It was recently revealed that immediately following the U.S. presidential election in November 2020, U.S. intelligence agencies concealed information regarding China's interference in the U.S. election. This prevented President Donald Trump from taking timely action, causing the issue to drag into the following year. As a result, frustrated American patriots fell into a trap set by far-left groups like Antifa during the "January 6th incident," a tragedy that ultimately delayed the restoration of election integrity in the U.S. by six years. The photo shows patriotic citizens inside the U.S. Capitol after entering the building while Congress was in session to certify the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden on January 6, 2021. [Photo=Hannah Gaber-USA TODAY/Reuters]It has been revealed that during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, U.S. intelligence agencies systematically omitted and downplayed ("massaged") relevant clues in the "President's Daily Briefing (PDB)"—the highest-level intelligence report delivered to President Donald Trump—despite having clearly secured evidence of Chinese interference.

This period corresponds to the roughly two weeks immediately following the November election, when intense internal conflict over ideological lines occurred within the intelligence community. Experts point out that had the specific details been reported in a timely manner, the President, as Commander-in-Chief, could have taken appropriate action, potentially preventing extreme catastrophes such as the "January 6th Capitol breach" that occurred the following year. This is why many expect this incident to be recorded as the darkest chapter in the history of U.S. intelligence agencies.

Working-level staff who captured facts on Chinese election manipulation vs. intelligence leadership who ordered a "tone-down"

In particular, evidence has emerged of systematic maneuvering by intelligence leadership, such as artificially splitting reports and intentionally delaying their release to prevent exposure. Vivid records of intense internal struggles have also been made public, showing veteran analysts and ombudsmen within the intelligence agencies pushing back, arguing that "political distortion must be stopped."

According to top-secret emails exchanged between the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the National Security Agency (NSA)—which were declassified on the 3rd (local time) per President Trump’s declassification order and released on the White House website on the 16th under the title "Note to Election Threat 45 day ICA China Section Drafting Team"—a breathless power struggle occurred within the intelligence community immediately after the November 3, 2020, election between analysts seeking to ensure national interest and objectivity, and factions trying to dilute the intelligence due to concerns over political fallout.

As President Trump mentioned directly in his address to the nation on the 16th, some members of intelligence units aligned with the "deep state" (a shadow government that effectively holds global dominance based on financial control) intentionally concealed or downgraded the classification of information regarding China's election interference to neutralize it.

The U.S. NSA suppressed evidence of Chinese interference in the U.S. election. [Screenshot of declassified top-secret IC email]"Chinese interference" caught red-handed... NSA admits "Report was massaged, split into 13 parts"

According to emails exchanged on November 19 and 20, immediately after the election, an NSA analyst responsible for China and North Korea strategic assessments informed colleagues that "there is clear intelligence that China was caught conducting election influence operations." Within the intelligence analysis working group, Chinese interference in the presidential election was considered an indisputable fact.

However, the instructions from leadership were the exact opposite. The NSA leadership engaged in so-called "intelligence massaging"—an intelligence community slang term for intentionally omitting, concealing, or altering the substance of information to favor a specific narrative—in the PDB destined for the President's desk, in order to sever the direct link to the election.

Furthermore, to minimize the impact of the information, the NSA took the unusual step of forcibly splitting the comprehensive report that veteran analysts had been awaiting into 13 detailed reports, delaying the release until late the following week (around December 27), when it was hoped that the social tensions surrounding the election fraud allegations would have subsided.

* For reference, public opinion in the U.S. at the time was rampant with rumors that President Trump would declare martial law around Christmas to round up those involved in election rigging. However, as that period passed without action, the anger of the MAGA base reached a breaking point, leading to the January 6th Capitol incident after the turn of the year. [Editor's Note]

A view of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. [AP=Yonhap News]"The mind boggles"... Veteran intelligence analysts express outrage

When this systematic attempt at distortion was communicated, the heads of election threat analysis at the National Intelligence Council (NIC) reacted with unanimous indignation.

One NIC election threat analyst sent an email to colleagues, expressing extreme frustration and anger, saying, "The mind boggles" that the NSA's version of the presidential report would not be linked to the election.

The National Intelligence Officer for Cyber also lashed out. Stating that "China has been caught conducting election influence," he pushed back against the Intelligence Community (IC), saying, "Despite this, the IC is intentionally avoiding mentioning the direct connection to the election for non-substantive reasons."

He added, "I have been warning about the dangers of internal intelligence distortion continuously since last summer, and this is the most classic case," and stood firm, stating, "The NIC election threat analysts and I judge that the value of this new intelligence is extremely decisive, even if we remain in the minority."

Ombudsman intervention... U.S. intelligence credibility falls into the abyss

As the situation spiraled and internal opposition surfaced, the analysis ombudsman—an independent watchdog within the IC—and leaders of the ODNI Solutions Group intervened urgently to safeguard the objectivity of intelligence analysis and monitor neutrality.

The ombudsman sent an email noting, "We have recognized the problem and seized an opportunity to prevent mistakes that could compromise the objectivity of intelligence analysis," while warning those who led the intentional concealment by asking, "Who is the final decision-maker who tried to arbitrarily cut out the context of 'election security' from the report? This link must be restored immediately."

The Cryptologic National Intelligence Officer (CNIO) also expressed interest, asking to be CC'd on email exchanges, and joined the discussion, saying, "This is a situation where I need to understand the progress intuitively to reduce the potential for misunderstanding and provide assistance if necessary."

However, in the end, the specific evidence of Chinese election interference captured by intelligence authorities at the time was not reported to President Trump in time. President Trump, who grasped the full picture belatedly after tracking internal emails following the start of his second term, declassified the relevant intelligence and released it to the public.

In his address to the nation, President Trump publicly directed FBI Director Kash Patel to launch a formal and full-scale investigation into the officials who intentionally concealed information regarding the violation of China's sovereignty for political reasons.

Posts flooded social media after the U.S. election arguing that it is impossible to explain how Democratic candidate Joe Biden received over 80 million votes in the 2020 election when no Democratic candidate in the last 20 years of U.S. presidential elections—which occur every four years—had even reached 70 million, unless there was election fraud. The recent declassification by the Trump second-term administration has confirmed as fact the reasonable observation that if President Trump had been properly reported on Chinese election manipulation during his first term, a legitimate government investigation would have been initiated, and patriotic citizens would have waited patiently for the results, avoiding the trap of January 6th. At the time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others intentionally utilized left-leaning Washington police and Capitol police to open doors for Christian-based patriotic citizens gathered in front of the Capitol to pray, allowing them to enter. Many were arrested while caught up in the situation without knowing why, as extremist groups like Neo-Nazis, bought off by Antifa and pro-Democratic money, incited violence. While they were pardoned by executive order on the first day of Trump’s second term last year, sighs remain that the restoration of American election integrity was delayed by six years, a fact that cannot be reversed. [X (formerly Twitter) post screenshot]