U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, July 15, 2026.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump will focus on alleged threats to the integrity of America’s elections in a prime-time address to the nation scheduled for Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.
It wouldn’t be the first time he’d done it. Trump has continued to claim he was the victim of a “rigged” and “stolen” election since his defeat by the former president. Joe Biden nearly six years earlier, and he made similar statements about more recent contests lost by Republicans.
Trump’s decision to give his election claims the spotlight coincides with efforts on multiple levels by the president and his allies to reshape American elections ahead of the November midterm elections. Polls show Democrats are favored to retake the U.S. House of Representatives, amid Trump’s declining popularity.
Trump is expected to repeat his false claims about the 2020 presidential election results while alleging that foreign adversaries, including China, engaged in electoral influence operations, according to administration officials. told MS NOW.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the media was “misreporting” the implications of Trump’s speech. But she suggested that Trump would make statements about the security of the US elections.
“The president will make a very important announcement regarding the integrity of our elections,” she told reporters at the White House.
“We should have the safest, most secure elections in the history of the world. And what the president will talk about tonight will show you that may not be the case and we need to make some adjustments moving forward,” she said.
Trump could also bring up a “series” of other topics, including Iran and the economy, Leavitt noted.
Trump kept silent on details of his speech, his first official speech since the beginning of Aprilwhen he claimed that the war in Iran – which is still ongoing – was almost over.
But he repeatedly hinted that his remarks Thursday night would focus on his gripes about the U.S. elections and his plans to change them.
“This is really great news, and our country needs to get back on its feet,” Trump said Tuesday at the White House when asked about the speech. “Without free and fair elections, there is no country.”
Questioned in a Monday evening interview on Newsmax for a preview of the speech, Trump brought up last month’s Los Angeles mayoral primary election as what he considered an example of a “rigged” race.
Trump made baseless claims massive electoral fraud in the race even before his preferred candidate, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, officially lost.
“Our elections are crooked and we need to fix them,” Trump told Newsmax.
The way to do that, Trump insists, is for Congress to pass the “SAVE America Act,” the controversial bill that purports to crack down on noncitizens who interfere in U.S. elections by requiring, among other provisions, a photo ID to vote and proof of citizenship to register. Opponents say the measure would disenfranchise voters, particularly those with low incomes or people of color.
Read more about CNBC’s politics coverageFederal law already requires citizenship to vote in U.S. elections, and data shows that some cases in which ballots are cast by non-citizens.
But Trump has made the election bill his top priority ahead of the next election. He even refused to sign any more legislation until the SAVE America Act reached his desk. And his allies in the House have blocked further measures from reaching the president as they push to pass the election law, which lacks the votes needed to pass Congress.
Trump’s Republican Party seeks to maintain its majority in the House and Senate after the midterms, but it faces major challenges. The party that holds the White House is historically underperforming in midterm elections, and Democrats aim to capitalize on what polls showed These are Americans’ negative views on the economy, the war in Iran and Trump himself.
Trump’s electoral effortsPeople vote during the primary elections at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, United States, June 23, 2026.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
Trump has sought to challenge the election results he objects to using every lever at his disposal.
After his 2020 election defeat, Trump and his allies filed dozens of lawsuits challenging state tallies, but none of the results were overturned and no credible evidence of voter fraud was presented.
Efforts to overturn the 2020 results culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the center of the U.S. government and forced lawmakers to temporarily flee their chambers for safety. Trump later pardoned or commuted the sentences of virtually all defendants involved in the riot.
In late January, an election office in Georgia – one of the main targets of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 race – was raided by the FBI, which sought Files related to the 2020 elections. Tulsi Gabbard, then Trump’s director of national intelligence, was spotted during that raid.
After Gabbard announced her resignation in May, Trump chose federal housing regulator Bill Pulte to replace him on an interim basis.
Pulte, who has gained a reputation as a loyal Trump attack dog, is expected to join the president for the speech, MS NOW previously reported.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, has filed lawsuits in many states seeking detailed voter registration data. The DOJ argued that it needed this information to ensure compliance with federal election laws. More than a dozen such cases have been removed from office by federal judges so far.
