SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
President Trump's primetime speech last night on election security did not actually present evidence of widespread illegal voting. Trump continues to claim - baselessly - that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and he made a series of claims about what he called shocking vulnerabilities in U.S. elections.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Americans were blatantly lied to about the security of our election infrastructure, including electronic voting machines and ballot counting systems - dishonest, almost all.
DETROW: To talk through the president's claims and the politics around the speech, we are joined by political correspondent Ashley Lopez and White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Hi to both of you.
ASHLEY LOPEZ, BYLINE: Hey there.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: Ashley, I'm going to start with you. The White House also released a number of newly declassified documents about some election topics. You cover elections and voting. What are people in those worlds saying about Trump's speech in these documents?
LOPEZ: Well, they're saying he didn't really provide any new or old information that proves U.S. elections were interfered with. Some of the information was already released publicly. Other things have long been known by election security experts. I've heard experts point out that there is evidence of foreign influence in our elections. That is well known. However, influence is a very different thing than interference. I talked to Pamela Smith about this. She's the president and CEO of Verified Voting. She said she's worried about how this all landed with voters who are hearing a lot of this stuff for the first time.
PAMELA SMITH: So it might sound alarming that we have this document, and we have that document, but there wasn't anything new in the documents.
LOPEZ: And look, voting experts have been pointing out for years that our voting systems have vulnerabilities. A lot of voting infrastructure around the country is aging. But then she made this really key point, which is that elections have multiple safeguards, including the fact that almost everyone votes with paper ballots and these ballots are used to audit these systems.
DETROW: So, Ashley, you said that some of these claims and issues were already known. Can we just take one example and walk through that?
LOPEZ: Sure.
DETROW: OK. So let's go with something that caught my ear last night. President Trump talked about China accessing millions of Americans' voter data. What should listeners know about that?
LOPEZ: Yeah. This is a good example of something that was already known. There was U.S. intel back in 2020 that said China had accessed voter registration data from some states. A lot of these documents from the White House were heavily redacted, so we don't really know much else about how China acquired this information, but many states have publicly available voter rolls. Anyone can ask for them, and actually, those White House documents point out that China purchased some of this voter data commercially.
ORDOÑEZ: Let me jump in here, Scott. I mean, it's not surprising, though, that a country like China would be trying to gather so much of this information about Americans. But actually, as Ashley pointed out, there's no evidence that those adversaries have been able to change votes or affect an outcome.
DETROW: All right, Franco, now you've hopped into the conversation, let's talk a bit about the politics here. You know, Trump is not on the ballot this year, but the midterms loom. How do you view this speech from a political lens?
ORDOÑEZ: I mean, I view it very substantially. I mean, one of the most powerful tools that a president has - a political tool - is his bully pulpit. Trump's using a primetime address that's often saved for the most important and sensitive discussions, such as, you know, making the case for a country going to war. But Trump did not, for example, use this speech to further explain why the U.S. decided, just a few days ago, to restart the war with Iran. Instead, as Ashley laid out, this was primarily about rehashing old claims.
DETROW: Especially given that timing, why do you think President Trump did this? We know voters are focused on things like the economy and this Iran war. What possible political advantage could Trump get by using a high-profile platform like this to talk about election security?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, Trump's been sowing doubt on election system for decades. He also wants to pressure lawmakers to pass his legislation that would overhaul elections - legislation that's been stalled in Congress.
But one other thing, Scott, this speech may also be about redefining the terms of the debate going into the midterms. I mean, voters are very concerned about the economy and Iran, and that's been hurting Trump politically. But election security is something that has energized Trump supporters in the past. So even though many of these claims have already been debunked, Democrats actually risk being drawn into a prolonged back-and-forth with Republicans on proposals that they think are popular instead of spending that time talking about the economy.
DETROW: Flipside, though, is there a political risk to Trump from dredging up these old election claims and also kind of talking about them in such a conspiratorial way?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. For sure. I mean, there were a lot of concerns, actually, ahead of the speech that this could hurt Republicans and make them look out of touch. I mean, many Republicans have been clamoring for a while now that Trump should focus on the economy, especially those Republicans who are running for reelection in swing districts. But Trump has not really heeded those requests, even announcing he would not sign a very popular bill to lower housing costs out of protest, actually, for the party not doing more on this issue.
You know, as some lawmakers have said, Trump either doesn't realize or he doesn't care that members of his own party are running in swing districts with a lot of moderate voters. But as we've reported before, Trump rarely adjusts his message for moderates.
DETROW: Yeah. Ashley, back to you, Franco mentioned that Trump's claims are undermining confidence in elections. Is this something election officials are worried about?
LOPEZ: I mean, it's what election officials are most worried about. As I mentioned, there are all these safeguards in place to protect our voting systems. Actual interference in the counting of votes is not what keeps election officials up at night - what does is voters not trusting outcomes. And because this wasn't the first time Trump has tried to sow distrust in elections, officials know and are preparing for the fact that this is unlikely to be the last time the president does this.
DETROW: That is NPR's Ashley Lopez and Franco Ordoñez. Thanks to both of you.
LOPEZ: Thank you.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
