President Donald Trump is set to deliver primetime remarks to the nation Thursday evening, reportedly focused on election integrity ahead of the 2026 November midterm elections and new intelligence about foreign interference in the 2020 election.
During her first press briefing back from maternity leave, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt early Thursday fielded questions from reporters about the president’s remarks later that evening.
Leavitt wouldn’t tease much about what the address will cover, but encouraged Americans to tune in.
If you can’t watch it live, I will be covering the address tonight, so you can catch up quick.
Here’s what you need to know:
How to watch the national address
Trump will begin his speech at 9 p.m. EDT (7 p.m. MDT) from the White House.
It will be broadcast on major news outlets and available to view via the White House website and YouTube channel.
What is Trump expected to say?
Trump is expected to address the nation with a focus on election integrity and declassifying a report that his administration said found foreign interference in the 2020 election.
Trump has long held that the 2020 election was rigged or stolen and former President Joe Biden was not the actual winner.
With the COVID-19 pandemic underway, voters across the country cast their ballots by mail in historic numbers that year. After results poured in and showed Biden the winner, Trump and other allies argued there were issues with voting machines, mail-in ballots, foreign interference and voter roll errors.
However, in the years since, no court has found the claims to be true. No audit has found widespread voter fraud, and states ran recounts and couldn’t find errors.
Leavitt was asked by NBC News’ Garrett Haake on Thursday, if the dozens of lawsuits, recounts and audits proved otherwise about the election being rigged, then “why is the president unable to let this go?”
“I think part of the problem is that the media has refused to acknowledge that tens of millions of Americans across the country share the concerns of this president about the sanctity of our elections,” she replied. “And your premise of your question, you’re jumping ahead to a conclusion in this speech before even hearing it yourself.”
“You should tune into the president’s speech tonight before you jump ahead to conclusions about what’s actually in the speech,” Leavitt said in response to another question.
SAVE America Act and Iran
The president will also likely highlight the SAVE America Act, which is Republicans’ sweeping reform bill that is looking to establish proof-of-citizenship and voter ID requirements for federal elections.
The House has already passed the bill but it’s facing resistance in the Senate. Trump recently said that he would not sign bills, including bipartisan ones, until senators pass the SAVE America Act.
It’s something important to Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who said in a statement to the Deseret News that Trump shares the concerns of millions of voters that federal elections lack security.
“It has been amazing to see President Trump champion my legislation, the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register and cast a ballot — which many Americans are shocked to discover is not already national policy,” Lee said. “The United States should not have a less secure voting system than Bulgaria or Bangladesh.”
Trump will also likely touch on the ongoing war with Iran, which resumed fighting just days ago. Last week, he formally notified Congress under the War Powers Act that strikes would be restarting.
Since then, he’s said that things with Iran are going well, but some reports indicate that Trump and his team are considering ways to expand military action in the region, including more strikes, bombing, seizing Iranian land or even putting troops on the ground.