Trump Posts Declassified 2020 Intelligence Report on Foreign Election Threats

Trump releases a downgraded National Intelligence Council assessment naming Russia, China and Iran as primary concerns for the 2020 U.S. federal elections.

First Published: July 21, 2026, 12:33 PM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald J. Trump published a declassified National Intelligence Council assessment on foreign threats to the 2020 U.S. federal elections, a document he stamped as downgraded under his authority. The report names Russia, China and Iran as primary concerns. Trump shared an image of the assessment on Truth Social, where black bars hide large portions of the text.

The document, numbered NICA 2020-06885D and titled “Foreign Threats to 2020 US Federal Elections,” first appeared on August 19, 2020. It carries a red stamp reading “DECLASSIFIED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP on 3 July 2026.” The assessment warns that foreign states would use covert and overt influence measures to sway U.S. voters and undermine confidence in democratic processes.

Here is the full post on Truth Social: “DIRECTOR OF TELLIGE OFFICE NATIONAL 19 August 2020 DECLASSIFIED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP on 3 July 2026 NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE COUNCIL ASSESSMENT NICA 2020-06885D Foreign Threats to 2020 US Federal Elections (U) Key Takeaways Scope Note: This is a downgraded version of a paper originally published on 19 August, 2020, and includes information current as of that date. Ahead of the 2020 US elections, foreign states will continue to use covert and overt influence measures in their attempts to sway US voters’ preferences and perspectives, shift US policies, increase discord in the United States, and undermine the American people’s confidence in our democratic processes. We are primarily concerned about ongoing and potential influence activity by Russia, China, and Iran. We assess that Russia is using a range of measures primarily to denigrate former Vice President Biden. Some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump’s candidacy on social media. We assess that China prefers that President Trump be defeated. DECLASSIFIED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP on 3 July 2026” on July 21, 2026 at 3:52 PM ET.

This is the latest message released by Trump today. On average, Trump produces roughly 15 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025. The move fits a broader pattern in his recent messaging, with 92 of his 469 posts over the last 30 days focused on elections.

The assessment reflects the official view of the U.S. intelligence community, which the Office of the Director of National Intelligence coordinates across 18 federal intelligence organizations according to dni.gov. The report states that Russia, China, Iran and nonstate actors held the capability to compromise election infrastructure. It judged that manipulating voting at scale would be difficult without detection, and it did not assess the impact of these efforts on the United States.

On Russia, the assessment says Moscow directed or encouraged proxies to spread claims about former Vice President Biden and sought to amplify social discord. On China, it says Beijing preferred that Trump be defeated and stepped up rhetoric criticizing his administration. Several sentences in the China section appear heavily redacted in the shared image.

A screenshot of a declassified National Intelligence Council assessment on foreign threats to the 2020 U.S. federal elections is displayed on Truth Social on 07/21/2026.

The stakes are significant for how the public reads the record of the 2020 contest, which Joe Biden won with 306 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232 according to archives.gov. Declassification bolsters Trump’s argument that the intelligence picture was more complex than earlier public accounts suggested. Critics counter that the redactions limit what the release actually reveals.

For the average U.S. reader, the release touches on how confident voters can be in the integrity of federal elections. The assessment alleges no foreign actor altered vote totals, and it stresses the difficulty of manipulating voting processes without detection.

This has happened before. Trump has repeatedly ordered the declassification of intelligence records tied to the 2016 and 2020 election cycles, and prior releases arrived with substantial portions still blacked out. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has published multiple assessments on foreign interference since Congress created the agency in 2004 according to dni.gov.

The next decision on how much more of the document can go public rests with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and other agencies that hold the underlying classified material. A date for any further release has not been announced.

Disputes over foreign meddling in American elections stretch back well before the digital era, as happened before. In 1940, British intelligence ran a covert operation on U.S. soil to influence American opinion ahead of that year’s presidential election, planting stories and pressuring isolationist candidates according to britannica.com. The campaign, directed from New York, helped shift public sentiment toward supporting Britain against Nazi Germany. Its architects escaped lasting exposure for decades, and the episode showed how foreign influence on U.S. politics long predated the concerns catalogued in the 2020 assessment.