Trump downplays Chinese election interference five days after describing breach of historic proportions

By Kevin Liptak, CNN

(CNN) — Five days after blaming China for “the largest compromise of election data in history,” President Donald Trump shrugged off Beijing’s actions and said the United States was doing the same thing.

Trump said vaguely on Tuesday that the US would discuss the matter with Chinese officials. But he previewed no punishment and claimed the alleged breach was in the rearview mirror.

“It took place a long time ago. I think China is maybe a little bit different today than it was then,” he said, despite his accusation last week during a primetime speech that China had illicitly acquired 220 million US voter files starting in 2020 and that the “data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare.”

Trump on Tuesday then said the alleged infringement was no different from US actions against China.

“They do things and we do things to them,” he said. “I’ll be honest, we do things to them too. It’s not a one-way street.”

A day after Trump’s speech, a White House official said planning was continuing apace for President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States in September.

The White House did not respond when asked whether Trump was considering any repercussions for China, including sanctions.

The-CNN-Wire
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