Live coverage: President Donald Trump addresses the nation
Jul 16, 2026
President Donald Trump is set to address the nation Thursday evening at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.Watch live coverage and analysis of his speech from Scripps News:On Thursday the White House indicated the speech would cover Preside
nt Trump's "commitment to transparency and the focus on the integrity of our elections."Administration wants an overhaul of election securityPresident Trump's speech comes as a major election reform bill is currently stalled in Congress.The SAVE America Act would require all voters nationwide to show voter ID at the ballot box. It would also require Americans registering to vote to show documents in person proving their U.S. citizenship. The bill would sharply limit voting by mail, allowing only a short list of excuses for not voting in person including illness, disability, military deployment, or travel on Election Day.The Trump administration on Thursday launched a website that collected state-by-state records of how the Justice Department is working to "safeguard election integrity."So far, many existing rules and norms around elections and voting remain in place.The Supreme Court ruled earlier in July that mail-in ballots may be counted after Election Day deadlines, so long as they are postmarked no later than the day of the election.And in April of 2023, Dominion Voting Systems received a $787 million settlement from Fox News following a lawsuit against the network over false election claims. Fox had claimed the voting machines were faulty and had been rigged to cause Donald Trump to lose the presidential election.In its official statement, Fox acknowledged the court's rulings "finding certain claims about Dominion to be false."Under the U.S. Constitution, the running of presidential elections is managed by the states.RELATED NEWS | Trump's SAVE America Act faces steep odds in Congress as Republicans push election reform billTrump remains focused on the 2020 electionThe president frequently discusses the 2020 election and has repeatedly made allegations of fraud involving it. Those allegations have been repeatedly debunked, and no courtroom has sided with Trump over past allegations.As recently as this month, the Trump administration has continued to investigate what it calls "irregularities" in the 2020 election process and outcome. The FBI has directed hundreds of agents to supplement its ongoing investigation into the 2020 election outcome in Georgia.In January, the FBI seized ballots and other hardcopy records from Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. The case has since gone to court, where Fulton County is suing the Justice Department on Fourth Amendment grounds.In Georgia, multiple hand-counts of the ballots confirmed Joe Biden's win in 2020.And in the hours following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, the U.S. Congress certified that Biden had won the 2020 presidential election and would assume office on Jan. 20, 2021.
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