US President Donald Trump is set to give a prime-time national address about newly declassified intelligence on investigations into elections and voting machine vulnerabilities. The Republican president could ‌use his televised speech to again press his false claim that he lost his 2020 re-election bid to Democrat Joe Biden due to "massive fraud".Follow live.Collapse all postsFilter PostsAll5Key Events2Fri 17 Jul 2026 at 10:22amFri 17 Jul 2026 at 10:22amWhite House says speech 'will shock you'(Reuters: Evan Vucci)White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sparred with reporters who had questions about Donald Trump's speech at a media conference today.NBC journalist Garrett Haake raised the dozens of recounts, lawsuits and audits that had confirmed the result of the 2020 election, which Trump is expected to talk about in his speech.He asked: "Why is the president unable to let this go?"Leavitt said the media had "refused to acknowledge" the concerns of "tens of millions of Americans" about the sanctity of elections, and told him: "You're jumping ahead to a conclusion in this speech before even hearing it yourself."You should report on the president's speech and the findings that he is going to reveal in this speech with a little bit of honesty and a little bit of integrity, because it will shock you if you have an honest eye. "Everything he is saying will be backed by facts and by evidence that will be provided this evening."CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked why nobody had been charged if there was such evidence."Well, he hasn't revealed it yet," said Leavitt. "He hasn't declassified the documents yet. And you will see what he says tonight and then we'll move forward appropriately."Fri 17 Jul 2026 at 10:17amFri 17 Jul 2026 at 10:17amSome US networks will not take the speech liveBy North America correspondent Lauren DayPresidential addresses to the nation are usually reserved for important national issues: wars, significant policy shifts, global pandemics.So when it became clear this one would focus on election integrity, and quite possibly Donald Trump's debunked claims about the 2020 election, TV networks had to grapple with the ethics of taking the speech live.As the US's Poynter Institute for Media Studies put it:"On one hand, he's the president. What he says is news. On the other hand, if he is going to make baseless accusations, don't news outlets have a responsibility to ensure viewers aren't exposed to lies and baseless conspiracy theories?"There are precedents for TV stations opting against live coverage of presidential addresses they assess as too political.In 2022, some major networks declined to carry a primetime address by Joe Biden, in which he accused Trump and MAGA Republicans of trying to take the country backwards.And in 2014, some outlets chose not to air Barack Obama's primetime address on his executive actions on immigration.Of the four major US networks, two have so far said they won't run tonight's speech on their main free-to-air channels. America's ABC and NBC will limit the live broadcast to their streaming platforms.CNN said it would monitor the speech for news but limit the live broadcast to its website and subscription streaming channel.Fri 17 Jul 2026 at 10:10amFri 17 Jul 2026 at 10:10amWhy is Trump talking about the 2020 election?By Elissa FitzgeraldIt may have been six years ago, but experts say US President Donald Trump's relentless focus on the 2020 election isn't about looking back.(Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein)It's a strategy aimed at justifying new voting restrictions such as the SAVE Act, reinforcing party loyalty ⁠and energising supporters ahead of November elections that will determine control of Congress, according to two White House officials and two people familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters in May.By casting the 2020 election as illegitimate, he is also laying the ​groundwork to challenge Republican losses and undermine Democrats if they win back power, multiple election experts said."He's not looking back; this is about the midterms," said Alexandra Chandler, an election expert at the nonpartisan advocacy organisation, Protect Democracy."He's trying to create a ​fog of disinformation with this."So then if he dials it up further with federal interference, the public will not react as surprised."– with ReutersKey EventFri 17 Jul 2026 at 10:01amFri 17 Jul 2026 at 10:01amPublic should question the 'means and motives'By Elissa FitzgeraldSo, voting integrity. That old chestnut.US President Donald Trump has for years tried (and failed) to produce any evidence that a meaningful amount of election interference occurred in 2020 to influence Joe Biden's win.Dozens of lawsuits have collapsed, and even Republican-led audits have ruled out claims that interference took place. Trump supporters outside a vote-counting place in Atlanta, Georgia in 2020. (Reuters: Dustin Chambers)As two elections experts have written this year for New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, modern elections are proven to be secure and accurate."Any new claim from the federal government to the contrary should be met with extreme skepticism," Derek Tisler and Lawrence Norden wrote. "The public should question the means and motives of political appointees advancing these claims. "Putting forth manufactured or misleading intelligence to justify official actions should be considered an outrageous abuse of power. "And the public must strongly reject any efforts to use misleading claims to undermine future elections."Key EventFri 17 Jul 2026 at 9:48amFri 17 Jul 2026 at 9:48amTrump will give a national address shortlyBy Elissa FitzgeraldGood morning.US President Donald Trump says he has "really, really big news", and he's about to give a prime-time national address to tell the world.What's it about, you might be asking?While we don't know the specifics, whispers around the White House are that it will concern newly declassified intelligence on investigations into US elections and voting machine vulnerabilities."Our country has to shape up," the president told reporters on Tuesday."What we're going to be talking about … it doesn't get bigger. Because without free and fair elections, you don't have a country."We'll be discussing other things, too, but it's going to be a very big announcement."Trump's address is scheduled to begin at 11am AEST. Stay tuned and we'll bring you all the updates as they come to hand.