President Donald Trump is preparing to deliver what he has described as a “very big announcement” during a rare primetime address from the White House on Thursday evening.
Although the administration has kept the president’s final remarks closely guarded, multiple reports indicate that election security—and previously undisclosed allegations involving China—will take center stage.
The address is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET from the East Room of the White House.
“Without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “We’ll be discussing other things, too. But it’s going to be a very big announcement.”
Trump initially announced the speech on Truth Social, telling Americans that his administration had enjoyed “a great year for our Country” and declaring that “the best is yet to come.”
New Allegations Involving China
According to CBS News, part of Trump’s address is expected to focus on previously unreported allegations that China compromised American voter data.
Sources familiar with the planned remarks told the network that Trump may also present evidence alleging that the CIA knew about Beijing’s activity but failed to share the information with him during his first term.
The precise nature of the alleged compromise—and whether the information involved confidential data or voter-registration records already available to the public—remains unclear.
CBS reported that members of Trump’s Cabinet and senior national security officials have been invited to attend the speech. The expected audience includes the leaders of the CIA, FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Homeland Security, along with other administration officials and staff.
ABC News separately reported that Trump is expected to discuss information he recently received from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence relating to the 2020 election.
The president has installed Bill Pulte as director of national intelligence and urged him to declassify information connected to election security and the government’s handling of the 2020 contest.
What Earlier Intelligence Reports Found
The allegations expected Thursday night could challenge—or seek to add new context to—the intelligence community’s previous public conclusions regarding China’s activities.
A 2021 National Intelligence Council assessment concluded with “high confidence” that Beijing did not attempt to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The report said Chinese officials determined that neither a Trump nor a Biden victory was sufficiently advantageous to justify the risk of being caught meddling.
Intelligence agencies also found no evidence that China interfered with election infrastructure or vote-counting.
However, the assessment contained a minority view from the National Intelligence Officer for Cyber, who believed with “moderate confidence” that China took steps to undermine Trump’s reelection effort through official statements and social media activity. That official did not conclude that Beijing interfered with the election process itself.
A separate April 2020 intelligence report found that Chinese intelligence had analyzed voter-registration data from multiple states, apparently to conduct public-opinion analysis ahead of the election. The publicly available portions of that report did not explain how the information was obtained or accuse Beijing of manipulating the data.
The 2021 assessment ultimately found “no indications” that any foreign actor attempted to alter voter registrations, ballots, vote-counting or another technical component of the election. It did find that Russia sought to damage Joe Biden’s campaign while Iran worked to undercut Trump.
Trump’s speech could reveal whether his administration has uncovered new intelligence that was unavailable when those assessments were issued—or whether it is offering a different interpretation of information already in the government’s possession.
White House Keeps Final Details Under Wraps
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt cautioned that reports about the speech remain speculative and that Trump could still revise his remarks.
“As usual, anonymous sources are speculating about what President Trump will say during his speech on Thursday evening,” Leavitt said. “The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in.”
The president has likewise offered few specifics beyond confirming that elections will be a major subject.
“It’s really, really big news, and our country has to shape up,” Trump said while previewing the address.
The speech comes as Trump presses congressional Republicans to enact tougher election-integrity measures before the November midterms. His administration has already pursued citizenship-verification requirements and changes to mail-in voting procedures, although several of those efforts have faced court challenges.
The president could use Thursday’s address not only to revisit the government’s handling of the 2020 election but also to build support for his current election agenda.
The White House will stream the address live beginning at 9 p.m. ET on its official live-events page.
