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What did Trump announce today? Read full speech transcript here

President Donald Trump used a nationally televised speech to announce the release of declassified election-related documents alleging Chinese interference. 

Updated on: Jul 17, 2026, 10:54:18 IST
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President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address from the White House on Thursday. The speech, which Trump billed as a major announcement on "election integrity," focused heavily on allegations surrounding the 2020 presidential election and included renewed calls for voter identification measures and election reforms.

US President Donald Trump following a prime-time address to the nation at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday. Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)
US President Donald Trump following a prime-time address to the nation at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday. Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)

During the nationally televised speech, Trump argued that the country's election system remains vulnerable and urged Congress to pass stricter voter identification laws.

The White House simultaneously launched a website containing the newly released records in the interest of transparency.

The speech came just 110 days before the 2026 midterm elections. Republicans described the address as an effort to strengthen election integrity, while Democrats accused Trump of reviving debunked claims about the 2020 election.

Here's everything Trump said in his speech today.

Read more: WhiteHouse.gov website crashes as Trump announces release of declassified election integrity documents

“I'm proud to report that our country is safer, stronger, and far wealthier.”

Trump opened his remarks by highlighting what he described as the achievements of his administration before shifting his focus to election security.

He said, “Good evening. Before we begin, I'm proud to report that our country is safer, stronger, and far wealthier than it has ever been before. We are doing great.”

Trump continued, “Less than two years ago, we inherited an economic and social disaster after the worst inflation in 48 years, the wide open borders with millions and millions of people pouring in from all over the world, including criminals of all types.”

Trump continued speaking about inflation, tax cuts, and the long-hailing Trump accounts.

He said, “The tax cuts in our Great Big Beautiful Bill are saving hardworking families thousands and thousands of dollars.”

Talking about the Trump accounts, he said, “With Trump accounts, every child in America now has access to a tax-free investment account to save for their future.”

“We had the worst border in the history of our country, and now we have the best.”

Criticizing Biden's government, in terms of immigration policies, Trump said, “Our previously wide open borders have been transformed into the most secure borders in the history of our country, with zero illegal aliens being admitted to the United States in the past 14 months. That is zero.”

He continued, “Nobody thought it was possible. We had the worst border in the history of our country, and now we have the best.”

Explaining the results of his immigration policy, he said, “Crime is plummeting nationwide, with the murder rate at its lowest level since 1900 - or more than 125 years ago.”

Trump largely avoided foreign policy in his speech, repeating that he had strengthened the US military. He said, "We won in Venezuela" and claimed the U.S. was "winning in Iran," adding that "the fruits of that labor" would be seen soon as military operations continue.

“America is back and doing really well, but…”

"America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed, because no country can be great without fair and honest elections," Trump said.

Trump alleged that weaknesses in mail-in voting, election administration and foreign influence continue to threaten US democracy. He said, "Every American deserves to know that, when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, and that is to make that system secure.

“Tonight, I'm announcing the immediate declassification and release… election infrastructure.”

He continued, “Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard. Tonight, I'm announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.”

Trump described what the documents will entail and said, “The documents we will release starting tonight have been gathered by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, a great group of people, along with the staff of the president's Intelligence Advisory Board, supported by our top intelligence agency chiefs who have all personally reviewed the findings we are presenting this evening and fully confirmed their authenticity.”

He added, “The documents cover five major areas of concern. First, they show that, over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People's Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China's illicit acquisition of 220 million US voter files.”

He continued, “That information includes names, addresses, phone numbers, political party preferences and other sensitive data that would be needed to register to vote and engage in other nefarious activities, which is exactly what was happening."

“This data loss presents an unprecedented election security nightmare. The intelligence even shows that China assigned a data exploitation unit specifically to this new project.”

In his address, Trump told his audience how they can see the newly released documents. He said, “You can see these documents for yourself at whitehouse.gov, that's whitehouse.gov, go check it out.”

“…approximately 278,000 non-citizens who are registered to vote in federal elections.”

Furthering his claims about vulnerable US elections, Trump said, “To reveal just how vulnerable our elections continue to be, we are releasing the results of a stunning investigation by the Department of Homeland Security. According to the DHS review, state voter rolls and public records, they identified approximately 278,000 non-citizens who are registered to vote in federal elections.”

Citing California elections, Trump said, “And yet we still have elections with no voter ID, no proof of citizenship, and tens of millions of ballots floating aimlessly through the mail. As one example of the insanity, California's recent election for mayor of LA and governor, was held on June 2nd, long time ago, but it was just completed a few days ago, on July 10th. Think of that, much more than one month.”

“NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech.”

Trump also called the networks out which refused to cover his speech about election integrity. He said, “In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech. They knew what it was about, because of the fact that they don't like the topic, because they know how corrupt our system is and they don't want to reveal it. They and others in the media are part of a plot.”

He called for revocation of license for both the networks and said, “They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. They want to keep it going. They want to protect the radical left. They can't have a great country and that's true; you can't have a great country without free and fair elections. Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.”

Also read: Trump speech fact-check: From ‘zero illegal aliens’ to inflation seeing ‘largest monthly decline’

“Congress must pass the SAVE America Act”

Trump finally addressed the upcoming midterm elections and said, “We have very important elections coming up. We want those elections to be honest. I've also ordered DHS to notify every state about noncitizens on their voter rolls and direct them to remove all ineligible voters from the lists immediately.”

He urged Republicans to pass the SAVE Act and added, “Most importantly, addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the SAVE America Act. How easy is that to do, unless you want to cheat.”

  • Shirin Gupta
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Shirin Gupta

    Shirin Gupta is a content producer with the Hindustan Times. She covers everything between politics, entertainment and sports at the US desk. Shirin got interested in political journalism during her time as a web editor at her college newspaper NCC News in Syracuse when she first started seeing the effects of national politics in life of her fellow colleagues. Shirin has worked on a wide range of fast-moving and developing stories locally when she was at NCC editing accessible reports for the audience. Her current role requires her to track real-time updates, verify information and present balanced coverage across diverse beats. Covering US politics from an international newsroom perspective has further deepened her understanding of how domestic decisions can have far-reaching global consequences. With a keen interest in international affairs, Shirin continues to build her expertise in geopolitics, policy shifts, and cross-border developments. She aims to learn and evolve her reporting in matters of geopolitics and international issues. Outside the newsroom Shirin writes about books and music for her personal blog. She is an avid consumer of pop culture and reveres literature.Read More

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