President Trump gives primetime speech (Image: Getty)
The White House website crashed as President Donald Trump addressed the nation on Thursday evening to unveil what he claimed to be fresh evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, once again drawing attention to an issues he has championed for years.
Trump opened his address by asserting that new evidence would be made available to the public, purportedly proving that the 2020 election — won by President Joe Biden — had been stolen, with Americans able to access the material via the White House website. However, as the address continued, the website went down.
“Tonight, I’m announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure. This evidence shows that the election system we have dangerously exposes and really exposes like levels never thought possible to hacking, exploitation and foreign interference. Just as disturbingly, this vital information has for many years been covered up and hidden from you,” he stated during the address.
Screenshots of the malfunctioning website swiftly spread across social media, with reporter Katie Pavlich posting on her X account: “Whitehouse.gov has gone down shortly after President Trump announced new documents about China stealing voter registration data have been posted there.”
Before the address, Trump had only provided hints about the content of his speech. When questioned by a reporter on Tuesday as to whether it would concern “election machines and integrity,” Trump confirmed it would “concern that subject” and added “we’ll have a couple of other things to say also.”
On Thursday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced: “President Trump will deliver a major address to the nation on protecting the integrity of our elections. And we encourage every American to tune in.”
She provided little further detail, but stated that what the president intended to say “will shock you if you have an honest eye listening to the president tonight” and would argue that the U.S. will “need to make some adjustments moving forward,” including a strict voter ID bill he has been championing.
Primetime presidential addresses are traditionally reserved for landmark occasions or matters of significant national importance.
Trump last delivered a presidential address in April to speak on the Iran war, a month after it began. He stated at the time that the U.S. would accomplish its objectives “very shortly” and that “the hard part is done, so it should be easy.”
Trump addresses the nation, invoking conspiracy theories on 2020 election (Image: Getty)
The conflict, however, has continued, with strikes between the U.S. and Iran escalating this week.
Trump also delivered a politically charged primetime speech in December, during which he sought to blame the challenging economic climate on Democrats. At least some television networks announced on Thursday that they would not broadcast the speech live, but would make it available on their streaming platforms.
Both ABC and NBC opted against airing the remarks live, instead carrying them in full on their streaming services and interrupting network programming as necessary.
Trump claims the nation’s election system “falls catastrophically short” (Image: Getty)
During Thursday’s press briefing, Leavitt appeared to still be attempting to convince networks to broadcast the remarks live, saying, “I think that the mainstream media should air the president’s speech and allow the American people to draw their own conclusions from it.”
Leavitt said Trump may use his remarks to also address the economy and Iran, saying, “We have had conversations about him addressing a range of topics, and that could very well be possible tonight.”
Trump’s preoccupation with his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden six years ago and the long-discredited theories he’s promoted about it are matters he continues to raise regularly when discussing other subjects.
However, elevating the deeply political and conspiratorial subjects to a presidential primetime address highlights the extent to which Trump has utilised his second term to both disregard conventions and dwell on past resentments.