October 1, 2026
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump used a primetime address to the nation Thursday to call for new election-security measures, release documents related to past elections and renew his claims about vulnerabilities in the voting system.
Trump said he was releasing previously classified documents related to the 2020 presidential election and the 2018 midterm elections. He also used the remarks to promote a voter ID bill in Congress, calling it “urgently needed” to address what he described as weaknesses in the election system.
“America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed, because no country can be great without fair and honest elections,” Trump said.
He said Americans should be assured that elections are free from cheating and foreign interference.
“Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard,” Trump said.
Election officials, courts, audits and reviews have repeatedly rejected claims that fraud or foreign manipulation changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Several reviews were conducted or supported by Republicans, including officials in Trump’s own administration.
As Trump spoke, the White House unveiled a website containing documents related to election investigations, intelligence analysis and correspondence. The administration said the materials support the need for stronger election safeguards.
Trump’s remarks focused heavily on China and election security. He did not focus in the same way on Russia, which U.S. intelligence officials have previously said conducted influence operations during the 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
Sue Gordon, who served as principal deputy director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, said the intelligence community had raised concerns about foreign interference in elections during that period.
“He had an entire term to deal with it and I don’t know how you can believe how the same community that told him about it, that was excoriated about it” would not warn him in 2020, Gordon said on CNN.
Primetime presidential addresses are typically used for major national developments, though presidents have also used them to make the case for policy priorities. Trump last delivered one in April to discuss the war with Iran. He also delivered a primetime address in December focused on the economy and Democratic policies.
At least some television networks chose not to carry Thursday’s speech live on their broadcast channels, though several made it available on streaming platforms. ABC, NBC and CNN carried the remarks in full on their streaming services and said they would break into network coverage as needed. CBS and MS NOW carried part of the speech before cutting away, while Fox News aired it live.
Trump criticized outlets that did not carry the address live and accused them of being “part of a plot.”
Networks do not always carry presidential addresses live. In 2022, when then-President Joe Biden delivered a primetime address warning about Trump and what Biden called his supporters’ “extreme ideology,” the major networks did not carry it live. In 2014, the major networks also declined to carry then-President Barack Obama’s address on immigration reform.
Democrats criticized Trump’s remarks and said they were concerned he was using claims about past elections to raise questions about future ones, including the 2026 midterms.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia called Trump’s claims “totally bogus.”
Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said Trump was trying to create doubt before the midterm elections.
“This is a pretext for the president, I think, calling into dispute the 2026 elections,” Morelle said on C-SPAN, adding that “we have secure elections.”
Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Capitol Hill a day earlier that “of course we’re gonna support the results of the midterm elections.”
Vance pushed back Wednesday when asked whether he would encourage Trump to focus on the midterms rather than past elections.
“‘The unfounded claims,’” Vance said, repeating the reporter’s phrase. “You’re basically assuming an answer in the very question that you ask.”
Before turning to elections, Trump opened the speech by listing what he described as his administration’s accomplishments, including efforts to lower drug prices.
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