The FBI uncovered documents alleging China is linked to the production of fraudulent driver’s licenses that were to be used for fake mail-in ballots supporting then-presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden in the 2020 election, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Mr. Patel, in a late Monday post on X, said recently uncovered FBI documents “detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP,” the acronym for the Chinese Communist Party.
“I have immediately declassified the material and turned the documents over” to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley for further review, he said.
Mr. Patel posted a link to a news report that said an FBI intelligence report had raised concerns Beijing had mass-produced fake American driver’s licenses in a plan to skew the 2020 election with phony mail-in ballots backing Mr. Biden, who won the election that November.
President Trump has long claimed the election he lost was “rigged” against him.
Mr. Patel praised the oversight work of Mr. Grassley and said the FBI is continuing to provide “unprecedented transparency.”
The documents supplied to the senator had been requested by Mr. Grassley, he said.
David Bader, a spokesman for Mr. Grassley, said the senator received the document that was requested based on a legally protected whistleblower.
“The document alleges serious national security concerns that need to be fully investigated by the FBI,” he said. “Grassley is requesting additional documentation from the FBI to verify the production, and is urging the FBI to do its due diligence to investigate why the document was recalled, who recalled it and inform the American people of its findings.”
Mr. Grassley on June 17 sent a letter to Mr. Patel asking for the FBI to produce a September 25, 2020, intelligence report (IIR) from the Albany, New York, field office and additional information about the report.
Quoting the report, Mr. Grassley said it stated that the IIR was “recalled in order to re-interview the source. Recipients should destroy all copies of the original report and remove the original report from all computer holdings.”
“Given this, please provide all records relating to that re-interview and recall, including but not limited to all communications between and among agents and intelligence analysts,” he stated.
Mr. Grassley also asked why the report was ordered to be destroyed by his immediate predecessor, FBI Director Christopher Wray.
A spokesman for the FBI did not respond to a request for comment.
An FBI spokesman told the New York Post the Chinese planned to use the licenses to obtain thousands of mail-in ballots that would benefit the former vice president in the election.
The FBI learned of the Chinese effort in August 2020. However, intelligence reports were recalled for unspecified reasons, the spokesman said.
In November 2020, Mr. Biden won the closely contested race, taking the swing states of Arizona and Georgia by more than 10,000 and 12,000 votes, respectively. He defeated Mr. Trump in Wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes.
Mr. Grassley, Iowa Republican, raised concerns in the past about the use of fake driver’s licenses in the 2020 election and reportedly pressed the FBI to investigate further.
The new FBI intelligence report was first reported by Just the News and a link to its story was posted on X by Mr. Patel.
“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,” Mr. Patel was quoted as telling the outlet.
The plot involved creating voter identities for Chinese residents in the United States that could be used to vote by fake mail-in ballots in support of Mr. Biden.
The FBI report was recalled several weeks after it reached FBI headquarters based on concerns about the source of the information, Just the News said.
However, other information about the effort was later gathered by Customs and Border Protection, which was viewed as possible corroboration.
The intelligence was gathered while Mr. Wray was FBI director. Mr. Wray resigned in December over concerns he would be fired by the incoming president.
Mr. Wray as FBI director had acknowledged attempted foreign interference in the 2020 election but stated that the effort did not “put at jeopardy the integrity of the vote count itself in any material way.”
The new intelligence could contradict that claim.
It is not clear how fake driver’s licenses could be used for mail-in ballots. Security measures for absentee voting include comparing signatures on ballots with signatures on file used in voter registration.
Regarding fraudulent driver’s licenses from China, in 2020, Customs officers made 1,513 seizures containing fraudulent documents, including 19,888 counterfeit U.S. driver’s licenses at Chicago O’Hare International Airport in the first six months of that year, according to Customs and Border Protection at the time.
Most of the shipments arrived from Hong Kong and China, CPB said.
“These counterfeit driver’s licenses can lead to disastrous consequences,” Ralph Piccirilli, CBP’s Chicago port director, said in a statement at the time. “Criminal organizations use these counterfeit IDs to avoid attracting attention to their illegal activities.”
Most of the fake licenses were for college-age students and included some with the same photo but different names.
The barcode on fake Michigan licenses that were seized worked, indicating a high degree of sophistication, the CPB said.
In the 2024 election, China was linked to an effort to obtain data from both the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns.
U.S. intelligence agencies disclosed in October 2024 that the Chinese government broke into part of the American telecommunications system and obtained unauthorized access to officials in the Trump campaign and the campaign of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
The effort was disclosed by the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The Chinese were seeking to access phones used by Mr. Trump and J.D. Vance, the vice presidential candidate at the time.
