Trump says national address will cover election integrity

US President Donald Trump said he would discuss "free and fair" voting in a national address scheduled for Thursday, while also saying he would raise other subjects. Asked in the Oval Office on Tuesday whether the address would involve election machines and integrity, Trump said it would concern that subject, but that he would save further details. He called the planned remarks "really, really big news" and said the country had to "shape up." He said that without free and fair elections, "you don't have a country."

US media reported that the speech would address newly declassified intelligence reports that the White House says show plans by foreign nations to interfere in the 2020 election, which Joe Biden won. Trump, a Republican serving a second term after previously serving from 2017 to 2021, has long pushed false claims that he won the 2020 election.

Pro-Trump supporters violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop certification of Biden's victory. Trump has recently increased unproven accusations that Democrats are trying to rig November's midterm elections.

Democrats have accused Trump of trying to seize control of the midterms through gerrymandering election districts and through the sacking last week of the final two Democrats on a federal agency that oversees fair polls. Republicans fear they could lose control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate, with Trump's approval nearing record lows in opinion polls. If Democrats take the House, Trump could face a third impeachment trial. He was impeached twice in his first term, once over Ukraine and once for alleged incitement of the January 6 riots.

The primetime address is scheduled for 9:00 pm Thursday, or 0100 GMT Friday. It also comes amid mounting hostilities with Iran, as a fragile ceasefire appears to have collapsed.