Donald Trump indicated on Tuesday that he did not intend to go after China after accusing America’s main geopolitical rival of causing an election security “nightmare” and actively interfering in the 2020 election.
The president seemed to distance himself from the claims he made about the Chinese government as he was asked by a journalist whether he would put any pressure on Beijing to stop efforts aimed at sowing discord in U.S. elections. Trump, in a national address last week, claimed that the 2020 election’s outcome was influenced by the “largest compromise of election data in history”.
On Tuesday, Trump suggested that he believed China’s government had already learned its lesson, and even seemed to downplay the severity of his highly contested accusations.
“We’re going to talk to them about it, it took place a long time ago. I think China is maybe a little bit different today than it was then,” Trump said. “They do things and we do things to them.”
“I’ll be honest: We do things to them. It’s not a one-way street,” the president continued.
The answer was an awkward about-face for Trump who hoped to focus the attention of the nation on voter fraud and election security last week when he argued in a primetime address that the 2020 election had been influenced by a major collection of voter data by Chinese agents.
That speech came as the president is pushing a new round of voter ID legislation and has already refused to sign another major bill while the SAVE America Act remains unpassed.
But the Senate’s Republican leaders have made clear that they do not have the votes to advance Trump’s signature priority and will not amend or destroy the legislative filibuster to see it become law. This has infuriated the president, who has made voter ID and restricting mail-in ballots his top concern as he pushes policies he believes will help Republicans win elections in the future.
This is a breaking news report. More to follow…