President Donald Trump recently brought back one of the strangest conspiracy theories from the 2020 election. He suggested the vote was stolen through a worldwide secret operation involving Italian military satellites, US intelligence agencies, and China.
According to Mediaite, Trump shared a screenshot of an online post to his 11.6 million followers on Truth Social during a late-night posting session on Wednesday. The post claimed that Italian officials at the defense contractor Leonardo SpA used military satellites to hack US voting machines. They supposedly flipped votes from Trump to Biden using tools called “Hammer and Scorecard,” which were allegedly developed by the CIA.
The theory also claimed that China coordinated the entire operation, the CIA oversaw it, and the FBI covered it up. This complex conspiracy, known as “Italygate,” isn’t new and moved from QAnon channels straight into the White House between the 2020 election and inauguration.
The bizarre origins of this satellite hacking claim
According to Jonathan Karl’s 2021 book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, a Virginia businesswoman named Michele Ballarin first pushed these satellite claims. Ballarin, who sometimes called herself “the princess” and used several fake names, presented herself as a wealthy intelligence insider. She contacted Josh Steinman, the National Security Council’s cybersecurity director at the time, through other people.
They met in a grocery store parking lot in Arlington, Virginia. Steinman called the meeting “one of the most bizarre experiences of his professional life” and quickly dismissed the claim as “totally crazy” to a colleague. Trump has faced scrutiny for other odd behavior recently, including why he keeps closing his eyes during important meetings.
Despite being dismissed at first, the theory gained attention in high places. By mid-December 2020, Pentagon officials were being pressed to investigate claims that two men imprisoned in Italy had confessed to hacking the US election using satellite technology. Conspiracy theorists focused on Arturo D’Elia, an Italian IT specialist previously charged over cyber attacks involving a defense contractor.
Kash Patel, then chief of staff to the acting defense secretary, pushed hard for officials to investigate. On January 2, 2021, he urged Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, the Defense Intelligence Agency director, to urgently send US defense personnel to Rome to interview the imprisoned Italians.
After looking into the claims, the DIA director reported that “the strange story was entirely untrue.” He concluded that neither prisoner had confessed to election interference, and their case was “entirely unrelated to anything remotely involving the 2020 US presidential election.” Italian authorities also denied any connection between D’Elia and the election, and no evidence ever appeared tying him to changed vote totals.
Even after intelligence officials confirmed it was false, the theory wouldn’t go away, with then-chief of staff Mark Meadows continuing to press officials to keep investigating. Democrats have criticized Trump’s approach to governing and how it affects the country.
Published: Jan 30, 2026 12:25 pm