WASHINGTON—White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday gave her first press briefing since returning from maternity leave, announcing that President Donald Trump’s address to the nation at 9:00 p.m. ET will center on protecting the integrity of American elections.
Reports circulating ahead of the briefing suggested Trump would focus on information that has come to light regarding the election in 2020 during the speech, with CBS News reporting, citing anonymous sources, that it will concern “previously unreported alleged Chinese meddling in U.S. elections.”
At the top of the briefing, Leavitt said that the speech will center “on protecting the integrity of our elections,” and she encouraged all Americans to watch the president this evening.
She did note that she has seen “misreporting” regarding the speech’s contents.
When NBC News White House correspondent Garrett Haake asked, “Why is the president unable to let this go,” referencing Trump’s claims of the 2020 elections, Leavitt said Haake was jumping to conclusions about the speech, though Trump has not yet delivered it:
Well, first of all, Garrett, 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. And your premise of your question, you’re jumping ahead to a conclusion in this speech before even hearing it yourself.
Leavitt urged journalists to report on the speech “with a little bit of honesty and a little bit of integrity because… it will shock you if you have an honest eye listening to the president tonight.”
She said that Trump’s remarks will be supported “by facts and by evidence” that will be released this evening.
“And again, Garrett, again, I think all Americans — Democrat, Republican — should agree that we are the greatest country in the history of the world. We should have the safest and most secure elections in the history of the world, and what the president will be speaking about tonight will show you that perhaps that is not the case,” she said.
In an exchange with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Leavitt suggested Trump could declassify documents related to the speech.
“Regarding the president’s speech tonight, he’s been in office over 540 days now, if what he says… tonight is backed up by evidence, why hasn’t anyone been charged?” Collins asked.
“Well, he hasn’t revealed it yet. He hasn’t declassified the documents yet, and you will see what he says tonight, and then we’ll move forward appropriately from there,” the press secretary responded.
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