ABOUT CHINESE [59:27] ATTEMPTS AT ELECTION MEDDLING, [59:29] THE SECURITY OF OUR VOTING [59:30] INFRASTRUCTURE AND SAYING [59:31] HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF [59:32] PEOPLE ARE ON THE VOTING [59:33] ROLES WHEN THEY SHOULDN'T BE. [59:35] THERE ARE BIG QUESTIONS. [59:37] YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT THEM TONIGHT. [59:38] WE'LL CONTINUE TO REPORT ON [59:39] THEM. [59:40] OUR COVERAGE WILL CONTINUE. [59:41] YOUR LOCAL NEWS IS NEXT. [59:42] AND TOMORROW ON THE CBS [59:44] MORNING NEWS, THIS HAS BEEN A [59:45] CBS SPECIAL REPORT.