Trump probes alleged cover-up of Chinese election meddling but spares Beijing

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The White House appears to be shielding China from scrutiny in President Donald Trump’s push to get to the bottom of what he has declared an official cover-up of Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election.

While Trump said in his Thursday speech to the nation that he had ordered the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to investigate what he calls an official cover-up of China’s activities, there’s so far been no mention of Beijing as a target of that probe or others.

DOJ said in a statement that it’s “following through on the president’s directive,” but declined to comment whether its investigation will extend to Chinese election meddling. The FBI, ODNI and CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This isn’t a story about China,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told reporters Friday . He said the focus of investigations will be on “nefarious actors domestically” who worked to undermine the election’s integrity. The White House declined to comment on whether it plans to go after Beijing for any of the crimes it is alleging.

Democrats are seizing on the lack of action against China as proof that Trump is more interested in using his accusations of an official cover-up of Beijing’s interference to punish perceived political enemies within the intelligence community.

“He is using China to advance a political end, not to raise meaningful national security concerns,” said Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Select Committee on China. “He is weaponizing the U.S.-China relationship to undermine and control the elections.”

Trump’s accusations coincide with his drive for warmer relations with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the aftermath of a bruising series of trade and tariff disputes last year. The two leaders met in May, and Trump came home touting deals for agricultural commodities and Boeing aircraft. Trump and Xi are set to meet again in Washington in September.

The White House said in a statement that the summit “continues as scheduled,” but declined to comment on whether Trump plans to bring up the charges of election meddling.

Trump’s claims about China undermining the U.S. election have been repeatedly debunked through investigations by agencies including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI. The intelligence community concluded in 2021 that China “considered but did not deploy” election influence operations because it favored neither Trump nor then-President Joe Biden.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters Friday that Trump’s comments were a “false allegation and serious smear” but didn’t hint at wider damage to the U.S.-China relationship. The Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to provide further comment.