FBI Director Kash Patel has declassified documents alleging Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election, sharing materials with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that describe unsubstantiated claims about fraudulent driver’s licenses and mail-in ballot schemes.
On June 16, Patel announced through conservative news outlet Just the News that the FBI had located documents detailing “alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP.” The materials were immediately declassified and turned over to Grassley for review.
The allegations stem from an Intelligence Information Report filed by the FBI’s Albany Field Office on September 25, 2020, containing information from an FBI Confidential Human Source. The source claimed the Chinese government produced tens of thousands of fraudulent driver’s licenses to benefit then-presidential candidate Joe Biden through a mail-in ballot scheme.
According to internal FBI emails released by Grassley on July 1, an FBI Albany official described the source as competent and authentic in their reporting, with confidence levels in the nine-to-ten range. The source was reinterviewed and their allegations purportedly backed the initial report’s findings.
However, the FBI’s investigation was halted in what internal emails described as an abnormal decision. Other FBI field offices and intelligence community members were prevented from accessing or studying the report. Internal communications indicated the reporting was suppressed because it would contradict then-FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony to Congress.
On September 24, 2020, Wray testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that the FBI had not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether by mail or otherwise. He stated the bureau takes all election-related threats seriously and remains vigilant to such threats.
The unsubstantiated claims promoted by Patel connect to broader allegations about fake driver’s licenses arriving from China and Hong Kong around the time the FBI received the tip. According to a 2020 news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, most seized licenses were for college-age students, a population that historically seeks fake identification to purchase alcohol underage.
Former senior FBI officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicated the bureau produces hundreds of reports daily based on such tips, which do not always prove accurate. Reports are sometimes recalled or edited when agents determine information is false or sources have been discredited. One former official suggested both Chinese and Russian governments have spread false claims about fake ballots to aggravate divisions among Americans.
Election law expert Rick Hasen characterized Patel’s promotion of the claims as feeding the MAGA base with an uncorroborated story of unknown origin. Hasen noted there was no evidence anything actually happened and certainly no evidence that ballots were cast or illegal voters registered using fraudulent state identifications.
Grassley released a statement on July 1 claiming the emails demonstrate the FBI suppressed intelligence of alleged Chinese interference to insulate Wray from criticism after he provided inaccurate testimony to Congress. The senator described the records as evidence of political decision-making and characterized the Wray-led FBI as a deeply broken institution.
Grassley’s spokesperson Clare Slattery clarified that the senator draws no conclusions about potential impact these allegations may have had on the election. The release exposes the FBI’s failure to properly investigate the allegation due to political calculations, but Grassley is not drawing conclusions about the claims’ veracity.
The Heritage Foundation has asked the Justice Department to consider charging Wray with perjury based on the released materials. NBC News reported that one of the top FBI officials involved in recalling the 2020 report was placed on leave shortly after Patel announced he was giving the documents to Grassley.
No evidence of widespread or systemic voter fraud affecting the 2020 election has been found, despite allegations promoted since the election. The FBI has not commented beyond Patel’s initial post, referring questions to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Grassley sent a letter on June 18 asking Patel for additional information about how the intelligence report was handled.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino posted on social media that the bureau typically works behind the scenes but understands the need to rebuild public trust and learn from past mistakes. He indicated the FBI has declassified and shared thousands of pages of counterintelligence documents with Congress and continues releasing materials to the public.