FBI Director Kash Patel has declassified intelligence documents alleging that China interfered in the 2020 presidential election through a scheme involving thousands of fake U.S. driver’s licenses intended to facilitate fraudulent mail-in ballots for former President Joe Biden.
Patel turned over the documents Monday evening to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley after the Iowa Republican raised concerns that the intelligence had not been fully investigated.
The newly declassified reports date back to August 2020, when Donald Trump was still president during his first term.
“The FBI has located documents which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP,” Patel announced on X. “I have immediately declassified the material and turned the documents over to the Chairman Grassley for further review.”
The FBI has located documents which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP.
I have immediately declassified the material and turned the documents over to the Chairman Grassley for further review. pic.twitter.com/sBVNUgN2BJ
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) June 17, 2025
According to the intelligence reports, the Chinese Communist Party allegedly planned to manufacture fake driver’s licenses and ship them to the United States.
The scheme was designed to create voter identities for Chinese residents living in America so they could cast fake mail-in ballots specifically to benefit Biden, who Trump claimed stole the 2020 election.
“Specifically, these include allegations of plans from the CCP to manufacture fake driver’s licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots — allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public,” Patel told Just the News.
“In accordance with Chairman Grassley’s request for documents, I have immediately declassified the material and turned the document over to the Chairman for further review.”
The intelligence came from what officials described as a “relatively new confidential source” who provided information during summer 2020 about the alleged Chinese plot. The reports were never corroborated or fully investigated and were instead recalled from intelligence agencies within a few weeks.
This occurred around the same time that then-FBI Director Chris Wray, a Trump appointee, testified to Congress that there were no known plots of foreign interference ahead of the 2020 election. Officials said the allegations were never fully investigated on the grounds that the source needed to be re-interviewed.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection had intercepted nearly 20,000 fake licenses around the time the intelligence reports were received, potentially corroborating aspects of the allegations.
The precise details about the alleged Chinese effort remain murky, and it is not fully clear what steps, if any, the FBI took to counter the scheme at the time. The extent to which the alleged plot may have succeeded is also unclear.
Trump and his allies have maintained that the 2020 election was “stolen” and that he had actually won. They attempted to challenge the election results, which resulted in a riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Grassley had pushed the FBI to revisit the 2020 intelligence after raising concerns that it wasn’t fully probed despite evidence of bogus U.S. driver’s licenses. The senator’s office was contacted for additional comment and information.
Since becoming FBI Director, Patel has pledged to bring more transparency to the bureau and provide lawmakers with material they have long struggled to obtain from the agency.