Trump says Thursday address will focus on free and fair elections

President Donald Trump told reporters that his Thursday night primetime address will concentrate on "free and fair elections" and will feature a major announcement. He made the comments during an Oval Office meeting with Iraq’s prime minister, adding that without such elections the country cannot function.

Trump said the speech, scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET, will also cover "a couple of other things" and described the upcoming announcement as "really, really big news" that the nation must respond to.

The president has repeatedly claimed that the 2020 election was compromised and has urged Congress to pass his election-reform legislation, which remains stalled in the Senate. While officials said the speech is still being finalized, Trump has hinted that it may also touch on foreign policy issues, including ongoing tensions with Iran.

White House officials have not confirmed whether networks will be asked to pre-empt regular programming for the address, a practice typical of presidential speeches intended for a wide audience.

Intelligence officials have previously been directed to investigate election security, with former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard overseeing efforts to examine voting-machine vulnerabilities. The administration’s focus on election integrity continues as Trump’s nominee for permanent intelligence director, former SEC chairman Jay Clayton, faces a Senate hearing.

"It doesn’t get bigger, because without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country," Trump said.

The upcoming address follows a pattern of the president using high-profile platforms to challenge the 2020 election outcome and to promote his policy agenda ahead of the midterm elections.