Trump to give primetime speech on 2020 election: Sources
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Iraq Ali al-Zaidi, in the Oval Office of the White House on July 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump is set to deliver a primetime address Thursday evening, during which he is expected to detail information that he has recently received from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence related to the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Trump has long pushed debunked conspiracy theories to claim that his 2020 election loss was fraudulent. It’s not immediately clear what allegations he will make as part of his speech.
Sources caution Trump’s plans can always change, but at this point “election fraud” is the topic of his 9 p.m. address.
Despite Trump’s claims of voter fraud that contributed to his 2020 election loss, officials have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Asked about the speech, which he announced on his social media platform on Monday, Trump said it was “really big news,” mentioning the importance of “free and fair elections.”
“Thursday is, it doesn’t get bigger because without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country. We’ll be discussing other things, too. But — but it’s going to be a very big announcement,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Trump recently installed loyalist Bill Pulte, who has no previous national security experience, to lead DNI and has said that he wanted Pulte to declassify information and fire scores of experienced career staff.
Under the first Trump administration, officials already detailed efforts by Iran, China and Russia to influence the 2020 election, though officials later determined that none of their interference would have changed the election result. Initially Trump administration officials suggested China was also involved in influencing the election, a claim that was later determined by Trump’s intelligence community to be false.
The White House is remaining tight-lipped about the president’s Thursday night speech.
“The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement about the remarks.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on April 27, 2026, in Washington, DC. Republican senators gathered to introduce legislation to fund construction of a White House ballroom as a secure alternative event space following the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, DC Saturday night. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — National political leaders and prominent figures from around the globe are remembering South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham with a ceremony on Capitol Hill and a funeral service in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump paid tribute to his close ally at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday afternoon.
“Today, we gather in the deepest gratitude and profoundest sorrow to honor a beloved friend, a devoted brother, a respected statesman, a giant of the United States Senate and a true American original who left us much too soon,” Trump said. “And that can only be the one and only Lindsey Graham.”
The cathedral funeral is being attended by a number of world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Graham worked closely with both men as a staunch ally to both nations. Graham spent some of his final days in Ukraine and met with Zelenskyy just before he died.
Sean Hannity and Graham’s niece, Emillie Boggs Roberts, will also deliver remarks.
Graham first was recognized with a ceremony in the Capitol rotunda Tuesday morning. His casket, draped in an American flag, was escorted by Air Force personnel and received by members of his family, including his sister Sen. Darline Graham, on the Capitol steps.
A great number of senators, both Democrats and Republicans, were in attendance. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Vice President JD Vance gave remarks, as did South Carolina Republican Rep. Sheri Briggs.
Thune remembered Graham for his work in national security and defense, his efforts on the Senate Judiciary Committee and for his commitment to pro-life issues.
Thune seemed to choke back tears toward the ends of his remarks as he said a final goodbye to Graham.
“To Lindsey, rest in peace, my friend. I look forward to the days when you make us all laugh again,” he said.
Vance said he will remember Graham as someone who would fight alongside you on issues you both care about while respectfully disagreeing on others, and shared a story of an “intense argument” they had over Ukraine, but that it didn’t stop Graham from supporting him on another issue.
“I choose to remember Lindsey Graham as a person who could fight with you on one issue, but fight for you on another issue,” the vice president said. “I remember Lindsey Graham as a man who loved people, and because he loved people, he was willing to reason with them, to respect them, and ultimately to persuade them.”
“It was impossible not to like him — that swashbuckling, infectious laugh, that attitude, that passion that so many others have talked about. Lindsey Graham was impossible not to like as a human being, and of course, as a United States senator,” Vance added in his speech.
Graham served more than two decades in the Senate, becoming one of the chamber’s most recognizable Republicans and one of Trump’s closest friends and advisers. He advised the president on foreign matters, including the recent war in Iran, and was a prominent fixture of the Senate’s powerful Judiciary Committee.
He died suddenly and unexpectedly on July 11 at the age of 71. Preliminary findings from the Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia said that the senator died due to “aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.”
Graham’s casket will return to South Carolina on Wednesday, where further memorial services are set for Columbia, the state’s capital, and Pickens County, where Graham grew up and part of the district he represented.
The U.S. Air Force will rename Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina for Graham, a White House official confirmed on Tuesday.
The base, which falls under the command of the United States Air Force’s 628th Air Base Wing, will be renamed to Joint Base Lindsey Graham, according to a memorandum from Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink dated July 27.
In the memo obtained by ABC News, Meink said that the renaming would honor “Graham’s decades of distinguished service to the United States Congress and the United States Air Force.” It was not immediately clear when the change would go into effect.
Jay Clayton, US attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), during the Bloomberg Global Credit Forum in New York, US, on Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Tom Cotton, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton to be the next director of national intelligence will continue as planned despite President Donald Trump announcing it would be canceled.
“Jay Clayton is a pending nominee before the Intelligence Committee. We will proceed with his hearing as scheduled unless the president directs him not to appear or withdraws his nomination,” Cotton wrote on X.
The committee’s website still lists Clayton’s hearing as scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
Trump, in an early morning social media post, said the confirmation process for Clayton would not continue until his pick to replace Clayton as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, is confirmed.
“Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney,” Trump wrote. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.”
Trump selected Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence after Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation last month. Pulte is best known in the Trump administration for launching probes into several of the president’s perceived political enemies over allegations of mortgage fraud and possible misuse of authority. Targets of the investigations include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell. They’ve all denied wrongdoing.
Pulte’s appointment sparked pushback from Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, and stalled efforts to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant. Amid the backlash over Pulte, Trump announced last week he was nominating Clayton to permanently lead ODNI.
Trump on Wednesday also said that he wanted both his SAVE America Act bill and an extension to FISA, which lapsed over the weekend, to now pass together.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat, slammed Trump’s latest moves.
“Trump is twisting himself up in knots and jumping through hoops to make it impossible to reauthorize FISA right now, and he is embarrassing his Republican colleagues in the process,” Schumer said. “Trump can blame Democrats all he wants, but no one is going to believe him.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, when asked Wednesday about the Senate’s path forward on FISA and Clayton’s nomination, said they’re taking a day-by-day approach.
“All I know is that Chairman Cotton is planning to proceed — because you all know with the hearing — and and then from there on, we’ll have to take it a day at a time until we get more clarity on kind of what the White House position is on this,” Thune said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Air Force earlier this week said 135 airmen who were initially told they had earned promotions will not receive those promotions after the service discovered a scoring error on a required promotion exam.
The issue, announced Tuesday, affected only security forces airmen, who serve as the Air Force’s law enforcement and security personnel. An outdated answer key was used to score the promotion test, leading the service to incorrectly notify 135 airmen that they had been selected for promotion to technical sergeant, a mid-level enlisted rank, according to the Air Force.
“We owe it to those affected to address it immediately,” Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force David Wolfe, the service’s top enlisted leader, said in a statement. “This is going to be hard for everyone impacted.”
Airmen’s promotions are based on a series of factors including testing, schooling and how long they’ve been serving.
The service called the incident an “isolated” and a “highly unprecedented anomaly.” It rescored each exam with the correct answer key. Out of 586 airmen selected for promotion, 451 will keep their promotions, according to the service.
Air Force officials said they are evaluating the implementation of additional safeguards in its promotion process.
A separate group of 135 airmen who were incorrectly denied promotions because of the testing error will now be promoted, the Air Force said.
The incident is the latest in a series of high-profile testing and evaluation issues involving the service. Last year, the Air Force Academy launched a broad investigation after discovering nearly 100 cadets had cheated on a weekly knowledge test. A separate cheating scandal in 2020 involved nearly 250 cadets accused of honor code violations, prompting a review of the academy’s programs.
“We promote Airmen based on merit, which is established in federal law and policy,” Lt. Gen. Jefferson O’Donnell, deputy chief of staff for Air Force Manpower, Personnel, and Services, said in a statement earlier this week. “Who we are as an Air Force, defined by our core values, demands integrity in the meritocratic promotion system; we have a core obligation to ensure the Airmen who earned it are selected.”
