The News
Among the election-related topics that President Donald Trump is preparing to discuss during his primetime speech Thursday night is an alleged plot to manipulate Venezuelan elections that administration officials believe exposed risks to the US voting system, two people familiar with the situation told Semafor.
As part of the president’s speech, the administration may also declassify a number of reports spanning from 2020 to this year related to election integrity, the people said. Trump is known to go off-script during his remarks, however, and the contents of his planned speech could still change.
The details of Trump’s primetime address are still unclear and sparking heightened scrutiny as a result; the White House has declined to comment on specific aspects of it. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt urged reporters earlier Thursday to tune in to his planned remarks.
Leavitt confirmed that Trump will talk about election integrity, saying his remarks “will be backed by facts and by evidence.”
“We should have the safest and most secure elections in the history of the world, and what the president is speaking about tonight will show you that perhaps that is not the case, and we need to make some adjustments moving forward,” Leavitt added, during her first press briefing since she returned from maternity leave.
The report on Venezuela, both people told Semafor, is expected to reference CIA findings regarding an alleged plan by former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to manipulate his country’s elections. The administration believes it ties into risks to the US election system, according to the sources.
Venezuela’s purported connection to US voting machines has been the subject of conspiracies among Trump allies dating back to the 2020 election.
The director of national intelligence’s office released a report in 2021 saying that while foreign actors “took some steps to attempt to influence the election,” there was “no information suggesting that the current or former Venezuelan regimes were involved in attempts to compromise US election infrastructure.”
Trump is also expected to allege that China has meddled in US elections, CBS News reported this week.
Lawmakers are anxiously awaiting Trump’s speech, with many hoping he backs off of his focus on the 2020 election. Some said they would miss the speech because they were traveling. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said that among members of Congress, there’s “trepidation about what he might say.”
“I’d like him to talk about, hopefully, his thoughts on Iran. Talk about the issues people care about. People care about affordability. They want to know what’s going on with the Iran conflict,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.
Leavitt argued that those saying Trump’s speech will focus on 2020 are “jumping ahead to a conclusion” about the remarks.
Notable
- There’s been internal debate about what election integrity allegations should be included in Trump’s speech and what should be declassified, CNN reported.
- About two dozen 2020 election conspiracists were briefed on the speech, with some asked to sign nondisclosure agreements, MS NOW reported.
Nicholas Wu and Burgess Everett contributed to this report.