Trump election-security claims run into CBS fact checks

President Trump used a Thursday night speech on election security to accuse China of accessing U.S. voter data, criticize American voting systems and allege fraud on voter rolls. CBS News checked several of the claims and found the picture was far less dramatic than Trump described.

The speech included allegations that China had gained access to U.S. election data during the 2020 cycle and that members of the U.S. intelligence community tried to suppress or minimize what happened. Trump also said the current election system falls short of what Americans should expect from secure voting.

China and voter data

CBS News rated as misleading Trump’s claim that China carried out what he described as the largest compromise of election data in history beginning during the 2020 election cycle.

The outlet noted that it remains unclear how China obtained the voter data or what was done with it. CBS also pointed to the broad availability of voter information in the U.S., where states commonly make details such as names, addresses and party registration available to the public, campaigns or political parties.

A September 2020 bulletin from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI said much U.S. voter information can be bought or collected from public sources. The bulletin also said the agencies had no information showing that a cyberattack on election infrastructure had stopped an election, blocked a registered voter from voting, altered voter registration accuracy or affected ballots that were cast.

Claims about system security

CBS News rated as false Trump’s statement that the U.S. election system “falls catastrophically short” of a standard where cheating and interference are close to impossible.

CISA has repeatedly said election infrastructure remains secure. The agency said there was “no evidence of any malicious activity” affecting the integrity of the 2024 elections. It also called the 2020 election “the most secure in American history” and said there was no evidence voting systems deleted, lost or compromised votes.

CBS also cited post-election checks in Georgia and Pennsylvania, where officials said audits confirmed the accuracy of the 2024 general election results.

Voting machines and vulnerabilities

CBS News said Trump’s claim that voting machines are “vulnerable” and “easily compromised,” and that officials knew it, lacks evidence.

The report said the claim appeared to refer partly to a declassified document involving Venezuela and a hypothetical weakness in a voting system used there. CBS said that system is not used in the U.S., and that Smartmatic, the company tied to the Venezuelan system, does not provide U.S. voting machines except in Los Angeles County.

Trump has also questioned Dominion Voting Systems machines. CBS cited a 2022 CISA review that found vulnerabilities under specific conditions, including one scenario requiring physical access to voting machines and technical file modification. CISA said it found no evidence those vulnerabilities had been exploited in any election.

CBS also cited Geoff Hale of the Center for Democracy & Technology, who wrote that finding and fixing flaws in critical infrastructure is a sign of a mature system, rather than proof that it is broken.

Voter rolls and network coverage

CBS News rated as exaggerated Trump’s claim that “hundreds of thousands” of non-citizens and dead people are active on voter rolls. Election experts cited by CBS say ballots cast in the names of deceased voters are extremely rare and unlikely to change an election outcome.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections said in April it had found 34,000 deceased people on voter rolls, while also saying that did not mean illegal votes were cast in their names. CBS also noted that some states count absentee ballots from voters who die before Election Day under specific rules.

On non-citizen voting, CBS cited the Center for Election Innovation & Research, which said many such claims shrink sharply after state investigations. In Iowa, Secretary of State Paul Pate said a 2025 audit reduced an estimate of 2,186 registered non-citizens to 277 confirmed non-citizens, 35 of whom voted in 2024.

CBS News also rated as false Trump’s claim that NBC, ABC and CNN declined to cover his speech because they knew the election system was corrupt. Reuters reported the networks did not air it on their main broadcast channels, while ABC News Live, NBC News NOW, CNN’s website and CNN All Access carried it. CBS said all three also streamed the speech on YouTube and posted coverage on their websites.

This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.