Trump cancels January 6 press conference
Former President Donald Trump canceled a press conference scheduled for January 6 in Florida, on the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol at the hands of a group of his sympathizers.
Trump said in a statement released Tuesday that he will address his grievances in his place during a rally scheduled for mid-month in Arizona.
Trump was slated to use the press conference to lash out at the House committee investigating the events of January 6, when a mob of his supporters made their way onto Capitol Hill to disrupt the transition. of powers, and to repeat his lies about the 2020 elections.
The former president falsely insists that the election was "stolen" from him and that the "real" insurrection occurred on November 3, 2020, the day Democrat Joe Biden scored a 306-232 victory in the Electoral College. Election officials at the state and federal levels, as well as Trump's own attorney general and various judges, have repeatedly said that the elections were fair and that there is no credible evidence of large-scale fraud.
“In the face of utter prejudice and dishonesty from the Unselected Commission of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the fake news press, I will cancel the Jan. 6 press conference in Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead discuss many of these important issues at my meeting on Saturday, January 15, in Arizona, "Trump wrote.
Trump, whom an ally said he reconsidered the event because he felt it would not get fair coverage, had faced pressure to cancel what many viewed as an ill-timed event, especially in an election year. Republicans are aiming to regain control of the House and Senate in the fall legislative elections, and some inside fear that the former president's obsession with the 2020 elections and his attempts to defend nonconformists could alienate voters. that the party needs to win.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a friend and ally of Trump, told Axios, who asked Trump to cancel his conference, pointing out to him while golfing in West Palm Beach this weekend that "there could be a risk of carrying out the press conference. And the best thing was to focus on an electoral reform ”.
The event in Florida would have been Trump's second press conference since he left the presidency. Although he has been banned from Twitter and other social media platforms, Trump has appeared regularly in conservative media outlets, as well as holding various rallies and events.
