This piece first appeared on PolitiFact.

President Donald Trump gave an uncommon evening speech on a topic that has preoccupied him for years - the outcome of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

In his speech lasting nearly 30 minutes, Trump claimed foreign nations, especially China, meddled in the 2020 election. He added that in certain instances the deep state hid critical details from him and the public.

POLITIFACT: Real-time review of Trump's White House remarks

Trump cited older intelligence documents, some declassified or edited, without clarifying the gap between possible Chinese plans and what analysts determined took place.

"Our elections were left vulnerable to being rigged and stolen, and the trust of the American people was lost," Trump said July 16, though he offered no proof that votes or results were altered.

Trump ended by calling on lawmakers to approve the SAVE America Act, which would mandate government-issued photo IDs for voting and proof of citizenship such as a passport or birth certificate for registration. The bill remains stalled in the Senate due to concerns it could limit access or add needless costs to a basic right.

WATCH: Mullin holds news conference on election security after Trump's address to the nation

Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group focused on voting technology, noted several protections already exist, including preelection equipment checks and chain of custody protocols for ballots. Nearly every state uses paper ballots to record voter choices, Smith said, "and that is the most important safeguard of all."

Trump's remarks avoided numerous court rulings, intelligence assessments and expert analyses showing no direct foreign interference in the 2020 vote.

Trump faulted some networks, including NBC, ABC and CNN, for skipping live coverage on main channels. Yet this choice was not new; ABC, CBS and NBC aired game shows and repeats during a 2022 speech by then-President Biden accusing Trump and Republicans of threatening democracy.

Here is a closer review of Trump's assertions about China meddling in the 2020 election.

China obtained voter registration records. That does not prove interference.

Trump opened by describing a "nefarious" Chinese theft of U.S. voter records.

"China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China's illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files," he said. That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers and political party preferences of voters, which Trump called an "unprecedented election security nightmare."

READ MORE: Here's what makes American elections so complicated and secure

It was not overly complex, documents posted on a new White House website show.

A document labeled "sensitive government agency" said the voter registration information from 2013-21 "is publicly available for download from the commercial websites," and it appeared China downloaded it in 2022. The document said in theory, the data could be leveraged to carry out election influence operations.

Election data experts said that obtaining such data is common.

"Just because they have voter registration data does not mean that state or local voter registration databases or infrastructure have been breached," said Ryan Macias, an election security and tech expert who held federal government roles in the past under both Trump administrations, as well as under Obama and Biden. "This data is information that can be legally purchased by certain members of the public."

Trump said 'deep state' hid findings, but Trump's administration released conclusions

Trump said some of the release documents revealed that "members of the deep state" "worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China's sinister election meddling," covering it up from Trump and the American people.

That's misleading.

The intelligence community provided Trump a classified report on Jan. 7, 2021, about foreign interference, and two months later, under Biden, the National Intelligence Council issued the declassified version. That report said China considered - but did not deploy - influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the election. The experts stated that they had high confidence in their conclusion.

WATCH: Trump setting stage to declare emergency around midterms, former White House attorney says

The report included a minority view from the National Intelligence Officer for Cyber who concluded that China tried to undermine Trump's reelection primarily through social media and official public statements. The official wrote that some efforts were intended to at least indirectly influence candidates, political processes and voter preferences. However, the minority report said that there was "no information suggesting China tried to interfere with election processes."

John Ratcliffe, then the director of national intelligence (and now the CIA director), sided with the report's minority view.

The documents the White House released July 16 showed some dissension within the Trump administration in 2020 about China, but that was reflected in the 2021 report.

The intelligence community does not routinely publish all records because they include sensitive information, including about sources or issues that could be used in related investigations.

Trump said China wanted him to lose. China thought Trump and Biden could pose challenges.

Trump said the Chinese government wanted him "to lose the next election" because of his plans to enact tariffs and invest in the U.S. military. A CIA note, which the White House released with Trump's speech, said that in mid-2018 "the Chinese Communist Party's policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements that were opposed to the U.S. President in an effort to reduce the U.S. President's votes and make him resign or prevent his re-election."

China was working to influence the results of the 2018 and 2020 elections, the CIA note said.

China analyzed 2016 results and states that could be hurt by tariffs and hoped to induce representatives from those sectors to lobby Trump. The country also invited former U.S. government officials and academics to paid speaking engagements in China.

A National Intelligence Council assessment in August 2020 also said that China preferred that Trump lose. It said that China "might attempt to more directly thwart the President's reelection, including by leaking information or through online-influence network."

However, the 2021 report said that China did not view Trump or Biden winning as advantageous enough to risk getting caught meddling. Beijing believed there was bipartisan consensus against China in the United States and saw challenges whether Trump or Biden won, the report said.

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