President Trump to Deliver Prime-Time Address on Declassification of Foreign Election Interference Materials

Democrats offered a prebuttal on Thursday to President Trump's scheduled prime-time address. The speech is set for Thursday and will address foreign efforts to influence U.S. elections along with alleged vulnerabilities in election infrastructure.

Trump stated the address will feature a major announcement on election security. "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 it’s going to be a very big announcement," he said.

The White House has weighed releasing documents related to China's role in U.S. elections, Reuters reported. Some materials stem from intelligence gathered during Trump's first term, and a task force has identified items for potential declassification.

State election officials told CNN they are monitoring the speech closely. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said the group is nervous about what Trump might say. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said he hoped to tune out the address during a dinner at Mount Rushmore.

Several state election officials from 2020 battleground states plan to attend the dinner as part of an annual summer conference for the National Association of Secretaries of State.