US President Donald Trump will deliver a rare primetime national address tonight at 9pm Eastern Time, promising what he called really, really big news while declining to reveal the full contents, as sources leaked that the speech would centre on newly declassified intelligence alleging Chinese interference in US elections and risks related to voting machines.
A Reuters source cited newly declassified intelligence on election investigations and voting machine vulnerabilities. A CBS News source separately confirmed Trump would reveal previously unreported findings about Beijing allegedly compromising US voter data, including evidence that the CIA knew about the interference but withheld the information during Trump’s first term. Axios reported a senior White House adviser described the speech as a potpourri covering elections, the Iran war and other topics. CIA, FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Homeland Security chiefs have been invited to attend.
Trump told reporters the speech concerned free and fair elections and added it doesn’t get bigger, because without free and fair elections you don’t have a country. Democratic senators responded before the speech aired. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia called it an attempt to stoke misleading claims about elections in order to justify interfering in the midterms.
The address comes three and a half months before the November midterms, as Trump faces a collapsing Iran ceasefire, deadly ICE shootings and Republican warnings to focus on affordability rather than election conspiracies.
