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Trump readies election speech
President Donald Trump plans a primetime speech Thursday that he says will focus on “free and fair elections,” using “new findings” about the security of American elections, and he told reporters it would begin at 9 p.m. ET.
“On his social network, Donald Trump announced on Monday, August 18, his desire to abolish mail-in voting, a method widely used in the United States, as well as electronic voting machines”
Speaking in the Oval Office two days ahead of the planned address, Trump said, “It’s really, really big news, and our country has to shape up,” and added, “without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country.”
CNN reported that Trump was expected to discuss several topics while the speech is still being finalized, and it framed the elections portion as the centerpiece even as it described nightly strikes in the country as he seeks a path to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The Hill reported that Trump teased the remarks Tuesday as “big news” and said the address would concern “voting machines and election integrity among other topics,” while also noting reports that the speech will center on recently declassified intelligence and investigations into election vulnerabilities.
Declassified files and pushback
Democrats sounded alarm about Trump’s intent to undermine faith in elections, and Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff accused the president of “reheating debunked conspiracy theories and launching bizarre new lies because he fears losing these midterm elections.”
MS NOW reported that two senior administration officials said Trump is preparing to focus on voting machine security and alleged efforts by foreign nations to influence U.S. elections, and that the president is also expected to release declassified intelligence documents on both subjects.
In the same MS NOW account, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt urged people to wait for the speech, telling MS NOW, “The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in.”
The Washington Post said Trump’s prime-time address will use findings from reexamined government files to argue that the country’s election infrastructure has vulnerabilities, according to two people briefed on the plan.
Election stakes and legal fights
The stakes for election administration are playing out in states as well as in Washington, and Georgia Public Broadcasting said the battle over voter confidence in Georgia’s election machines flared after the Legislature decided last month to keep them until 2028.
“President Donald Trump is expected to take to the airwaves Thursday to again push false claims of widespread voting fraud during the 2020 election”
Georgia Public Broadcasting reported that the U.S. Department of Justice planned to surge into Atlanta with 260 FBI analysts to help investigate the 2020 election after the agency’s January raid of the Fulton County election warehouse to seize more than half a million ballots.
In Atlanta, a federal judge denied the administration’s demand for personal information of thousands of Fulton election workers and volunteers, and Georgia Public Broadcasting quoted U.S. District Judge William M. Ray II saying the disclosure “threatens to chill participation in future elections, which will surely impact Fulton County.”
Dana Barrett, a Fulton Commissioner, said the ruling should put the 2020 election to rest, telling Georgia Public Broadcasting, “The conspiracy theory that the election was stolen and there was wrongdoing, that needs to now recede to the corners of the internet where conspiracy theories live.”
