← China's Acquisition and Exploitation of American Voter Data

CIA Note — Sensitive PRC Reporting from 2018-2020

CIA NoteJul 10, 20263 pagesNote - Sensitive PRC Reporting from 2018-2020 DECLASS_REDACTED.pdf

Declassified by Counsel to the President Warrington 10 July 2026

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Text (3)Redacted / blank (0)

Key Insights

AI-generated from the sourced claims — verify against the documents.

  • Mid-2018: the Chinese Communist Party's policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements opposed to the U.S. President to reduce his votes and make him resign or prevent his re-election.

    p.2

  • Mid-2018: China was working to influence the results of the U.S. mid-term elections and later the 2020 U.S. Presidential elections; China was analyzing the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections and identifying U.S. states that voted for the President, then targeting sectors within those states with tariffs on exports to China to induce their representatives to lobby the President.

    p.2

  • Mid-2019: China's strategy focused on undermining domestic confidence in the President, using Chinese contracts with big U.S. companies to influence business leaders against him, and seeking to identify and pay U.S. journalists who reported negatively on the President to write more negative articles; the Chinese Government wanted the President to lose the next election.

    p.3

  • Mid-2019: China assessed directing additional resources toward political swing states, viewing them as crucial for the 2020 election, and recommended applying pressure to financial supporters of the President's re-election campaign.

    p.2p.3

  • Describes China extending paid speaking invitations (with first-class travel/accommodation) to influential U.S. individuals — effective with think tank officials, academics, and former U.S. government employees — to get U.S. corporations/individuals 'hooked on China' and thereby pressure them to talk with the U.S. President.

    p.2

7 sourced claims

States it contains portions of sensitive reporting disseminated between 2018 and 2020 related to the PRC, and is not a comprehensive synopsis (p.2).

p.2
China

Mid-2018: the Chinese Communist Party's policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements opposed to the U.S. President to reduce his votes and make him resign or prevent his re-election (p.2).

p.2
China

Mid-2018: China was working to influence the results of the U.S. mid-term elections and later the 2020 U.S. Presidential elections; China was analyzing the 2016 [OCR: "2015"] U.S. Presidential elections and identifying U.S. states that voted for the President, then targeting sectors within those states with tariffs on exports to China to induce their representatives to lobby the President (p.2).

p.2
China

Mid-2018: assessed the PRC's ultimate goal regarding U.S. elections was for the President not to be re-elected; China found the uncertainty of the U.S. administration unsettling (p.2).

p.2
China

Describes China extending paid speaking invitations (with first-class travel/accommodation) to influential U.S. individuals — effective with think tank officials, academics, and former U.S. government employees — to get U.S. corporations/individuals "hooked on China" and thereby pressure them to talk with the U.S. President (p.2).

p.2
China

Mid-2019: China assessed directing additional resources toward political swing states, viewing them as crucial for the 2020 election, and recommended applying pressure to financial supporters of the President's re-election campaign (p.2-3).

p.2
China

Mid-2019: China's strategy focused on undermining domestic confidence in the President, using Chinese contracts with big U.S. companies to influence business leaders against him, and seeking to identify and pay U.S. journalists who reported negatively on the President to write more negative articles; the Chinese Government wanted the President to lose the next election (p.3).

p.3
China