Trump claims US intelligence agents ‘worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China\u2019s sinister election meddling’<\/p>\n
Donald Trump\u2019s speech is packed with what he claims are new revelations from suppressed intelligence documents just posted on the White House website<\/a> which, he claims, show \u201cthat members of the deep state \u2013 very, very famous group of people, in many cases in our intelligence agency – worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China\u2019s sinister election meddling\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cCovering it up from both the president and the American people like nobody thought was possible, US spy agencies began learning about the compromise of voter registration files in 2020,\u201d Trump claimed.<\/p>\n Readers should be aware that no one has yet had time to independently examine these documents, making real-time fact-checking of the president\u2019s claims impossible \u2013 which might be the point of presenting this avalanche of information all at once, as the president makes hyperbolic claims that it proves all of his lies about the 2020 election.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.25 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Trump concludes speech on supposed shambles of US election system with pitch for mandatory photo ID for voters<\/p>\n Donald Trump just concluded a 25-minute speech<\/a>, shouting at times despite a horse voice, as the deeply unpopular president tried to spark a groundswell of support from the nation for his proposed crackdown on what he cast, without allowing anyone to review what he called the evidence, as an epidemic of illicit voting by large numbers of non-citizens.<\/p>\n The fact that no reporters were allowed to even see the documents Trump cited in his speech as proof of a hopelessly corrupt election system, penetrated by foreign actors and wide open to corruption and rigging by his rivals, was perhaps an intentional choice by the administration.<\/p>\n It will take some time to sort through the information that was not released by the White House until Trump started speaking, but we will bring you reporting, analysis and fact-checking as we develop it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump claims US election system is ‘so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it’<\/p>\n In his ongoing speech, Donald Trump<\/a> referred to a barrage of supposed evidence that the US election system is hopelessly corrupt and broken, cherry-picked from intelligence assessments, to support his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him and the country\u2019s midterm elections are \u201cvulnerable to being rigged and stolen\u201d unless radical changes are made to the voting system in ways that will make it much harder for voters to cast ballots.<\/p>\n As soon as the president finishes, we will begin the work of sifting through the documents.<\/p>\n \u201cCongress must pass the Save America Act!\u201d Trump shouted at one stage, casting the legislation he has said will enable Republicans to win every election as a common sense reform.<\/p>\n The president also said that mail-in ballots are inherently corrupt and called for a near total ban on the process.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump claims US intelligence agents ‘worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China\u2019s sinister election meddling’<\/p>\n Donald Trump\u2019s speech is packed with what he claims are new revelations from suppressed intelligence documents just posted on the White House website<\/a> which, he claims, show \u201cthat members of the deep state \u2013 very, very famous group of people, in many cases in our intelligence agency – worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China\u2019s sinister election meddling\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cCovering it up from both the president and the American people like nobody thought was possible, US spy agencies began learning about the compromise of voter registration files in 2020,\u201d Trump claimed.<\/p>\n Readers should be aware that no one has yet had time to independently examine these documents, making real-time fact-checking of the president\u2019s claims impossible \u2013 which might be the point of presenting this avalanche of information all at once, as the president makes hyperbolic claims that it proves all of his lies about the 2020 election.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.25 EDT<\/p>\n Trump says White House is releasing intelligence documents on elections<\/p>\n Speaking in a hoarse voice, Donald Trump<\/a> just announced that the White House is posting declassified intelligence documents on its website that reveal \u201cshocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure\u201d and claimed that China committed \u201cthe largest compromise of election data in history\u201d in 2020, obtaining voter file data as part of \u201can election security nightmare\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, and that is to make that system secure. One where cheating and interference are not just difficult, but virtually impossible. Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard. Tonight, I\u2019m announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure. This evidence shows that the election system we have dangerously exposes and really exposes like levels never thought possible to hacking,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.24 EDT<\/p>\n The first several minutes of Trump\u2019s speech have included nothing new of any kind, with the president reciting familiar talking points about what a great job he is doing. Then he pivoted to his claim that drastic action is needed to ensure US elections are fair, calling the current system riddled with \u201cshocking vulnerabilities\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Donald Trump begins widely anticipated address to the nation<\/p>\n Donald Trump has just started speaking from the East Room of the White House, in what is expected to be a speech on the 2020 election loss he still refuses to accept. The president has begun with a typical recitation of boasts about what he claims are his accomplishments.<\/p>\n We have embedded live video above. Follow along for updates.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.05 EDT<\/p>\n MS Now reports<\/a> that the White House hosted a briefing for about two dozen pro-Trump conspiracy theorists and election deniers this week, led by the conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who was on Donald Trump\u2019s notorious phone call with Georgia\u2019s top election official on 2 January 2001, in which the president asked for 11,780 votes for Joe Biden to be tossed out, which would have enabled Trump to win the state\u2019s 2020 presidential election by a single vote.<\/p>\n One of the participants told the broadcaster the presentation \u201cwas basically all the media reporting that John Solomon and others have done already.\u201d<\/p>\n Solomon, a former Associated Press reporter turned far-right media figure, became a special government employee of the White House last month. He has reportedly been working with Bill Pulte, Trump\u2019s acting director of national intelligence, to declassify documents on alleged efforts by foreign nations to interfere in US elections.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.57 EDT<\/p>\n After meeting Todd Blanche, Epstein survivor urges senators to reject him as attorney general<\/p>\n Annie Farmer, a survivor of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein, called on US senators to reject Donald Trump\u2019s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, his former criminal defense lawyer, after he agreed to meet her and other victims of the late sex offender who socialized with Trump for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter meeting with Todd Blanche, I feel even more confident in urging senators to vote against his confirmation as the United States\u2019 Attorney General,\u201d Farmer said in a statement.<\/p>\n She continued:<\/p>\n double quotation markI found him abrasive, condescending, and intentionally noncommittal to survivors \u2013 a marked contrast to his public testimony during his confirmation hearing.<\/p>\n While quick to point to the failures of previous administrations, he refused to take accountability for mistakes made under his own leadership. Specifically, he would not commit to an inquiry into why my sister Maria Farmer\u2019s 1996 report went uninvestigated; he refused to release documents related to internal discussions about charging Epstein that would provide important clarification about previous errors, and his explanations for his nine-hour interview with Ghislaine Maxwell and her subsequent transfer to a less secure facility were wholly dissatisfactory and contrived.<\/p>\n His evasiveness felt like a deliberate attempt to claim the Attorney General\u2019s office is powerless in this matter. By passing the buck once again, he is leaving survivors trapped in the same endless loop of searching for answers and receiving none.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.34 EDT<\/p>\n CBS, owned by Trump supporter, to air president’s speech live, as CNN joins ABC and NBC in not giving airwaves to president known for lying<\/p>\n CBS, which is now owned by the Trump supporter David Ellison, will air Donald Trump\u2019s primetime address live, unlike the rival networks ABC and NBC, which have decided to relegate the president\u2019s remarks to their streaming platforms.<\/p>\n CNN has also decided to not confront its viewers with the prepared remarks of a president known for incessant lying, particularly about the likely subject of the speech: his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, which appears to have inflicted a psychic wound so grave Trump is unable to get over it.<\/p>\n CNN\u2019s chief media analyst, Brian Stelter, reports<\/a> that CNN will make a live feed of the remarks available online, with analysis and commentary, but not air it live on television.<\/p>\n \u201cCNN will cover the President\u2019s speech as a news event, and monitor it for news developments, providing analysis and commentary from CNN experts who cover elections, intelligence and the FBI,\u201d Stelter quoted a spokesperson for the network saying.<\/p>\n Both Fox News and the Fox broadcast network, also owned by the Trump-supporting Murdoch family, plan to carry the president\u2019s remarks live, just three years after their parent company was forced to pay a $787.5m settlement<\/a> to the voting machine company Dominion for knowingly broadcasting false claims that Dominion was involved in a plot to steal the 2020 election.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.43 EDT<\/p>\n Former Trump lawyer says president is looking for an excuse ‘to declare an emergency’ before midterms<\/p>\n Ty Cobb, a lawyer who coordinated Donald Trump\u2019s legal response, during his first term, to the special counsel investigation of his campaign\u2019s ties to Russia, told PBS News Hour<\/a> on Thursday that he fears that \u201ctonight\u2019s speech is intended to add to the predicate that he needs to declare an emergency at or about the time of the elections\u201d.<\/p>\n Cobb, who has become a critic of the president, predicted that Trump will try \u201canything\u201d to disrupt the midterm elections his party is widely expected to lose, opening the door to a third impeachment.<\/p>\n Ty Cobb, the former White House lawyer, in May 2018. Photograph: Susan Walsh\/AP<\/p>\n \u201cSteve Bannon and Todd Blanche have suggested that there will be ICE agents at the polls,\u201d Cobb said. \u201cI think that that\u2019s a virtual certainty. Whether that will include the national guard or not, we don\u2019t know, but anything to intimidate minority voters, particularly immigrant voters,.\u201d He also suggested that the president was looking for an excuse \u201cto try to seize voting machines as Trump wanted to do in 2020\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you will see him doing everything he can to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, the election of Democrats, and do whatever he can to remain in power and to keep his cronies in powers, so that he can continue doing what he thinks he\u2019s allowed to do as president, which is anything he wants,\u201d Cobb added.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.27 EDT<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s address follows another day of strikes he authorized against Iran.<\/p>\n US forces launched attacks for the sixth straight day Thursday<\/a>, hitting targets near Tehran and striking a ship military officials accused of trying to break the US blockade. Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones at US allies in the region.<\/p>\n There\u2019s speculation Trump will mention his ongoing joint war with Israel against Iran in his remarks later tonight. He has claimed to be close to a deal with Iran dozens of times since April. If it does come up in his address, watch how the president spins the conflict as it stretches into its 139th day with an earlier ceasefire in shambles, peace talks in limbo and gas prices ticking higher again<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.48 EDT<\/p>\n To air or not to air? That is the question news networks are mulling before Trump\u2019s address<\/p>\n While the president aims for wall-to-wall primetime coverage, some TV networks are playing it safe in an effort to avoid giving Trump airtime to spout more unproven or debunked conspiracy theories to the viewing public \u2013 at least for traditional TV viewers. Brian Stelter, CNN\u2019s chief media analyst, reported that NBC and ABC plan to stream Trump\u2019s address online, but won\u2019t carry it live on TV.<\/p>\n In a statement Stelter shared from ABC, the network said its \u201cSpecial Report team is fully prepared to break into network programming to deliver live updates and reporting should significant developments occur\u201d.<\/p>\n As for NBC, network officials said they \u201cplan to air a special report on the network following the remarks\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.40 EDT<\/p>\n Democrats pre-bunk Trump’s long-running election denials before his address<\/p>\n That includes Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, US senators from Georgia, and Angela Alsobrooks, US senator from Maryland.<\/p>\n Alsobrooks said the administration\u2019s ongoing attacks against election workers and \u201cillegal\u201d raids on election offices are designed to prevent eligible US citizens from voting:<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s let that sink in as we watch the false claims from this president, who, bless his heart, just cannot accept what all of the evidence has shown us: is that there is nothing improper that happened in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n Jon Ossoff, US senator from Georgia, questions Jay Clayton, Donald Trump\u2019s pick to head the nation\u2019s intelligence agencies, as he appears for his confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee on 15 July 2026. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite\/AP<\/p>\n Ossoff was more pointed in his remarks:<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen tonight: the world\u2019s most famous sore loser will deliver a prime-time presidential sour grapes address to pursue his six-year-old grievances about the 2020 election, while his war in the Middle East spirals out of control and the cost of living continues to rise for Americans across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Ossoff\u2019s fellow senator Warnock offered this statement<\/a> on Trump\u2019s speech:<\/p>\n \u201cDonald Trump lost Georgia in 2020. That\u2019s not my opinion, it\u2019s a fact. The votes were counted, recounted, audited and litigated. He lost, he lost, he lost. But this really isn\u2019t about 2020. It\u2019s about 2026. He is trying to sow doubt on the integrity of our elections in Georgia so that he can create the pretext to interfere in 2026. This president is a liar, a cheater and a fraud. And he has shown us over and over again that staying in power matters more to him than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.54 EDT<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, returned from maternity leave Thursday and teased the president\u2019s upcoming address from the White House briefing room.<\/p>\n Fielding questions about the substance of the president\u2019s televised address tonight \u2013 specifically, reports that Trump plans to unveil new claims of interference in the 2020 election, despite the lack of evidence of widespread fraud \u2013 Leavitt argued that the president remains focused on the results because \u201cthe media has refused to acknowledge that tens of millions of Americans share his concerns about the sanctity of our elections\u201d.<\/p>\n She added that Trump\u2019s forthcoming \u201cfindings will shock you\u201d, urging viewers to tune in. \u201cEverything he is saying will be backed by facts and by evidence that will be provided this evening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, during a press briefing at the White House on 16 July. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.47 EDT<\/p>\n Trump set to address nation tonight<\/p>\n Welcome to our liveblog with coverage of Donald Trump\u2019s Thursday night address from the White House. The president is slated to begin his remarks at 9pm ET.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s not a complete picture of what he will say, Trump and White House officials have indicated his remarks will include one of his favorite obsessions: his long-repeated claims, without evidence, that US elections were rigged against him by Democrats in 2020 when he lost to Joe Biden.<\/p>\n Trump hinted at the content of his comments from the Oval Office Tuesday, telling reporters: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get bigger, because without free and fair elections, you don\u2019t have a country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll be discussing other things, too,\u201d the president added, but declined to reveal more. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a very big announcement.\u201d<\/p>\n