Trump election documents reveal China, Russia targeted Joe Biden 

Previously classified documents that the White House posted online on Thursday indicate that China and Russia targeted former president Joe Biden’s campaign during the 2020 election.

The documents were released as President Donald Trump used a primetime address to the nation to raise doubts about the legitimacy of U.S. elections and dispute his 2020 loss to Biden. Trump is seeking more restrictive voting laws ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Trump alleged that his administration had uncovered evidence that Chinese operatives had exploited vulnerabilities in the U.S. voting system. CNN reported that a review of the documents posted online do not support his claims that the outcome of any race, including the 2020 election, was altered by foreign interference or fraud.

The president’s latest allegations have already come under scrutiny from dozens of lawmakers and Democrat leaders who say they amount to little more than unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.

The documents posted on the White House’s website were presented without context and include selectively released pieces of investigation files, intelligence analysis and correspondence.

One document identified as a memo from the CIA in the summer of 2020 said intelligence officials had detected “Chinese state-sponsored cyber actors targeting the former Vice President’s presidential campaign, probably to gather intelligence that could enable future operations” ahead of the 2020 election.

But it noted that intelligence community “assesses that China does not currently intend to covertly interfere to try to sway the outcome of the election, though this activity could enable such operations, if Beijing made a decision to do so.”

Another document, a National Intelligence Council assessment of foreign threats to the 2020 elections, noted that intelligence officials assess that Russia was “using a range of measures primarily to denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia establishment.”

The document said Russia was “directing or encouraging proxies to spread claims about” Biden and some “Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump’s candidacy on social media.”

This is a developing story. More to follow.