WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was addressing the nation Thursday night on topics he said will include elections and voting machines, suggesting he is likely to revisit some of the unproven claims he has previously made about Republican losses, particularly his own in 2020.
Trump’s fixation on his loss to Democrat Joe Biden six years ago and the long-debunked theories he’s circulated about it are things he still brings up regularly when discussing other subjects. But elevating the deeply political and conspiratorial topics to a presidential primetime address underscores the lengths to which Trump has used his second term to both blow past norms and fixate on old grievances.
Trump offered only vague details about the address, which began at 9 p.m. ET.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday afternoon: “President Trump will deliver a major address to the nation on protecting the integrity of our elections. And we encourage every American to tune in.”
She didn't offer many details, but said that what the president planned to say “will shock you if you have an honest eye listening to the president tonight” and will make the case that the U.S. will “need to make some adjustments moving forward,” including a strict voter ID bill he has been pushing.
Primetime presidential addresses are typically reserved for major milestones or nationally significant events.
Trump last did it in April to speak on the Iran war, a month after it started. He said then that the U.S. would accomplish its objectives “very shortly” and that “the hard part is done, so it should be easy.” The war, however, has dragged on and strikes between the U.S. and Iran have intensified this week.
Trump also delivered a politically charged primetime speech in December in which he sought to blame the challenging economic climate on Democrats.
Some networks will not air it live
At least some TV networks said Thursday they would not carry the speech live but would air it on their streaming services. ABC, NBC and CNN decided not to air the remarks live but to carry them in full on their streaming services and break into network coverage as needed.
CBS said it was “airing a special report” during the address, but it wasn’t clear if the network would carry it live.
Networks typically but don’t always choose to carry presidential addresses to the nation live. In 2022, when then-President Joe Biden delivered a primetime address full of warnings about Donald Trump and his adherents’ “extreme ideology,” the networks did not carry it live.
In 2014, the major networks chose to stick with their primetime programming instead of airing an address by then-President Barack Obama on his plans for immigration reform.
During the press briefing Thursday, Leavitt seemed to be still trying to persuade networks to carry the remarks live, saying, “I think that the mainstream media should air the president’s speech and allow the American people to draw their own conclusions from it.”
Leavitt said Trump may use his remarks to also address the economy and Iran, saying, "We have had conversations about him addressing a range of topics, and that could very well be possible tonight.”
Raising questions about the midterms
Democrats warned that Trump was trying to revive false claims of past stolen elections in order to delegitimize the 2026 midterm elections, in which Trump’s Republican Party is facing headwinds.
“Trump is going to use a primetime address to stoke misleading claims about our elections in order to justify interfering in our midterms. It’s on all of us to follow the facts and not accept his constant stream of misdirections and lies,” Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement on X.
“Trump is again trying to drum up baseless election conspiracies ahead of the November elections,” New Jersey Democratic Sen. Andy Kim said in a post on X. “Americans are tired of endless war, skyrocketing gas prices, and a president that isn’t looking out for them. Voters will make their voices heard, whether Trump wants them to or not.”
Leavitt didn’t answer a question Thursday about whether Trump would accept the results of the midterms, though Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Capitol Hill a day earlier that “of course we’re gonna support the results of the midterm elections.”
Vance bristled Wednesday when asked if he’d encourage Trump in his Thursday remarks to stay focused on November’s midterm elections rather than relitigate past elections. “'The unfounded claims,'” Vance said, repeating the reporter's language. "You’re basically assuming an answer in the very question that you ask.”
“The president is going to talk about a number of things tomorrow night. I’m obviously not going to get ahead of his remarks,” Vance said. “But we can talk about a number of the American people’s problems. We can solve a number of the American people’s problems.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters he doesn’t know what Trump is going to say. “But," he said, "the only thing I can tell you is that we are focused on the 2026 election, at least I am, and I think most of my colleagues are.”
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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Will Weissert in Washington and Jocelyn Noveck in New York contributed to this report.
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