Trump To Focus on Election Security, Foreign Interference in Primetime Address
The president speaks tonight at 9.
President Trump will give “a major address to the nation on protecting the integrity of our elections” Thursday night, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters today.
Mr. Trump is set to speak at 9 p.m. from the East Room. He has said the address will concern election machines and election integrity, along with “a couple of other things,” but officials have not released a detailed agenda.
“I’ve seen a lot of reporting and, frankly, misreporting about what our president will say,” Ms. Leavitt said. “I think the American people will be relieved to hear what they are hearing from the president of the United States and his commitment to transparency and the focus on the integrity of our elections tonight.”
She added, “I think all Republicans and Democrats should recognize this should be a nonpartisan issue. If we don’t have safe and secure elections in our country, we cannot have a country. It is a vital part of our democracy, of our constitutional republic. The president will be speaking about that tonight.”
Ms. Leavitt would not say whether the Justice Department will file any charges related to what is disclosed this evening.
“He hasn’t declassified the documents yet, and you will see what he says tonight, and then we’ll move forward appropriately from there,” she said.
Asked why Mr. Trump is “unable” to let go of the 2020 election, Ms. Leavitt said that “part of the problem is that the media has refused to acknowledge that tens of millions of Americans across the country share the concerns of this president about the sanctity of our elections.”
She promised “everything he is saying will be backed by facts and by evidence that will be provided this evening.”
Mr. Trump described the coming announcement as “really, really big news.”
Reuters, citing an administration official, reported he is expected to discuss alleged vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines. The president may argue that weaknesses in election systems could allow foreign cyberintrusions.
Mr. Trump is also expected to cite newly declassified intelligence connected to investigations of the 2020 election. He may discuss information the director of national intelligence’s office recently provided.
CBS News offered the most specific preview, reporting that Mr. Trump is expected to allege that China compromised U.S. voter data. The network also said he may accuse the CIA of possessing information about the activity but failing to tell him during his first term. CBS noted the intelligence community’s principal 2021 assessment concluded with high confidence that China did not attempt to alter the election’s outcome or interfere with election infrastructure.
A minority intelligence view said China sought to undermine Mr. Trump politically through public statements and social media. That view did not allege interference with voting processes, according to CBS.
Several outlets said Mr. Trump is likely to revisit his long-standing claims that fraud or foreign interference affected the 2020 election,with ABC saying “election fraud” is a planned subject.
The president may also urge Congress to approve tighter federal-election rules. The SAVE America Act could be a centerpiece of the address. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act includes voter-identification and proof-of-citizenship requirements.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has said Republicans will seek to enact as much of the proposal as possible via the budget-reconciliation process.
Senior national-security and law-enforcement officials have been invited to attend, including the heads of the CIA, FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security, CBS said. Their presence would reinforce the expected emphasis on intelligence and foreign interference.
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